STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE NEWTON MAYOR SETTI WARREN unleashed a blistering attack on Gov. Charlie Baker this week in response to the governor’s filing of legislation that would allow police, […]
Baker, Warren not far apart on ICE detainers
Posted inThe Back Story
Does web browsing leave a public record?
THE STATE’S SUPERVISOR of public records says a state employee’s web browsing history is a public record, and has asked Attorney General Maura Healey to order the Baker administration to […]
Posted inTransportation
Mapping the T’s monopoles
Below is an interactive map developed by the MBTA showing the proposed locations of the 74-foot monopoles scheduled to go up along commuter rail lines to improve WiFi service on […]
Posted inThe Download
4 takeaways from sales tax moves
You could actually see an industry in transition on Wednesday. Amazon held a giant job fair at nearly a dozen of its US warehouses, including the one in Fall River, […]
Posted inOpinion
Escaping the news Thunderdome
FOLLOWING THE NEWS has become exhausting. We hardly know what to believe anymore. In response, many people now feel the need to curate reality, by pre-selecting news sources on their […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker makes last-minute sales tax holiday pitch
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Gov. Charlie Baker is mounting a late bid to return the popular sales tax holiday this year, formally asking lawmakers who have already begun their summer […]
Posted inThe Download
Here’s the Diehl
Geoff Diehl made it official last night by formally announcing his Republican run against US Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Somebody pass Charlie Baker the antacids. The Whitman state rep mixed his […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker bill seeks some immigration detainer cooperation
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A PUSH FROM THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION to respond to a Supreme Judicial Court ruling and reinstate a policy allowing state and local police to cooperate, on […]
Posted inEducation
Mass. rating plan deemed unfair to high-poverty schools
MASSACHUSETTS GETS A poor grade from a Washington-based policy organization on how its plan to comply with a new federal education law treats schools with high rates of poverty. But […]
Posted inThe Download
On to the next ballot questions
Now that last year’s final ballot-approved law is in place (Gov. Charlie Baker signed the legislatively amended marijuana bill into law on Friday), Beacon Hill is gearing up for the […]
Posted inTransportation
Poftak reports on commuter rail WiFi project
THE MBTA’S INTERIM GENERAL MANAGER on Monday laid out the benefits of a controversial WiFi commuter rail contract that calls for 74-foot towers along the tracks, but he acknowledged the […]
Posted inTransportation
T details Foxborough, overnight pilots
THE MBTA OUTLINED on Monday the cost and benefits of pilot projects that would provide overnight bus service in the Boston area and extend daily commuter rail service to Gillette […]
Posted inEnvironment
Offshore wind farm bids against hydro, onshore wind firms
DEEPWATER WIND, one of a handful of companies expected to bid on an upcoming offshore wind power contract, revealed on Monday that it has also submitted three bids on a […]
Posted inTransportation
Healey collects $1.1m from T parking lot operator
ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY’S office reached a settlement on Monday with the MBTA’s former parking lot operator, requiring LAZ Parking to pay the state $1.1 million to resolve allegations that its […]
Posted inThe Download
Another big mention for Moulton
Politico’s massive profile of Seth Moulton struggles with the opposing Beltway views of the congressman from Massachusetts: Is he a rank opportunist willing to say and do almost anything to […]
Posted inOpinion
Take long view, build N-S Rail Link
DESPITE THE SORRY STATE of Greater Boston’s commuter rail system, it manages to function well enough to carry nearly half of the city’s suburban commuters to jobs and other destinations. […]
Posted inTransportation
Tough to compete against subsidized Uber, Lyft fares
UBER AND LYFT spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year to subsidize artificially low fares. They have never been profitable. Uber lost $2.8 billion in 2016, according to a […]
Posted inEnvironment
Cities and states must take lead on climate change
CLIMATE CHANGE CREATES risks that scientists have been warning about for decades. Fortunately, many actions that reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change and hedge against longer-term risks […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Baker signs pot bill, raises concerns
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER signed a law on Friday overhauling the marijuana legalization measure voters put on the books in November, and immediately afterward offered a cautious […]
Posted inTransportation
Real progress at the MBTA
ALMOST TWO YEARS AGO, the MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board began what many thought to be a thankless if not hopeless task: Transform a fiscally and operationally broken MBTA […]
Posted inEnvironment
Ingredients for climate success
MASSACHUSETTS HAS A STRONG RECORD addressing climate-changing pollution. In the early 2000s, Massachusetts was a founding partner in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a multi-state, bipartisan cooperative that has […]
Posted inThe Download
McCain goes maverick-y
In the end, John McCain, whose career has been marked by periods of both swashbuckling independence and fall-in-line toeing-the-Republican party line, chose the former for what may go down as […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Back Story
Hydro-Quebec partners up
HYDRO-QUEBEC, a utility giant that fashions itself the electric battery of the Northeast, is partnering with three different transmission companies in competing for a massive clean energy contract with Massachusetts. […]
Posted inThe Download
MassHealth votes represent major shift
The Legislature’s rejection of Gov. Charlie Baker’s MassHealth savings initiatives represents a big political shift on Beacon Hill. In the past, Democratic lawmakers have largely ceded the nitty gritty of […]