IN MY FIELD, the lost art of listening is vital to greater learning and understanding. As a doctor, I’ve spent more than two decades listening closely to better understand when […]
In some cases, let the machines take over
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Codcast: Probation, patronage, and power struggles
Patronage, no matter how blatant or unsavory, is not a crime. At least that’s what a federal appeals court ruled recently in overturning the convictions of former Probation commissioner Jack […]
Posted inEducation
State’s highest-paid employee survived 2 bad reviews
THE STATE’S HIGHEST PAID EMPLOYEE the past four years managed to hang onto his million-dollar-a-year job even after receiving back-to-back unsatisfactory performance reviews. Derek Kellogg, the former UMass men’s basketball […]
Posted inTransportation
T sues LAZ, its former parking lot operator
THE MBTA SUED its former private parking lot operator on Thursday, seeking the recovery of millions of dollars allegedly stolen by the firm’s employees over a three-year period. If the […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Beacon Hill budget blues
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. Actually, don’t. But the temptation is understandable, as state officials do their best impression of a broken record and once again announce […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Economy booms but state tax take craters
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE BUDGET PROBLEMS worsened considerably Wednesday after cratering April tax collections widened the revenue gap in this year’s budget and called into question assumptions for next […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
‘Wraparound’ services helping kids succeed
WHEN CHILDREN WALK into their schools, they make everyone feel what they feel. Teachers, principals, even superintendents can all feel the burdens students carry, especially those who struggle with poverty […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Union-only deal sent Wynn casino costs soaring
FEW WOULD DOUBT that developer Steve Wynn is a very savvy guy. It turns out, though, he’s getting a lesson in competition and how his own decisions have helped lead […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
A shameful record
The renowned sports philosopher Duane Charles Parcells has often noted that no matter what image one might project on the outside, people cannot escape the reality of their true being. […]
Posted inHealth Care
Amgen offering money-back guarantee
Amgen, a California-based biopharmaceutical company, is offering a money-back guarantee to Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and any of its members who use the company’s expensive cholesterol-lowering drug Repatha and fail […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Moulton getting mentions
He didn’t get mentioned until the fourteenth paragraph of a very speculative story in the New York Times about who the Democrats might run for president in 2020, but that […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Lessons from the collapse of Bridj
THE STARTUP MOBILITY COMPANY that tested the potential for innovation in the transportation sector announced on Sunday that it was shutting down effective immediately. Bridj might have changed the face […]
Posted inTransportation
MBTA misses capital spending mark
THE MBTA, WHICH has struggled to spend money to bring the system up to a state of good repair, will increase expenditures on capital projects to update the system but […]
Posted inTransportation
T sees spike in reported injuries
MBTA OFFICIALS SAID on Monday the number of on-the-job injuries among transportation operators soared during the first three months of the year as the transit authority tried to reduce the […]
Posted inEnvironment
Utilities unveil RFP for offshore wind power
THE STATE’S UTILITIES on Monday set in motion a first-of-its-kind procurement for 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind power by asking Massachusetts regulators to approve a bid process that gives companies […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Globe’s Trump parody — one year later
The Boston Globe’s “opinion team” on Sunday took a look back at its Trump parody front page from a year ago and discovered most of its predictions were off-base. The […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
When does reform end and revenue begin at the T?
SO THERE I WAS, enjoying a brisk late April morning and about to dig into the newspapers (and breakfast), when my iPhone beeped and up came CommonWealth’s Sunday Upload. My […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Congressional delegation should butt out
HERE’S ONE THAT COULD BE A JOKE, except it actually happened. Every member of Massachusetts’ congressional delegation recently thought it would be a good idea to sign a misguided letter […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Achievement gaps tell disturbing tale of two states
MASSACHUSETTS HAS THE best schools in America and some of the highest performing districts. We would not stand for it if three-quarters of the third-graders in Newton or Weston or […]
Posted inOpinion
Have you gone on a pilgrimage?
Photographs from Jarrett Barrios’s Facebook page. HE’S IN A SELF-IMPOSED NEWS BLACKOUT so he won’t be reading this. At least not for a while. My friend Jarrett Barrios — a […]
Posted inPolitics, Transportation
Boston says it’s studying whether to rebuild Long Island Bridge
A SPOKESWOMAN FOR Boston Mayor Marty Walsh issued a statement saying the city is doing a cost-benefit analysis on rebuilding the Long Island Bridge, which is a shift from the […]
Posted inTransportation
Running the numbers on the Fairmount Line
A REPORT RELEASED THIS WEEK by the Boston Foundation pegged weekday ridership on the Fairmount Line at 2,257 passengers in June 2016, which is about 15 percent higher than counts […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion, Politics
An investment in government transparency
LAST TUESDAY WAS tax day, and like many people I got to wondering where my hard-earned money went. Sure, there is the broad mission statement enshrined in the Constitution’s preamble […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Episode 46: No Boston Olympics, revisited
It was just two years ago that the Greater Boston region was in the thick of a high-stakes showdown over whether to proceed with a bid to host the 2024 […]