THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION moved forward with the largest clean energy procurement in the state’s history on Thursday by selecting the highly controversial Northern Pass project to deliver hydroelectricity from Quebec […]
Baker goes with Eversource’s Northern Pass
Posted inThe Back Story
China says your recyclables don’t measure up
IT’S NOT APPARENT AT THE CURB yet, but recycling programs across Massachusetts are taking a big hit right now because of a new Chinese policy limiting the amount of contaminants […]
Posted inPolitics
Choices and consequences
Elections have consequences. And the message of the last election appears to be if you didn’t vote for Donald Trump, prepare to face the consequences. The latest reminder comes in […]
Posted inTransportation
Harvard increases support for West Station
HARVARD UNIVERSITY put some additional financial muscle behind efforts to begin construction of a new transit station in the Allston-Brighton area earlier, offering the state $50 million toward a full […]
Posted inOpinion
What’s happened to CLF?
CONSERVATION LAW FOUNDATION was once a respected organization that worked with utilities and government to help move the region away from oil and coal to cleaner natural gas and renewable […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, State House News Service
Lelling doesn’t budge on pot stance
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE OPIOID CRIMES ARE HIS TOP drug enforcement priority, but US Attorney Andrew Lelling told reporters Wednesday that his enforcement of federal marijuana laws could ensnare anyone […]
Posted inThe Download
Trump to the rescue?
It has been the received wisdom in these parts that the election of Donald Trump has presented one huge headache after another for our endangered species moderate Republican governor. Everywhere […]
Posted inTransportation
Kadish put in charge of transportation commission
STATE HOUSE NEWS WITH AN EYE on the state’s transportation needs through the next two decades, Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday created a special commission to try to understand how […]
Posted inEnvironment
Van Welie takes energy analysis to Capitol Hill
THE OPERATOR OF NEW ENGLAND’S power grid went to Washington on Tuesday to explain why the region is likely to face challenges at times over the next decade keeping the […]
Posted inEducation
Commissioner pick will signal direction for education policy
WHEN THE STATE education board convenes next Monday to vote on a new Massachusetts education commissioner, its members won’t just be sizing up the three finalists for the job. They […]
Posted inOpinion
CLF denies financial ties to TDI
BRIAN MURPHY’S January 22 column (“Money is clouding CLF’s judgment”) is an utter fabrication and represents yet another attempt by Northern Pass advocates to spread misinformation that they hope will advantage an unpopular project. […]
Posted inOpinion
You shouldn’t need to be rich to run
A POSITIVE BY-PRODUCT of the Trump presidency is the ever growing number of people interested in running for office at all levels of government. Organizations like EMILY’s List, which helps […]
Posted inThe Download
The confidentiality question
When it hired an outside law firm to investigate Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, the Senate Ethics Committee promised victims of sexual assault that they would not pay a professional price for […]
Posted inPolitics
Chandler expresses confidence in Rosenberg probe
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE ACTING SENATE PRESIDENT HARRIETTE CHANDLER expressed confidence Monday in the integrity of an ongoing sexual harassment investigation in the Senate, in the wake of reports that […]
Posted inTransportation
T notes: Privatization at bus garages off the table?
NO ONE IS RELEASING any details about the MBTA’s proposed multi-year contract with the union representing bus machinists, but it would appear the deal doesn’t include the privatization of any […]
Posted inUncategorized
City councilors raise concerns about Walsh’s Airbnb regs
SOME BOSTON CITY COUNCILORS said Mayor Marty Walsh’s proposed ordinance to rein in the burgeoning short-term rental industry is a good start but still lets investors buy up too much […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Episode 81: How to ease traffic congestion
Michael Manville, an assistant professor of urban planning at UCLA, says the best way to ease congestion in Boston is to put a price on it. In a Codcast interview […]
Posted inOpinion
Union: Money is clouding CLF’s judgment
THE RECENT PAID ADVERTISING by the Conservation Law Foundation (Sunday Boston Globe, page A12) against the Northern Pass transmission project should not be a surprise to citizens of Massachusetts or […]
Posted inTransportation
The Codcast: How to ease traffic congestion
Michael Manville, an assistant professor of urban planning at UCLA, says the best way to ease congestion in Boston is to put a price on it. In a Codcast interview […]
Posted inTransportation
Getting cars, bikers, and pedestrians to coexist
BOSTON IS GROWING, and fast. Highways and arterial roadways are commonly clogged not just during “rush hour,” but at all times of day, including weekends. It used to be the […]
Posted inOpinion
Baby boomers need to let go
ALMOST A DECADE AGO, a small group of civic leaders in business, government, labor, and academia decided to organize an intimate retreat, a mini Aspen or Renaissance weekend, called the […]
Posted inOpinion
A question of access: Shifting the transportation conversation
TRANSPORTATION AND MOBILITY matters to everyone who commutes, travels, or runs errands on a daily basis, and these everyday trips create a sense that we are all experts on transportation. […]
Posted inOpinion
A Dreamer about to graduate – now what?
THIS IS THE MOMENT I’ve been waiting for. I’m finally in my senior year at Lesley University, majoring in business management and minoring in communications, and my future is ahead […]
Posted inTransportation
T, machinists reach tentative agreement
THE MBTA AND ITS MACHINISTS UNION said on Friday morning that they had negotiated the terms of a new multi-year collective bargaining agreement that presumably would forestall the transit agency’s […]