JUST AS THE MBTA’S COMMUTER RAIL operator is starting to get a handle on its shortage of working locomotives, the company is facing a mysterious problem with the wheels on […]
Mysterious malady plagues commuter rail wheels
Posted inPolitics
Pot panel looks to let ex-cons in
THE LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE shaping the state’s new marijuana law wrapped up its final session of hearings Monday with an impassioned plea from a convicted drug felon to change the laws […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Uber ego
Uber is what many describe as a “disruptive technology,” that emerging portion of the so-called gig economy that is challenging traditional models of commerce with little regard for the niceties of […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
DCR is an agency without a vision
KUDOS TO THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION for stepping in to help the Department of Conservation andRecreation (DCR) focus on its core expertise – parks and parkways stewardship – by taking management […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
State needs to help with college funding
YOU CAN OFTEN FIND ME and a few students at a table in the basement of the Northern Essex Community College Library while we discuss various issues that face our […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Moving beyond health cost targets
IN LATE MARCH, the board of the Health Policy Commission voted unanimously to leave the 2018 cost growth benchmark for total state health care expenditures at 3.1 percent. This target […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Episode 45: Moulton doesn’t mince words
The phrase “mealy-mouthed politician” often seems redundant, so closely do we associate political figures with an aversion to direct answers that cut through the usual fog. That does not describe […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Codcast: Moulton doesn’t mince words
The phrase “mealy-mouthed politician” often seems redundant, so closely do we associate political figures with an aversion to direct answers that cut through the usual fog. That does not describe […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
New Seaport garage makes sense
THE NEWS THAT MASSPORT is moving forward with a planned 1,550-space parking garage in the Seaport District, and that the city wants to add another 550 spaces to its garage […]
Posted inThe Back Story
What’s going on at Millennium Tower?
IT’S ALL A BIT MYSTERIOUS, but a recent real estate transaction at Millennium Tower sheds some light on the financial challenges of catering to the whims of well-to-do condo buyers. […]
Posted inEducation
Mass. educator named National Teacher of the Year
SYDNEY CHAFFEE, a 9th grade humanities teacher at a Dorchester charter school, is not just a good teacher, she is, by at least one measure, the best one in the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
For Fox, bottom line was the only factor
Bill O’Reilly is out in a major victory for women’s rights and an acknowledgement by Fox News of the clear wrongs he committed over many years while bloviating from moral […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, Opinion
With mixed record on opioids, Baker joining task force
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER IS JOINING a White House task force on opioids, to be chaired by fellow governor Chris Christie, whom Baker endorsed in the Republican presidential primaries. Baker is […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
When not guilty is not innocent
Aaron Hernandez died an innocent man. Technically. The former New England Patriots star tight end, who apparently took his life early this morning in his cell at the state’s maximum security prison […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker public records stance referred to Healey
THE STATE’S SUPERVISOR OF PUBLIC RECORDS said Gov. Charlie Baker failed to comply with an administrative order to produce documents and referred the matter to Attorney General Maura Healey for […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Home loan segregation
A study of home mortgage lending in Massachusetts provides yet another window on racial segregation in Massachusetts. The study, by the Massachusetts Community & Banking Council, found blacks in 2015 […]
Posted inEconomy, Education
UMass Amherst investing in innovation
THE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST, the flagship campus of the state’s university system, is diving into the innovation economy with a splash they hope will ripple out far beyond the […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
The world isn’t as flat as we thought
LONG-TERM TRENDS WILL CHANGE the global economy, putting unique strains on both large cities and outlying areas. PwC has identified five megatrends actively shaping our world: rapid urbanization, technological breakthroughs, […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Eversource electric vehicle proposal worth pursuing
RECENT ACCOUNTS OF THE EVERSOURCE rate case have understandably focused on the utility’s request for a controversial rate increase. However, at risk of getting lost in the shuffle is a […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
How we turn Western Mass. into a high-tech hub
THOSE OF US in Western Massachusetts watched for two generations as the Route 128 corridor boomed and greater Boston turned into one of the world’s great tech centers. Meanwhile, our […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Trump’s dizzying display of reversals
It was just over a month ago that we remarked in this space that President Trump was developing a degree of flexibility in his views that seemed worthy of that […]
Posted inGambling
Rosenberg pans casino last call provision
SENATE PRESIDENT STANLEY ROSENBERG said on Thursday he was not a fan of a House proposal that could allow Massachusetts casinos to serve alcohol to patrons for an additional two […]
Posted inTransportation
T board makes budget choices – in public
AT A TIME WHEN MORE AND MORE of state government deliberations are taking place behind closed doors, the MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board on Thursday debated and acted on […]
Posted inTransportation
Moulton pushes North-South Rail Link
IT’S BEEN CALLED pie-in-the-sky by some. Others have visions – more accurately, nightmares – of another Big Dig that turns downtown Boston upside down for years and soaks public coffers […]