Photograph by Frank Curran What’s the Hoosic River Revival all about? The Hoosic River trickles through downtown North Adams within old, concrete, inaccessible flood control chutes that protect the city […]
Judy Grinnell’s river rehab
Posted inHealth Care
Red states dodge a Medicaid bullet
REPUBLICANS IN WASHINGTON couldn’t cobble together enough votes in March from their own party to repeal and replace Obamacare. President Trump learned that health care is more complicated than he […]
Posted inHealth Care
Bending the Medicaid cost curve
IN A WILDLY uncertain national health care environment, something new, audacious, and risky is happening in MassHealth, the Medicaid program that provides health coverage to 1.9 million people who are […]
Posted inEducation
Esports: More than a game
FOR MOST PEOPLE over the age of 30, playing video games is perceived as a waste of time, a solitary, non-social activity that serves to melt one’s brain. Yet as […]
Posted inHealth Care
Big Pharma hides costs with bait and switch
THE ADS FOR high-end prescription drugs seem ubiquitous. Invokana, Xarelto, Abilify, and Humira are just a few names familiar to anyone with a television. The drugs are some of the […]
Posted inEconomy, Gambling
Wynn shipping contaminated soil around nation
THE CLEANUP OF the Wynn Resorts casino site in Everett is a case of addition through subtraction. Before the Wynn tower could start going up, all of the contaminated soil […]
Posted inUncategorized
Nickeled and dimed
THE TOWN OF Dartmouth is certainly a stickler for the rules, unwilling to forego a nickel copying fee for a document disclosing a legal settlement involving hundreds of thousands of […]
Posted inMicrophilanthropy
Running away from homelessness
Microphilanthropy is an occasional feature that calls attention to small acts of generosity that people do for the benefit of others and highlights little-known needs that could benefit from generosity, […]
Posted inOpinion
What about those holes?
TO SHOW YOU how stupid I am, I thought Suffolk Construction had forgotten to finish the job when it was building Millennium Tower at Downtown Crossing. Every day last year […]
Posted inOpinion
Correspondence, Spring 2017
MILLIONAIRE’S TAX IS FAIR In his recent piece in CommonWealth regarding the proposed Fair Share Amendment, or “millionaire’s tax,” Edward M. Murphy clearly understands why the amendment is necessary (“Dump […]
Posted inTransportation
T estimates GLX operating deficit at $23m a year
THE MBTA PLANS TO SPEND $2.29 billion building the Green Line Extension into Somerville and Medford and another $23 million a year providing the new rail service. John Dalton, the […]
Posted inTransportation
T lays out ‘rescue plan’ for commuter rail
THE MBTA’S CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER on Monday called for hiring outside contractors to return some of the transit agency’s broken-down commuter rail locomotives to service. Jeffrey Gonneville, who is heading […]
Posted inTransportation
T unveils controversial, last-minute cost-saving proposals
THE MBTA’S PLAN TO BALANCE its operating budget next year without tapping any of a $187 million legislative appropriation was scrapped on Monday; the only question now is how much […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, State House News Service
House budget OKs Medicaid levy
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE HOUSE BUDGET COMMITTEE on Monday unanimously advanced a $40.3 billion spending blueprint for next year that would greenlight the Baker administration’s plan to levy an […]
Posted inTransportation
Comm Ave bridge replacement scheduled
STATE OFFICIALS ANNOUNCED on Monday that they plan to replace the structurally deficient Commonwealth Avenue bridge in two phases this summer and next summer, causing disruptions to local car and […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Words matter in immigration debate
The political divide over immigration is wide, and it can be seen clearly in the words people use to describe those at the center of the debate. The Eagle-Tribune reported […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Changing the mindset on commuter rail
Earlier this year, the MBTA announced a misguided approach to renovating the Auburndale Commuter Rail station. While it would make the station ADA-compliant, it would do so in a way […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
In the Berkshires, a school crisis – and opportunity
IF NECESSITY IS the mother of invention, we are busy in the Berkshires figuring out new approaches to school challenges we are facing. Berkshire County has seen a decline of […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
MA should finance climate change projects abroad
BY PROPOSING TO SLASH FEDERAL SPENDING to combat climate change, President Trump has declared war on our ability to deal with a very real, existential global problem that cannot be […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion, Politics
Democrats’ platform of opportunity
THERE’S AN OLD QUIP that a camel is a horse designed by committee. In June, Massachusetts Democrats will affirm a new state platform – the camel meant to guide federal […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Episode 43: Water shuttle coming to Seaport District
Patrick Sullivan, executive director of the Seaport TMA, estimates 4,000 people on a typical weekday come into North Station and then take shuttles to the congested Seaport District. He said […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
The Codcast: Water shuttle coming to Seaport District
The two top priorities of the Seaport Transportation Management Association are water shuttles between North Station and the South Boston waterfront and more Silver Line buses. Patrick Sullivan, executive director […]
Posted inTransportation
Keolis fines averaging $608,000 a month
THE MBTA IS ASSESSING KEOLIS Commuter Services financial penalties of about $608,000 a month, which is roughly 2.3 percent of the firm’s monthly fee of $26 million. According to figures […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
For Arroyo, probate job no soft landing pad
This wasn’t how the story was supposed to end. When Felix Arroyo was elected Suffolk County Register of Probate in 2014, the former Boston city councilor was supposed to sail […]