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 […]
For Arroyo, probate job no soft landing pad
Posted inPolitics
Curtatone, Hodgson hold largely cordial sanctuary city debate
SOMERVILLE MAYOR JOSEPH CURTATONE and Bristol Country Sheriff Thomas Hodgson on Thursday dropped their sound-bite attacks on one another and for the most part engaged in a substantive debate about sanctuary […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Haven for city teens in peril
There are the periodic public squabbles that break out over who is doing what to quell violence in Boston neighborhoods and who is bears responsibility for stopping the cycle […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
8,200 Uber, Lyft drivers fail background check
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MORE THAN 8,200 DRIVERS for Uber and Lyft failed a state background check to operate in Massachusetts after their applications were flagged for everything from license […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Finneran loses pension appeal
THE STATE’S HIGHEST COURT has rejected an appeal by former House speaker Thomas Finneran to reinstate his pension, saying the one-time legislative leader’s lies during testimony in a federal lawsuit […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The city of Framingham
Welcome to the small time. In the third attempt in the last 40 years to change their form of governance, and by less than a 1 percent margin, Framingham voters decided […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Rosenberg: ‘We are no longer rolling in dough’
What follows is the prepared text of a speech delivered Wednesday morning to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. AS WE GATHER HERE TODAY, we have much to celebrate as […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Attack on DiMasi was irresponsible
THERE ARE SOME THINGS I KNOW with certainty. One of them is that former House speaker Sal DiMasi was a consistent and principled progressive. Whether he was fighting for health […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics
Natural gas shouldn’t be the boogie man
IT’S IRONIC THAT SEVERAL DAYS after Emily Norton’s op-ed in CommonWealth (“Kill the Northeast pipeline”), the Department of Environmental Protectiion announced that greenhouse gas emissions in Massachusetts decreased from 2013 to […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
We need debt-free college in MA
SPRING IS UPON US – and across Massachusetts, tens of thousands of students are preparing to graduate and collect their diplomas. In too many cases, the excitement of a new […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
SJC hears case on holding immigrant detainees
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS have the “inherent” authority to arrest and hold immigrants scheduled for deportation, a Department of Justice attorney argued in court on Tuesday. […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Warren makes case against Gorsuch
The following is an appeal sent out Tuesday afternoon by Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s campaign committee. WHEN JUSTICE ANTONIN SCALIA died last year, giant corporations and their right-wing buddies spent millions […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion, Politics
Repeal challenge: Republicans love Obamacare
REPUBLICANS APPEAR TO BE preparing another run at repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act. The New York Times reported Tuesday that a new version of the wildly unpopular American […]
Posted inTransportation
Feds agree with Green Line Ext. cost estimate
THE GREEN LINE EXTENSION moved closer to reality on Tuesday, as the Federal Transit Administration said it agreed with the MBTA’s $2.289 billion cost estimate for the project and state […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Going nuclear
In the arcane rules of the US Senate, the nuclear option is a parliamentary procedure that allows the body to override a rule or precedent by a majority vote. In […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
MA emissions continue decline
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS in Massachusetts decreased from 2013 to 2014, continuing a decade-long trend, according to the latest state data. State law requires emissions by 2020 […]
Posted inTransportation
Locomotive defects get T’s attention
THE MBTA’S CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER announced on Monday that he is going to be working with Keolis officials to address defects in 40 relatively new commuter rail locomotives that are […]
Posted inTransportation
T backing off paratransit service cuts
STATE TRANSPORTATION OFFICIALS signaled on Monday that they are leaning toward no outright service cuts in paratransit service and are amenable to using a portion of a legislative appropriation to […]
Posted inTransportation
Orange Line car pulls into City Hall plaza
THE CHINESE OFFICIALS building new subway cars for the MBTA took a bow on Monday at the public unveiling of a prototype of the new Orange Line car at City […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
What’s a Democrat to do?
Donald Trump is the president. Should Democrats accept that and work with him whenever possible? Should they fight him every step of the way? Or is there some middle ground? […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Whose party is it?
SO FAR, THE DEMOCRATIC RACE to take on Gov. Charlie Baker next year has been a who’s who of “who’s that?” Pols and party professionals are rushing to the sidelines in hopes […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion, Politics
“What the heck are you thinking?”
“I HAVE A simple question: What the heck are you thinking? What is in your mind?” With that, a dumbfounded Rep. Michael Capuano took to the House floor on Tuesday and spoke […]
Posted inTransportation
T union president indicted for fraud, kickbacks
THE PRESIDENT OF an MBTA union is facing charges that he used his position as a buyer for the agency to submit fraudulent invoices that netted him more than $100,000 in […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Episode 42: Missed opportunities with new K-12 plan
Massachusetts is about to submit to the US Department of Education its plan for monitoring and holding schools accountable under the new Every Student Succeeds Act, the law passed in […]