The Department of Correction appears to be backtracking on the troubled women’s prison at MCI-Framingham. In October, when Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins said MCI-Framingham was closing and then later […]
DOC backtracking on MCI-Framingham
Posted inCriminal Justice
DOC backtracking on MCI-Framingham
THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION appears to be backtracking on the troubled women’s prison at MCI-Framingham. In October, when Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins said MCI-Framingham was closing and then later amended […]
Posted inTransportation
T notes: Machinists hit deplorable conditions
THE HEAD of the MBTA’s machinists local said on Monday that the union is living up to the promises it made as part of a labor contract signed in 2018 […]
Posted inTransportation
Surging sales tax helping T balance budget
THE MBTA IS FACING intense pressure to increase operations spending on safety and other initiatives, but some of the higher expenditures are being offset by an unexpected surge in sales […]
Posted inTransportation
Pollack, control board at odds on income-based fares
REJECTING CONCERNS raised by state Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack, members of the MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board on Monday insisted on moving faster to embrace lower fares for low-income […]
Posted inUncategorized
ICE asks judge to let agency back into courthouses
FEDERAL IMMIGRATION OFFICIALS are seeking to dismiss a lawsuit that would bar agents from making arrests in local Massachusetts courthouses.   In April, Suffolk and Middlesex district attorneys Rachael Rollins and Marian Ryan […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Saving Hampshire College
Can Hampshire College rise, if not from the dead, from the higher ed death watch list? Harvard Business School professor Clay Christensen has predicted that as many as half of […]
Posted inEconomy
Casinos continue sluggish performance
NOVEMBER FIGURES SHOW continued weakness in the Massachusetts casino industry, where fears of market saturation in the Northeast appear warranted and revenue projections for the state’s dive into the casino […]
Posted inThe Download
Saving Hampshire College
Can Hampshire College rise, if not from the dead, from the higher ed death watch list? Harvard Business School professor Clay Christensen has predicted that as many as half of […]
Posted inEducation
Can Hampshire College be saved?
CAN HAMPSHIRE COLLEGEÂ rise, if not from the dead, from the higher ed death watch list? Harvard Business School professor Clay Christensen has predicted that as many as half of all […]
Posted inOpinion
Give accessory apartments a shot
FOR DECADES, housing experts and planners have been advocating for cities and towns to allow for the owners of single family houses to add accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to their […]
Posted inOpinion
Speaker’s PAC provides incumbent protection
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S DOMINANCE in the Massachusetts Legislature is a matter beyond dispute. Since 1978, when a constitutional amendment reduced the number of seats in the House of Representatives from […]
Posted inOpinion
Mr. Fix-it struggling with culture change
IT’S THE CULTURE of state government versus the Baker administration and the winner, by a knockout in the fifth round, is state government culture. Think of the MBTA and the […]
Posted inOpinion
Reward home care firms that pay living wage
WHILE MASSACHUSETTS LEADS the nation in a number of vital healthcare markers, the state is facing a crisis in one crucial area – its home care industry. The population is […]
Posted inUncategorized
ROE Act is good policy, politics
ON NOVEMBER 5, 2019, Virginia voters made history by voting to flip both chambers of the state legislature and creating, for the first time, a pro-choice majority. This sea change […]
Posted inEconomy
Income tax rate returning to 1985 level
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER says the state’s individual income tax rate will drop to 5 percent at the beginning of next year, ending a two-decades-long march back to the level it was at in 1985. The income tax […]
Posted inPolitics
MassGOP goofs in swipe at Galvin
THE MASSACHUSETTS REPUBLICAN PARTY appears to have missed a crucial detail when it lambasted the state’s top elections official and suggested he had no business including Bill Weld on the […]
Posted inThe Download
DeLeo laying groundwork for tax talk
Within the shavings on the floor of the closeout budget conference negotiations lies a lever that House Democrats could lean on to help their case for more transportation revenue, but […]
Posted inPolitics
DeLeo laying groundwork for tax talk
WITHIN the shavings on the floor of the closeout budget conference negotiations lies a lever that House Democrats could lean on to help their case for more transportation revenue, but […]
Posted inEnvironment
Healey takes on grid operator
ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY, backed by the Barr Foundation, is launching a campaign to convince the operator of the regional power grid to embrace renewables and move away from electricity […]
Posted inOpinion
Save the planet and money at the same time
THE AMERICAN OIL AND GAS industry spends a fortune trying to convince us that renewable, clean power sources like wind, solar, and geothermal are still unreliable and expensive. As mayor […]
Posted inEducation
UMass football thrown for big losses
WHEN THE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS opted to enter major college football in 2012, officials pitched the idea that the program would pay for itself over time, even bolstering non-revenue sports […]
Posted inThe Download
Immigration-related arrests down in New England
New England is seeing the lowest number of immigration-related arrests just months after Suffolk and Middlesex District Attorneys Rachael Rollins and Marian Ryan filed a federal lawsuit to keep federal […]
Posted inUncategorized
Immigration-related arrests down in New England
NEW ENGLAND is seeing the lowest number of immigration-related arrests just months after Suffolk and Middlesex District Attorneys Rachael Rollins and Marian Ryan filed a federal lawsuit to keep federal […]