It really shouldn’t be this hard, should it? When one party has the White House and both chambers of Congress, passing legislation and fulfilling promises should be a snap, one would […]
Getting Obama out of Obamacare
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Lots of fiscal storm clouds
Even as Gov. Charlie Baker is struggling to balance the current fiscal year’s budget and lawmakers are trying to pare back spending in next year’s spending plan, more storm clouds […]
Posted inTransportation
RIDE call center operator fined $100,000
THE MBTA FINED the operator of its paratransit call center $100,000 in May for a series of contract violations that resulted in poor service for customers. The fines equaled about […]
Posted inTransportation
T takes go-slow approach on alcohol ads
WARY OF OFFENDING the public, the MBTA’s Fiscal Management and Control Board on Monday directed the agency’s staff to redraft an alcohol advertising proposal to reduce exposure to young transit […]
Posted inTransportation
T laying 2 cables along same route
THE MBTA’S OVERSIGHT BOARD raised a lot of questions on Monday about the planned installation of more than 300, 75-foot towers to improve WiFi and cell phone service on commuter […]
Posted inTransportation
T spending $2.2m on replacement bus service
THE MBTA SAID ON MONDAY it intends to spend roughly $2.2 million on heavily subsidized station-to-station bus service for commuter rail customers who are left without train rides on weekends […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Charlie sings the blues
Charlie Baker’s rhetorical style is a bit like easy listening music – not blaring, not head-banging, easy on the ears and mind, if not quite dancing music. But lately, Baker […]
Posted inTransportation
T commuter rail WiFi plan under fire
LOCAL OPPOSITION appears to be growing to the MBTA’s plan to install more than 300, 75-foot poles along the commuter rail system to provide WiFi service to people riding trains. […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion, Politics
5 takeaways from Baker’s health reform
PHASE 2 OF THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION’S ambitious health reform agenda emerged this past week. It contains good and smart proposals – and worrisome ones needing attention. Phase 1 is an […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Baker doubling down on failed biotech strategy
This opinion piece has been corrected in several spots (headline and story) to reflect the fact that $1 billion has not been spent by the Massachusetts Life Science Center. Only […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker taps MassDevelopment for $17.5m
IT’S UNCLEAR whether it qualifies as a nip or a tuck, but the Baker administration is tapping an independent authority for $17.5 million to help balance this year’s budget. A […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment
Round three on renewable energy
A RECENT OPINION PIECE in Commonwealth (“The Upside of Renewables” by Peter Rothstein and Michael Behrmann) attempts to rebut an earlier piece by me which pointed out the high cost […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Episode 55: The Greenway Deal
The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy gained a measure of stability this week as the state, the city of Boston, and park abutters agreed to provide $2 million a year […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Codcast: The Greenway deal
The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy gained a measure of stability this week as the state, the city of Boston, and park abutters agreed to provide $2 million a year […]
Posted inOpinion
Fitness for parenting – it takes a village
“Ms. Bond’s ability to parent was not appropriately assessed.” Review of the Death of Bella Bond: Report of the Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate, October 28, 2015 AS A […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
About-face on marijuana
THERE’S BEEN A LOT of pot talk lately on Beacon Hill, as the House and Senate battle back and forth over whether changes should be made (and which ones) to […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Moulton on the move
There has been no shortage of head shaking and hand-wringing in Democratic Party circles following this week’s double loss in special elections for House seats in Georgia and South […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
House revamps voter-approved pot law
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AFTER SEVERAL YEARS of ceding marijuana policy-making to a voting public eager to adopt a more permissive approach to the once completely illegal drug, House lawmakers […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
The upside of renewables
A Commonwealth opinion piece (“The downside of renewables”) published on May 11 provided a flawed argument against renewable energy and its implications for the New England electricity grid by picking […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Marijuana law must address race impact of War on Drugs
IN NOVEMBER, MASSACHUSETTS voters chose to move our state’s drug policy into the 21st century by rejecting the failed War on Drugs and becoming the first state in the Eastern […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
A costly lesson
Mark Twain once famously observed, “Everyone talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it.” College debt, it seems, is falling into the same category as tuition rates continue […]
Posted inTransportation
Interim T chief to be paid $260,000
STEVE POFTAK, who will be taking over as interim general manager of the MBTA on July 1, signed a contract with the authority that calls for him to be paid […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
T says pension problem worsening
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MBTA PENSION FUND’S problems have been festering for years, but T officials this year did not include $9 million in funds needed to pay retirees […]
Posted inTransportation
Pollack: Faster pace needed on climate change
TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY STEPHANIE POLLACK said on Tuesday that the mindset of the state bureaucracy needs to change and change fast if Massachusetts is going to have any chance of responding […]