The following remarks are a slightly edited version of a speech delivered on Thursday at a protest at Faneuil Hall. Â THE ROOTS OF BOSTON — our history, our legacy, our […]
Why we boycott Faneuil Hall
Posted inPolitics
The Senate’s big whiff
THE PROCESS OF passing legislation on Beacon Hill is a lot like a game of ping pong. The House passes a bill and sends it over to the Senate. The […]
Posted inThe Download
The Senate’s big whiff
The process of passing legislation on Beacon Hill is a lot like a game of ping pong. The House passes a bill and sends it over to the Senate. The […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
In Middlesex DA’s race, a progressive face-off
DONNA PATALANO, who is challenging incumbent Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan, looks like exactly the right candidate at the right time. The Winchester attorney is pushing a strong reform platform […]
Posted inThe Back Story
DCR, carousel negotiations go round and round
ONE DAY LAST SUMMER Leo Roy, the commissioner of the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation, showed up at the Paragon Carousel across from Nantasket Beach in Hull with some […]
Posted inThe Download
A real-life mystery at Boston library
In a building whose shelves are packed with gripping fictional whodunits, it’s a real-life whodunit that is also a whodunwhat. On Tuesday, the Boston Herald broke the story that three […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
A real-life mystery at Boston library
IN A BUILDING whose shelves are packed with gripping fictional whodunits, it’s a real-life whodunit that is also a whodunwhat. On Tuesday, the Boston Herald broke the story that three […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker amends short-term rental bill
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER returned the Legislature’s bill to tax and regulate short-term rentals on Wednesday, waiting until the day after the House and Senate adjourned formal […]
Posted inEnvironment
Why I’m running against Joe Kennedy
IT’S TIME TO choose: Will we accept the change needed to avoid the worst effects of climate change or cling to the status quo and hope against hope we’ll be […]
Posted inEnvironment
Offshore wind prices look competitive
THE DEVELOPER OF THE NATION’S first major offshore wind farm is promising to deliver wholesale power to Massachusetts at prices that are far below what Cape Wind was offering nearly […]
Posted inPolitics
Lawmakers leave a lot on the table
MASSACHUSETTS LAWMAKERS SUSPENDED their rules and went beyond their midnight end-of-session deadline, but still they couldn’t finish all the work they had planned to do. The House adjourned at 1:12 a.m. Wednesday […]
Posted inThe Download
Lawmakers leave a lot on the table
Massachusetts lawmakers suspended their rules and went beyond their midnight end-of-session deadline, but still they couldn’t finish all the work they had planned to do. The House adjourned at […]
Posted inPolitics
Breaking down the new clean energy bill
THE CLEAN ENERGY BILL approved by the Legislature on Tuesday adopted the go-slow approach favored by many of the state’s business groups and utilities, leaving a price on carbon and […]
Posted inPolitics
No consensus on Capuano-Pressley showdown
YOU MIGHT AS well put a fork in Rep. Michael Capuano, whose long career is about to sunset in the face of a growing left-wing wave. Or is it getting […]
Posted inThe Download
No consensus on Capuano-Pressley showdown
You might as well put a fork in Rep. Michael Capuano, whose long career is about to sunset in the face of a growing left-wing wave. Or is it […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, State House News Service
Energy legislation makes it out of conference
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE .Just like two years ago, the Legislature is poised to consider a substantial piece of clean energy legislation on the final day of formal sessions. The […]
Posted inPolitics
A look at one of the Legislature’s veto overrides
THE LEGISLATURE SWIFTLY OVERRODE many of the governor’s budget vetoes on Monday, including one whose elimination has become almost an annual rite of passage on Beacon Hill. Baker on Thursday […]
Posted inOpinion
Lawmakers should embrace clean energy
STARK NEW ESTIMATES of the potential cost of climate change to Massachusetts’ homeowners should make the Legislature act more urgently than it already has to halt the state’s consumption of […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Episode 108: Words matter in immigration debate
To say there’s a chasm as wide as the Rio Grande between both sides of the immigration debate would be an understatement. The conversation about compromise is a non-starter because […]
Posted inPolitics
Words matter in immigration debate
To say there’s a chasm as wide as the Rio Grande between both sides of the immigration debate would be an understatement. The conversation about compromise is a non-starter because […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: Words matter in immigration debate
To say there’s a chasm as wide as the Rio Grande between both sides of the immigration debate would be an understatement. The conversation about compromise is a non-starter because […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Taxes on short-term rentals could hit 17.5%
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE SHORT-TERM HOUSING UNITS rented through websites like Airbnb could be taxed at almost 17.5 percent in cities like Boston and Massachusetts would become the first state […]
Posted inOpinion
5 takeaways from the Beth Israel-Lahey merger review
THE MASSACHUSETTS HEALTH POLICY COMMISSION’S preliminary review of the proposed BI-Lahey et al merger and the comments of the commissioners on that review surprised me a bit. Here are my […]
Posted inOpinion
Transportation equity: Is it a good thing?
What do we think about when we think about transportation equity?   There is regional equity – the question whether every region in a state, or every neighborhood in a city, is equitably treated from […]