THE MASSACHUSETTS HEALTH POLICY COMMISSION voted unanimously on Wednesday to lower the state’s 2018 benchmark for health care spending growth from 3.6 percent to 3.1 percent, a move that some […]
Health spending benchmark lowered to 3.1%
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Immigration debate heats up in Mass.
The immigration debate raging around the country is taking root in Massachusetts with the vitriol and accusations from both sides feeding a frenzy that we’re being overrun both by illegal […]
Posted inOpinion
The invisible homelessness
FAMILY HOMELESSNESS is sometimes called the invisible homelessness since these mothers and children are more likely to seek nightly shelter in public places – in a hospital emergency room, at […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Drug deja vu
It’s not easy being a health insurer these days, particularly when pharmaceutical companies come along with wonder drugs that cost a fortune. Insurers are all about working the odds. They […]
Posted inTransportation
Orange Line prototype at City Hall
MBTA OFFICIALS SAID A PROTOTYPE of the new Orange Line car will be available for public viewing next Monday through Wednesday at City Hall plaza in Boston. Jeffrey Gonneville, the […]
Posted inTransportation
T running out of options on budget cuts
THE MBTA’S OVERSIGHT BOARD is running out of options to pare back spending in the coming fiscal year. The T wants to balance its fiscal 2018 budget without touching $187 […]
Posted inTransportation
Keolis plagued by train, coach issues
KEOLIS, THE MBTA’S COMMUTER RAIL OPERATOR, is having trouble complying with the maintenance and repair requirements mandated under a six-year, $66 million contract sweetener it received last year. Last July, […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Obamacare more durable than expected
GLOBAL HEALTH EXPERT Michael Reich says that the acid test of any national health reform comes when a new national administration takes over. Only when a new president or prime […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Scrambling the golden egg
Massachusetts, which cautiously and methodically inched its way into casino gambling, is looking at moving into overdrive as lawmakers consider legalizing online gambling. The state’s three approved casinos, of course, […]
Posted inEnvironment
Preparing for a shrinking Boston
SETTLED BY EUROPEAN COLONISTS in 1630, Boston was founded on the narrow Shawmut Peninsula behind the protective landforms of what are today Stellwagen Bank, Winthrop, Hull, and the 34 Boston […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Spare service programs from budget ax
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S FISCAL 2018Â budget eliminates all funding for the Corporation for National and Community Service, the parent organization of flagship national service programs such as AmeriCorps and Senior Corps. As […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
China-based T supplier keeps rolling
The Chinese company building Orange and Red Line trains for the MBTA scored another US victory, winning a $137 million contract to build 45 double-decker rail cars for the […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Don’t forget about transmission
EARLIER THIS MONTH my company, Anbaric, announced a new partnership with the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan that enables funding to create up to $2 billion in renewable energy transmission and […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Fact-checking the T’s structural deficit
Over the last two weeks, the MBTA has repeatedly cited the existence of a “structural deficit” to make the case for its controversial spending cuts and privatization initiatives In a […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Baker’s sweet talk on health care
Do you get more with honey than vinegar? That old adage is the framework for a Boston Globe editorial teeing up the challenge facing Gov. Charlie Baker in the unfolding […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Baker pushes 2-track S. Coast rail approach
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE The Baker administration has agreed on a course for the first phase of long-promised commuter rail service to the South Coast, working under an approach that […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Baby, you can’t drive my car
General Motors wants to own the driverless car market. So much so they have pushed legislators in at least six states, including Massachusetts, to file bills that would only allow the […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Gorsuch is threat to public education
FOR SEVERAL WEEKS, opposition to Betsy DeVos as President Trump’s nominee for secretary of education was front and center in the news – and that was largely thanks to educators. […]
Posted inTransportation
Baker to T: Cut spending but not service
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER said on Tuesday that MBTA officials should continue to search for savings at the agency, but he indicated he didn’t want spending cuts to disrupt service. The […]
Posted inTransportation
5 takeaways from new Orange Line car
MBTA OFFICIALS on Tuesday unveiled a three-quarters mockup of the 152 new Orange Line cars that are on order and due to start arriving at the end of this year. […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Codcast: Goldberg wants to keep her sight on pot
State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg says when she talks to counterparts around the country, there is one aspect of her job that stops them in their tracks: Her office’s regulation of […]
Posted inHealth Care
Baker: Health bill could cost state $2b by 2022
THE REPUBLICAN HEALTH CARE BILL pending in Congress could cost Massachusetts $1 billion in federal revenue in 2020, a figure that could rise to nearly $2 billion by 2022, according […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Baker backs off commuter rail cut
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE ELIMINATION OF WEEKEND COMMUTER rail service will no longer be considered an option to close the MBTA’s looming budget deficit after Gov. Charlie Baker on […]
Posted inTransportation
T report recommends management, oversight changes
THE MBTA SHOULD REVAMP its top management structure and a board should continue to provide direct oversight of T operations after 2020, according to a draft strategic report issued on […]