IT WAS A SIGHT to behold, and not in any good way. While making my way up the stairs from the Red Line platform at the MBTA’s Downtown Crossing Station […]
An accident waiting to happen
Posted inCriminal Justice
Beacon Hill notes: Inmate calls for free
A BILL THAT WOULD ALLOW inmates at state and county correctional facilities to make phone calls for free was endorsed unanimously on Tuesday by the Legislature’s Public Safety and Homeland […]
Posted inTransportation
Baker’s stump speech on transportation
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER outlined his top personal and legislative priorities for the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, focusing on education, health care, transportation, skills training, climate change, and […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
House jumps back into pot policy
It’s been five months since House Speaker Robert DeLeo said he was unaware of any legislation filed by the Cannabis Control Commission seeking to change state laws around agreements between marijuana […]
Posted inThe Download
House jumps back into pot policy
It’s been five months since House Speaker Robert DeLeo said he was unaware of any legislation filed by the Cannabis Control Commission seeking to change state laws around agreements between marijuana […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Inmates accuse Souza guards of retaliation
THE STATE’S MOST SECURE prison facility has turned into a war zone since a group of inmates attacked and severely injured three corrections officers on January 10. Staff at the […]
Posted inEnvironment
For offshore wind, expect more delays
FEDERAL AGENCIES ASSESSING the environmental impact of Vineyard Wind are now expecting the long-delayed process to wrap up sometime in December, according to a top Baker administration official. The Vineyard […]
Posted inThe Download
Senator disappointed with missed commuter rail deadline
Sen. Brendan Crighton of Lynn says he is very disappointed that the MBTA failed to meet an initial deadline for the first phase of a commuter rail makeover last week, […]
Posted inTransportation
Senator disappointed with missed commuter rail deadline
SEN BRENDAN CRIGHTONÂ of Lynn says he is very disappointed that the MBTA failed to meet an initial deadline for the first phase of a commuter rail makeover last week, and […]
Posted inUncategorized
What’s getting me through tough times
IT’S BEEN a rough time. In September, my mother died. She was 93 and lived a long life but we were very close, and her death (following a horrific week […]
Posted inPolitics
Kennedy lauds T union fight against privatization
US REP. JOE KENNEDY III joined MBTA union workers on Sunday at a bus repair garage in Quincy to protest the transit authority’s consideration of a plan to outsource the […]
Posted inEnvironment
Mass. coastal property owners beware
HOW FAR CAN GOVERNMENT go in regulating private property when protecting us from common threats? Since a seminal 1922 US Supreme Court opinion, Pennsylvania Coal Company v. Mahon, a debate […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
Report raises gas utility safety issues
State House News Service and CommonWealth A PANEL REVIEWING the physical integrity and safety of the state’s natural gas distribution system found a gap exists between the way gas utilities […]
Posted inOpinion
What Joe McCarthy and Donald Trump have in common
McCarthy: Power Feeds on Fear is a new documentary nationally available from PBS. The film details Joe McCarthy’s rise in the late 1940s from political obscurity in Wisconsin to become […]
Posted inOpinion
Picking apart Rep. Kearney’s fishy argument
YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED a fishy odor from a recent CommonWealth article. It was the smell of red herring, served in an opinion piece by state Rep. Patrick Kearney. On […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics
7 takes on Senate climate change debate
IN BUSINESS-LIKE FASHION, the Senate passed a sweeping package of climate change legislation on Thursday night that sets a net-zero target for greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, creates an independent […]
Posted inGun ownership
Gun control redux
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. And again, and again. US Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat running for president, and US Rep. Hank Johnson, a Georgia […]
Posted inThe Download
Gun control redux
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. And again, and again. US Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat running for president, and US Rep. Hank Johnson, a Georgia […]
Posted inUncategorized
Mass. father, son tied to Ghosn escape
MICHAEL TAYLOR, a 59-year-old former Green Beret from Massachusetts who has worked as a private security contractor and has ties to government agencies, seems to have a knack for popping […]
Posted inUncategorized
SJC: Blind people can serve as jurors
IF A BLIND JUROR is called for jury duty, a judge must decide on a case-by-case basis whether that juror is capable of serving, according to a unanimous decision issued […]
Posted inEducation
Is Massachusetts failing its brightest kids?Â
FOR MORE THAN two decades, efforts to improve US public schools have set forth an ambitious goal. Leave No Child Behind. The Every Student Succeeds Act. The Student Opportunity Act. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
State Police overtime scandal keeps expanding
Reading about the Massachusetts State Police overtime scandal is like opening a Pandora’s box that can never be shut. This week, out of the box popped a lieutenant who allegedly […]
Posted inThe Download
State Police overtime scandal keeps expanding
Reading about the Massachusetts State Police overtime scandal is like opening a Pandora’s box that can never be shut. This week, out of the box popped a lieutenant who allegedly […]
Posted inPolitics
Commission documents flood of campaign cash
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE In the decade before the US Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United v. FEC decision, spending on Massachusetts elections and ballot initiatives totaled $260 million. In the […]