DEVAL PATRICK WAS GOVERNOR the last time the Legislature grappled with providing new funding for transportation, and for him it’s not a pleasant memory. On the Horse Race podcast from […]
Patrick recounts bruising transportation funding battles
Posted inUncategorized
Immigrant facing deportation cuts off monitor, flees
A BRAZILIAN IMMIGRANT who was expected to turn himself in for deportation on Tuesday cut off his electronic monitoring device and escaped. According to a filing by the Department of […]
Posted inEconomy
Backers coalesce behind real estate tax bill
LAWMAKERS AND HOUSING ADVOCATES are starting to coalesce behind a new proposal that would allow municipalities the local option to assess a tax of up to 2 percent on real estate transactions […]
Posted inTransportation
Brownsberger: Take two on reducing congestion
MASSACHUSETTS IS CURRENTLY contemplating a program of investments in regional rail expansion that may cost tens of billions of dollars over several decades. Within that program we need to prioritize the highest value […]
Posted inPolitics
Walsh and the new ‘be bold’ imperative
MOVE ASIDE MELANIA with your “Be Best” campaign. Marty Walsh has issued a new alliterative B-based edict for our times here in Boston, where the mayor has declared a pox […]
Posted inThe Download
Walsh and the new “be bold” imperative
Move aside Melania with your “Be Best” campaign. Marty Walsh has issued a new alliterative B-based edict for our times here in Boston, where the mayor has declared a pox […]
Posted inUncategorized
Walsh proposes housing investments, rental vouchers
IN HIS ANNUAL State of the City address, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced his administration plans to spend $500 million over the next five years to create more affordable housing […]
Posted inEducation
Walsh calls for big boost in school spending
BUOYED BY FLUSH city coffers and a new law promising more state education aid down the road, Mayor Marty Walsh said he will commit $100 million in new annual city […]
Posted inEnvironment
Massachusetts needs a Net Zero building code
IN MASSACHUSETTS, buildings contribute to nearly half of all carbon pollution when accounting for electricity, heating, and cooling. In many cities and towns, especially urban centers, buildings can produce more […]
Posted inEnvironment
Fishermen, wind farm developers at odds
A GROUP REPRESENTING New England fishing interests on Tuesday called for special travel lanes through offshore wind farms proposed off the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, putting the fishermen […]
Posted inEconomy
Upcoming tax debate awkward for GOP
As the House prepares to debate new funding sources for transportation, Massachusetts Republicans find themselves in an awkward situation. They generally oppose raising taxes, particularly the gas tax, but the […]
Posted inThe Download
Upcoming tax debate awkward for GOP
As the House prepares to debate new funding sources for transportation, Massachusetts Republicans find themselves in an awkward situation. They generally oppose raising taxes, particularly the gas tax, but the […]
Posted inUncategorized
Overall state workforce increased slightly in FY19
THE SIZE OF THE STATE’S workforce is increasing, but it’s still below the level it was at prior to the election of Gov. Charlie Baker. According to a financial report […]
Posted inUncategorized
Immigrants in Mass. more likely to have attorneys
CLAD IN A GREEN JUMPSUIT and chained at the hands and the feet, Ismail Garces Avila is sitting in immigration Judge John Furlong’s windowless courtroom, waiting for his bond and asylum hearings. […]
Posted inThe Download
Advocates call for T control board extension
Some of the state’s leading transit advocates are calling for extending the life of the existing MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board for six months to a year and making […]
Posted inTransportation
Advocates call for T control board extension
SOME OF THE STATE’S leading transit advocates are calling for extending the life of the existing MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board for six months to a year and making buses […]
Posted inOpinion
A New Year’s resolution for the Mass. House
THERE WAS SOMETHING different about the start of this legislative session in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. It wasn’t the composition: Yes, Democrats did manage to flip two seats, but […]
Posted inOpinion
TransitMatters rebuts Brownsberger
METRO BOSTON enters 2020 in the firm grip of a transportation crisis. That crisis manifests itself as a combination of the worst traffic congestion in the nation, an unreliable inner-core […]
Posted inEducation
Can ‘pay for success’ boost post-secondary outcomes?
FOR THOSE EAGER to see the student achievement gap closed, it was great news when Gov. Charlie Baker recently signed legislation calling for a $1.5 billion increase in K-12 education […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Parity for renewables is key to energy tax policy
THE CLIMATE CRISIS is the most pressing issue of our time — and increasingly it’s an intractable one. Nowhere is this borne out more in Massachusetts than on Cape Cod, […]
Posted inUncategorized
Activists block coal-carrying train for hours
CLIMATE ACTIVISTS USED AN UNUSUAL METHOD Thursday night to stop a delivery to the largest coal-fired plant in New England — erecting scaffolding directly on the tracks. A group of […]
Posted inThe Download
U-Haul won’t hire smokers in Mass., 20 other states
Police and fire departments across Massachusetts stopped hiring smokers in 1997 as part of a pension system overhaul. In 2011, the Massachusetts Hospital Association implemented the same policy for its […]
Posted inUncategorized
U-Haul won’t hire smokers in Mass., 20 other states
POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENTS across Massachusetts stopped hiring smokers in 1997 as part of a pension system overhaul. In 2011, the Massachusetts Hospital Association implemented the same policy for its […]
Posted inOpinion
Add homes at train stops, reduce traffic
HIGH HOME PRICES and soaring rents. Countless hours spent sitting in traffic. This is all par for the course for Massachusetts residents, but it doesn’t have to be. Allowing modest […]