MASSACHUSETTS’ TRAFFIC CONGESTION causes stress and financial strain for commuters, but it can also be bad for their health — especially when clogged roads become a barrier to getting quality […]
Traffic congestion is a health hazard
Posted inTransportation
T has extra $1.2b: How would you spend it?
IT HASN’T RECEIVED a lot of attention, but the MBTA has an extra $1.2 billion in untapped capital funds at its disposal. The agency’s five-year capital spending plan has $9.4 […]
Posted inUncategorized
Budget stalemate ends, plan ups spending
ABOUT THREE WEEKS into the fiscal year, House and Senate budget negotiators have produced a compromise budget bill that takes some steps toward reducing pharmaceutical costs for Medicaid, nixes proposed […]
Posted inOpinion
Massachusetts must ensure census ‘counts’
NUMBERS COUNT. The data collected by the US Census Bureau every 10 years is used to draw voting districts and determine how much funding to give states and municipalities. The bureau is […]
Posted inOpinion
Fixing Kendall Square’s mobility challenges
TRANSPORT KENDALL, a partnership of the Kendall Square Association, the city of Cambridge, and the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority, recently issued a report that appropriately underscores that transit, bicycling, and walking […]
Posted inTransportation
MBTA releases video of Red Line derailment
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MBTA RELEASED video Friday of a June 11 Red Line derailment that officials say will continue to cause delays through most of the summer, the […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker bill seeks new rules for commercial drivers
JUST UNDER A MONTH after a truck crash that killed seven motorcyclists in New Hampshire, Gov. Charlie Baker filed legislation Friday that he says would enhance safety by keeping dangerous […]
Posted inThe Download
Is Rollins right to be angry?
Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins and 19 educators who support her approach to justice are angry about a Boston Globe story examining her record in prosecuting crimes over the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Is Rollins right to be angry?
SUFFOLK COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY Rachael Rollins and 19 educators who support her approach to justice are angry about a Boston Globe story examining her record in prosecuting crimes over the […]
Posted inGambling
Mohegan’s “all or nothing” challenge to Encore dismissed
RELATIVELY MINOR VIOLATIONS of the open meeting law by state gambling regulators shouldn’t invalidate Encore Boston Harbor’s casino license, a state judge wrote in dismissing a court challenge brought by […]
Posted inGambling
Gaming Commission backs Encore on blackjack odds
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AN INITIAL INVESTIGATION into the claims of a lawsuit alleging Encore Boston Harbor is duping customers by paying out at less favorable odds for blackjack wins […]
Posted inOpinion
Court database shouldn’t be landlord screening tool
ACCESS TO STABLE HOUSING is critical for economic security. With the very high cost of living in Massachusetts, finding housing is a challenge for everyone, particularly for low income people […]
Posted inTransportation
Calls grow to put brakes on Eastie land deal
CALLS FOR STATE transportation officials to slow down the process of selling the rights to a narrow strip of land parallel to a congested East Boston roadway have found a […]
Posted inThe Download
What to do about Cape Cod’s sharks?
It would be an environmental success story were it not for all the swimmers and surfers. The rejuvenated population of great white sharks patrolling the waters off Cape Cod has […]
Posted inEnvironment
What to do about Cape Cod’s sharks?
IT WOULD BE AN ENVIRONMENTAL success story were it not for all the swimmers and surfers. The rejuvenated population of great white sharks patrolling the waters off Cape Cod has […]
Posted inUncategorized
Vineyard Wind says project at risk
VINEYARD WIND says its offshore wind farm could be in jeopardy if the federal government fails to approve its environmental impact statement over the next six weeks. In a carefully […]
Posted inOpinion
It’s time to bring ranked-choice voting to Mass.
DURING THE SUMMER of 2002, Sen. John McCain delivered a recorded phone message to the citizens of Alaska, asking them to adopt “instant runoff voting that will lead to good […]
Posted inEducation
Bringing efficiency to public higher education
HIGHER EDUCATION can be hidebound and slow-moving. In some instances – such as the pomp and circumstance of commencements – adherence to tradition and ceremony are essential to the academic […]
Posted inTransportation
Riders give T worst marks yet in June performance review
RIDERS’ OPINIONS OF the MBTA plummeted in June, perhaps unsurprisingly, as more than half of the respondents to the T’s regular survey were at least somewhat dissatisfied with the service […]
Posted inTransportation
Walsh unloads on T
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE BOSTON MAYOR MARTY WALSH called Wednesday for the MBTA to invest about $9 million in running Red Line and commuter rail trains more frequently, slamming the […]
Posted inPolitics
Ayanna Pressley, measured bomb-thrower
SHE EMERGED ON Monday as the leading voice of “the Squad,” not because hers is the loudest but because, in fact, it seems the most measured. Ayanna Pressley, diplomat of […]
Posted inThe Download
Ayanna Pressley, measured bomb-thrower
She emerged on Monday as the leading voice of “the Squad,” not because hers is the loudest but because, in fact, it seems the most measured. Ayanna Pressley, diplomat of […]
Posted inUncategorized
ACLU files suit to block restrictive new asylum rules
THE AMERICAN CIVIL Liberties Union, Southern Poverty Law Center, and Center for Constitutional Rights filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday to block sweeping new asylum restrictions announced by the Trump […]
Posted inTransportation
Before the T derailed, its funding got on the wrong track
A MESSAGE TO MBTA riders in distress: It doesn’t have to be this way. The T has been starved for adequate funding while overburdened with debt for decades. Increased fares, that […]