Nearly two years ago, voters weighed in on a contentious ballot question over charter school expansion in the state. But the battle over the independently run, but publicly funded, schools […]
New Bedford’s charter school battle
Posted inEducation
New Bedford pols fail kids with opposition to charter expansion
IF YOU WONDER where children fall in the hierarchy of priorities for some elected officials, take a look at New Bedford, where Mayor Jon Mitchell and City Councilor Hugh Dunn […]
Posted inHealth Care
Health commission seeks ‘guardrails’ on merger
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AN APPREHENSIVE HEALTH POLICY COMMISSION voted unanimously Thursday to refer the Beth Israel-Lahey Health mega-merger to Attorney General Maura Healey and Public Health Commissioner Monica Bharel […]
Posted inThe Back Story
A stash of cash for troubled pols
EARLIER THIS YEAR, on April 13, the city of Fall River signed a host community agreement with Northeast Alternatives, which already operates a medical marijuana dispensary in the city, to open up a retail recreational pot operation in a strip […]
Posted inUncategorized
Boston housing officials shoot the messengers
THERE IS PLENTY to crow about in praising the good things about Boston. If you leave aside its insane housing costs, it’s one of the country’s most livable big cities. […]
Posted inThe Download
Boston housing officials shoot the messengers
There is plenty to crow about in praising the good things about Boston. If you leave aside its insane housing costs, it’s one of the country’s most livable big cities. […]
Posted inTransportation
New option for Pike redesign
THE PANEL OF experts tasked with redesigning a 1,500 foot stretch of the Massachusetts Turnpike and rail tracks running along the Charles River has thrown a new wrinkle into the […]
Posted inGambling
Gaming commission chair resigns, denies charges of bias
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STEPHEN CROSBY, who served as chairman of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission since its inception and has overseen the implementation of casino gaming in the Bay State, […]
Posted inTransportation
Gonzalez calls for Baker to fire MBTA general manager
DEMOCRATIC GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE Jay Gonzalez said Gov. Charlie Baker should fire MBTA General Manger Luis Ramirez, citing a recent lawsuit against the Texas company he once led that charged Ramirez […]
Posted inTransportation
MBTA: “May Be Trains Arrive”
Perhaps it’s delay fatigue (as opposed to delayed fatigue), but the operators of the MBTA’s commuter rail had an awful, bad, terrible evening commute Tuesday in the warm drizzle of […]
Posted inThe Download
MBTA: “May Be Trains Arrive”
Perhaps it’s delay fatigue (as opposed to delayed fatigue), but the operators of the MBTA’s commuter rail had an awful, bad, terrible evening commute Tuesday in the warm drizzle of […]
Posted inEconomy
Boston ups housing goal in face of population boom
BOSTON IS FACING a rate of population growth not seen in 100 years, an extraordinary influx that is prompting city officials to unveil new, more ambitious housing production goals to […]
Posted inTransportation
T notes: FTA gives PVTA $2.4m grant
THE FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION on Tuesday awarded $366 million in bus infrastructure grants to 107 projects in 50 states, including a $2.4 grant to the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority in […]
Posted inThe Download
Health Policy Commission to assess ballot question
A state agency is preparing to play the role of fact checker in a bitter, high-stakes campaign over a ballot question that would mandate nurse-patient staffing ratios in hospitals across […]
Posted inHealth Care
Health Policy Commission to assess ballot question
A STATE AGENCY is preparing to play the role of fact checker in a bitter, high-stakes campaign over a ballot question that would mandate nurse-patient staffing ratios in hospitals across […]
Posted inHealth Care
Health Policy Commission to analyze nurse question
UNDER PRESSURE TO EXAMINE a nurse staffing ballot question, the state Health Policy Commission on Monday announced that it plans to present findings on cost impacts of mandated staffing ratios […]
Posted inTransportation
T notes: Migraines prompt 40% of FMLA leaves
ROUGHLY TWO-FIFTHS of the 1,850 MBTA employees eligible for intermittent leaves under the Family and Medical Leave Act suffer from migraines, according to Bonnie Haase, the assistant general manager for […]
Posted inTransportation
MBTA: Our bus network isn’t working
THE MBTA HAS CONCLUDED that its bus network, which handles more than a third of all of the trips provided by the agency, isn’t working. On-time performance overall is 65 […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Episode 116: The ‘Harvard tax’ plus transgender rights on the ballot
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay Gonzalez filled in one big missing piece of his campaign platform last week, a plan for how to pay for the new investments in transportation and […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: The ‘Harvard tax’ plus transgender rights on the ballot
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay Gonzalez filled in one big missing piece of his campaign platform last week, a plan for how to pay for the new investments in transportation and […]
Posted inTransportation
Judge dismisses 2d complaint against T’s Ramirez
A FEDERAL JUDGE IN TEXAS dismissed a second shareholder complaint against MBTA General Manager Luis Ramirez for issuing false and misleading financial reports during a previous job. The judge gave […]
Posted inOpinion
EF grows on backs of cheap labor
A CAMBRIDGE COMPANY, Education First, is a big winner in the race for state business tax credits. The privately owned Swedish company now occupies two buildings (and, thanks to its […]
Posted inOpinion
Consumers overlooked amid ISO power politics
THE FUEL SECURITY CONTROVERSY in New England, particularly as it relates to the availability of natural gas in the winter, escalated dramatically with the issuance of a fuel security study […]
Posted inOpinion
Strapped to the status quo express
MASSACHUSETTS HAS A PROBLEM talking candidly about its transportation revenue needs. This is not a new problem. We have been in its grip for decades, and the result has been […]