THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE BILLS recently passed by the Massachusetts Senate and released by the House Committee on Ways and Means provide sensible reform to failed criminal justice approaches, including doing […]
Addressing inmate addiction must be a priority
Posted inThe Codcast
Episode 74: Filling the news hole
Everyone knows about the retrenchment and redistribution of resources by media outlets, especially newspapers. While some regions have filled the vacuum with blogs purporting to be news but are really […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: Filling the news hole
Everyone knows about the retrenchment and redistribution of resources by media outlets, especially newspapers. While some regions have filled the vacuum with blogs purporting to be news but are really […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
Baker refuses to disavow new pipeline capacity
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE DEFENDING HIS ADMINISTRATION’S COMMITMENT to developing clean energy sources, Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday responded to activists who are aggressively pressing him to take steps to […]
Posted inOpinion
Changing of the guard in East Boston
IT SEEMS LIKE YESTERDAY to me, but it was a long time ago – 1983 – when I ran Bob Travaglini’s campaign for District 1 City Council. It was the […]
Posted inPolitics
Lowell’s single-issue electionÂ
ELECTIONS, as they say, have consequences. This is certainly the case in Lowell, where voters on Tuesday delivered a stunning rebuke to their elected officials and their decision to relocate […]
Posted inThe Download
For women, news seems good and bad
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Overused as they are, it seems hard to avoid the sense that the famed first lines describing the […]
Posted inEconomy
Time for state to catch up on Airbnb tax
STARTING NOVEMBER 1, New Hampshire became the fifth and latest New England state to allow Airbnb to collect taxes on behalf of its community of hosts and guests, and remit […]
Posted inPolitics
Heroux plans to work 2 jobs as mayor, rep
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE ATTLEBORO’S MAYOR-ELECT, Democrat Rep. Paul Heroux, plans to serve out the remaining 14 months of his term in the House even after taking over at City […]
Posted inGambling
Wynn interested in buying Everett T facility
WYNN RESORTS IS INTERESTED in purchasing a massive MBTA repair facility adjacent to the Everett property where it is building a $2.4 billion hotel and casino, but so far has […]
Posted inThe Download
A new start in Framingham, old faces elsewhere
If you’re starting with a fresh form of government, you might as well have a fresh face. At least that’s what Framingham voters thought after giving a convincing win to […]
Posted inHealth Care
Lawmakers must make hospital rates fairer
HEALTH EQUITY MOTIVATED Massachusetts’ first-in-the-nation, near-universal healthcare coverage in 2006. Now, it should be a guiding principle as we tackle rising healthcare costs so necessary to keep the healing and […]
Posted inHealth Care
Insurers sound alarm on Senate health bill
InsuSTATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE SEVERAL LARGE HEALTH INSURERS are sounding the alarm on the eve of Senate debate on a health care bill that seeks to shrink the gap between […]
Posted inOpinion
Take the chains off nurse practitioners
HISTORICALLY, MASSACHUSETTS HAS BEEN a leader in healthcare reform. However, antiquated, restrictive laws and licensing requirements leave Massachusetts among only 13 states in the country – and the only state […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Pot board wants $5 million more
THE STATE’S CANNABIS Control Commission has asked lawmakers for another $5.2 million for the remainder of the fiscal year on top of the $2.3 million that was already set aside […]
Posted inThe Download
Tufts Medical CEO quote inflames negotiations
Michael Wagner, the CEO of Tufts Medical Center, is trying to walk back controversial comments he made about nurse staffing levels in a bid to get deadlocked contract negotiations with […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
House pushes narrower criminal justice legislation
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE plans to consider substantial changes to the way justice is delivered, with a powerful committee polling members Monday on legislation to repeal certain […]
Posted inTransportation
T notes: Agency nearing $1b capital spending target
THE MBTA IS CLOSING IN on its goal of investing $1 billion a year in the transit system. Joanna Aalto, who oversees the T’s capital program, told the Fiscal and […]
Posted inTransportation
Uncertain future makes T planning difficult
THE MBTA SPENT MOST OF MONDAY struggling with what the future holds – on ridership, service expansion, and vehicle purchases and maintenance – and came away without a whole lot […]
Posted inPolitics
Brockton candidate already a winner
WITH MAYORAL RACES in the gun lap around the state, most eyes are on what’s happening in Boston and then maybe on Lawrence and Framingham or Newton. But little attention […]
Posted inThe Download
Worcester hires Zimbalist, Mullan
Worcester’s hush-hush courtship of the Pawtucket Red Sox just got a bit more interesting. The Telegram & Gazette reported that the city hired Smith College economist Andrew Zimbalist and former […]
Posted inGambling
Revisiting one of Walsh’s biggest defeats
IT’S HARD TO REMEMBER NOW why Boston Mayor Marty Walsh spent a good chunk of his initial two years in office fighting a legal and verbal war with Steve Wynn […]
Posted inEducation
Boston teachers union attack fires blanks
LAST NOVEMBER, Democrats for Education Reform held our election night party at the same Boston hotel as the state Democratic Party and the anti-charter ballot campaign. I was one of […]
Posted inOpinion
Public health emergency rings hollow
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S ANNOUNCEMENT that the opioid epidemic is a public health emergency certainly drew attention to the problem, but in reality it is an empty declaration that, at least as […]