Here is the statement released by Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan on October 5, 2017, on the Senate criminal justice reform legislation: “As a prosecutor for more than thirty […]
Middlesex DA Ryan supports repeal of some mandatory minimum drug sentences
Posted inOpinion
Sound lessons from Seattle
MASSACHUSETTS IS ABUZZ with talk about whether Amazon might choose one of our communities for its second North American headquarters. Just days after Amazon announced a nation-wide search for “HQ2,” […]
Posted inThe Back Story
MBTA still having problems with some contracts
Two years ago, when the Green Line extension ballooned in cost from $2 to $3 billion, the project highlighted the MBTA’s inability to hire competent contractors and to oversee their work to a satisfactory […]
Posted inThe Download
Telling Amazon a good story
The countdown clock is ticking for delivery of proposals to host a second Amazon headquarters.The plans are due two weeks from today, and there is wide agreement that Boston is […]
Posted inTransportation
Senators grill T officials on privatization
IN APRIL, THE MBTA’S Fiscal and Management Control Board approved a budget that counted on millions of dollars in savings from bus maintenance operations, and the five members unanimously approved […]
Posted inOpinion
Could electricity become too cheap to meter?
YEARS AGO, DURING AN ERA in which nuclear power had great promise, advocates for this energy form said that it would produce electricity “too cheap to meter.” While that prediction […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Conley opens the door to repeal of some mandatory minimums
Here is the statement provided on October 3, 2017, by Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley on the Senate criminal justice reform bill: “Massachusetts has among the lowest violent crime […]
Posted inThe Download
No laughing matter
Nothing is more responsible for televisions in bedrooms than late-night talk shows and the comedians who hosted the programs that generations of Americans tuned into at the end of a […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Senate goes big on criminal justice bill
THE SENATE IS poised to consider a wide-ranging criminal justice bill that would reform everything from the bail system to mandatory minimum sentences and fees and penalties that weigh heavily […]
Posted inHealth Care
Commission hears worries on health cost trends
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 […]
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 SERVICESÂ 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 […]