STUART ALTMAN, the chair of the Health Policy Commission, summed up two days of hearings on cost trends in the state’s health care market by highlighting what was and what […]
Commission hears worries on health cost trends
Posted inHealth Care
DeLeo, Rosenberg on same health care page
HOUSE SPEAKER ROBERT DELEO signaled on Tuesday that he and Senate President Stanley Rosenberg are on the same page when it comes to passing health care reform legislation. Rosenberg told […]
Posted inThe Download
What front pages say
The shootings in Las Vegas dominated the nation’s news coverage Tuesday morning, but the front pages of newspaper print editions showed some different points of emphasis. Most of the front […]
Posted inTransportation
T notes: Pollack slams Keolis on-time performance
TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY STEPHANIE POLLACK took Keolis Commuter Service to task on Monday for failing to improve its on-time performance. Pollack acknowledged after the meeting of the Fiscal and Management Control […]
Posted inTransportation
Problems surface with T’s collision-avoidance contract
THE PRIVATE CONTRACTOR installing a $459 million system to prevent commuter rail train collisions came under heavy fire on Monday for failing to detect problems with its work that were […]
Posted inHealth Care
Hospital care shifting to high-cost medical centers
HOSPITAL ACQUISITIONS BY large Massachusetts provider networks are leading to more patients receiving care in higher-cost teaching hospitals and fewer patients being cared for in community hospitals, according to data […]
Posted inTransportation
Fare verification spurs electronic ticket sales
KEOLIS COMMUTER SERVICES said on Monday that its emerging fare verification initiative is spurring the sale of an average of 1,500 to 2,000 more electronic tickets a day for commuter […]
Posted inHealth Care
Senate to unveil Medicaid legislation
THE SENATE IS PREPARING to unveil legislation designed to pare back the cost of health care and MassHealth by cobbling together ideas put forth by Gov. Charlie Baker, a commission […]
Posted inThe Download
The First Monday in October
While everyone’s focus is on President Trump’s battles with, well, everyone, one of the most important decisions he’s made so far will begin to show results today when the newly […]
Posted inOpinion
Airport workers need safety training
TRAVELERS HAVE AN expectation of safety and security, both in the air and during emergencies at America’s airports. Unfortunately, at many airports we are seeing that an integral group of […]
Posted inOpinion
Stopping climate change starts at home
AS OUR NATION RECOVERS from the damage of three devastating hurricanes and ravaging wildfires it is clear to most Americans that this increasingly severe weather is caused by a warming […]
Posted inEnvironment
Northern Pass hits another obstacle
THE TROUBLED NORTHERN PASS power line project was dealt another blow as the federal Environmental Protection Agency called for an additional 40-mile stretch of the transmission line to be buried […]
Posted inHealth Care
Time to get serious about health care cost control
THIS SUMMER, MASSACHUSETTS and the nation dodged a bullet when the Senate failed by one vote to repeal but not actually replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Had it passed, […]
Posted inThe Download
The great equalizer?
Public education is the great equalizer, the place where everyone gets the same chance to learn and develop to his or her full potential. Or so the mythology goes. In […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Forensic science commission is needed
LET’S TALK NUMBERS, specifically 23,595. As of June 1, 2017, that was the number of convictions that were vacated as a result of Annie Dookhan’s misconduct at the Hinton Drug […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
House, Senate poised to go separate ways on criminal justice bills
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE HOUSE AND SENATE appear poised to go their separate ways on the major issue of criminal justice reform, perhaps meeting in the middle at some […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Back Story
Rick Perry links pipelines, natural security
THERE WAS MORE NEWS out of Washington this week suggesting that the federal government could intervene to override local opposition to natural gas pipelines in order to protect national security. […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Episode 68: Boston and Lawrence narrow mayoral fields
When it comes to the November match-ups for mayor in Boston and Lawrence, it looks like very different tales of two cities, one where a highly competitive race is now […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: Boston and Lawrence narrow mayoral fields
When it comes to the November match-ups for mayor in Boston and Lawrence, it looks like very different tales of two cities, one where a highly competitive race is now […]
Posted inTransportation
Polito promises transportation commission
LT. GOV. KARYN POLITO said the administration intends to follow the advice of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation and sign an executive order creating a commission to examine the state’s transportation […]
Posted inTransportation
Business groups giving MBTA $500,000
A COALITION OF BUSINESS GROUPS plans to give the MBTA $500,000 on Monday to help pay for initiatives to recruit, train, and retrain workers. MBTA officials announced a series of […]
Posted inThe Download
Mixed messages on paying for transportation
These numbers from the 106-page report by a group of state senators on transportation in Massachusetts shouldn’t surprise anyone: 80 percent of respondents to a survey don’t think the transportation system […]
Posted inHealth Care
Graham-Cassidy would be devastating for Mass.
CHUCK IS A 58-YEAR-OLD MALE with multiple chronic physical and mental health conditions, including diabetes, congestive heart failure, kidney disease, and depression. On top of his urgent medical needs – […]
Posted inThe Download
Courting the PawSox
Two suitors are still wooing the Pawtucket Red Sox, and the style of courtship couldn’t be any different. Rhode Island’s approach is loud and raucous. The state’s Senate Finance Committee […]