IT’S ALL BUT irresistible to characterize the MBTA’s efforts to contract out part of its bus maintenance operation as a union issue: Will bus maintenance continue to be performed by unionized T […]
Bus maintenance outsourcing makes sense
Posted inThe Download
For Mass., high stakes in health debate
Efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act gained some momentum this week as Republicans put forward legislation that would put the brakes on federal health care spending in a way […]
Posted inTransportation
T notes: Ramirez says riders don’t think MBTA cares
NEW MBTA GENERAL MANAGER LUIS RAMIREZ said he spent a lot of time traveling on buses and subways over the last week and came away convinced that most riders don’t think […]
Posted inTransportation
T, bus repair union negotiating again
MBTA OFFICIALS AND THE UNION representing workers at three bus maintenance garages facing privatization have entered into serious negotiations, with a member of the T’s oversight board working to bring […]
Posted inThe Download
Globe comes clean
The Boston Globe aired its dirty linen in public over the weekend, running a front-page story that revealed the newspaper is still a long way from resolving problems with its […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Baker opens a legal can of worms
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER filed new legislation last month to battle the opioid crisis. His bill proposes some “important updates” to our arsenal of weapons in this fight, one of which, he […]
Posted inOpinion
Nonprofits deserve a lot more scrutiny
THE ISSUE ARISES every so often, like a phoenix from the flames, especially around budget time. This year was no different. How do we, and how should we, tax nonprofit […]
Posted inOpinion
Preserve ‘Grand Bargain’ in education
IN 1993, THE Democratic-led Legislature, together with a Republican governor, entered into a “Grand Bargain” in education policy: The state would substantially increase education funding in exchange for schools using high standards and […]
Posted inTransportation
Locomotive repairs off to bumpy start
A PROGRAM RUN BY KEOLIS Commuter Services to refurbish older, out-of-service commuter rail locomotives is off to a bumpy start. Three locomotives have gone through the so-called UTEX program so far, […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Episode 66: Boston’s chief of the streets, Part 1
Boston’s streets and sidewalks comprise 9 square miles in a city that is only 48 square miles in total. Chris Osgood, with the odd but apt title of Boston’s chief […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: Boston’s chief of the streets
Boston’s streets and sidewalks comprise 9 square miles in a city that is only 48 square miles in total. Chris Osgood, with the odd but apt title of Boston’s chief […]
Posted inEconomy
Income up, poverty and inequality down
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WITH THE STATE moving toward major decisions over wages, income taxation and health care spending, new data published by the US Census Bureau Thursday shows Massachusetts […]
Posted inEnvironment
Reliance on natural gas expected to grow
THE OPERATOR OF THE NEW ENGLAND power grid said on Thursday that demand for electricity will remain fairly flat over the next decade, but warned that the region will become […]
Posted inTransportation
Giving T credit where credit is due
THOSE OF US IN THE TRANSIT ADVOCACY community spend a lot of time, and rightfully so, identifying ways that the MBTA can improve its services. There is much to be […]
Posted inThe Download
Chasing health care’s ‘big white whale’
As Margot Sanger-Katz wrote in the New York Times on Monday, Democrats “giddy” from their recent health victory were ready to reach for the big prize — a single-payer health […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Eversource’s solar proposal needs to go
HEADS UP EVERSOURCE CUSTOMERS – a discriminatory charge could be coming your way. In its latest general rate case, Eversource announced that it would like to impose a “demand charge” […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker nominates T attorney for Appeals Court
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Wednesday nominated John Englander, the general counsel at the MBTA and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, to serve as an associate justice of the state Appeals […]
Posted inThe Download
Amazon’s search for prime rewards
No one ever accused Jeff Bezos of being a bad businessman. Well, maybe some when Amazon was just selling books online and wallowing in red ink in the early years. […]
Posted inPolitics
NH voter fraud claims baffle Mass. officials
AT A MEETING of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity on Tuesday, New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner dismissed assertions by commission vice chair Kris Kobach that widespread […]
Posted inTransportation
Marching orders for the T’s new GM
THE MBTA’S NEW GENERAL MANAGER will be paid a bonus of as much as 10 percent this fiscal year if he holds the line on operational spending, increases capital expenditures […]
Posted inEconomy
Amazon, come to Boston
Dear Jeff Bezos, Build it in Boston. Your second corporate headquarters, which you intend to be a “full equal” to Amazon’s home in Seattle, belongs in the Athens of America. I know there’s competition […]
Posted inUncategorized
Pot board taps chair as interim director
THE MAIN ORDER of business Tuesday in the Cannabis Control Commission’s first-ever public hearing was to install an interim executive director and the board didn’t look far – Chairman Steven […]
Posted inThe Download
Come clean on pot use
The Cannabis Control Commission met for the first time on Monday, and two of the five members refused to say whether they had ever smoked pot. Commissioners Jennifer Flanagan, a […]
Posted inTransportation
T notebook: Another privatization initiative
THE MBTA’s OVERSIGHT BOARD on Monday approved another privatization initiative – outsourcing police dispatch services at the transit authority. The Fiscal and Management Control Board voted 3-0 to hire IXP […]