NEW ECONOMIC DATA suggest the state’s labor market is nearing full capacity, which is translating into employment gains across the state and not just in metropolitan Boston. A group of […]
Jobless rates dropping all over MA
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Time to step up fight against ACA repeal
A NEW REPUBLICAN-CONTROLLED Congress is in place. And for the sixth time, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is facing extinction. Indeed, a gripping narrative history of the ACA/Obamacare could be […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Civics education needed now more than ever
ACCORDING TO THE Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, a nonpartisan research organization at Tufts University, only about half of registered voters aged 18-29 voted in […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, The Download
Hodgson’s off the wall idea
For the most part, Massachusetts is bereft of the cast of local Trump acolytes who have risen up elsewhere to pronounce the incoming president a leader of enormous vision and […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics
Why trash talk amounted to nothing
EVEN FOR BEACON HILL, the wrangling over recycling legislation late Tuesday night was one of those can-you-believe-it moments. It was the last night of the 2015-2016 legislative session, and the […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Two longtime reps skip speaker vote
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE TWO LONGTIME MEMBERS of the House, both with a prickly history with Speaker Robert DeLeo, opted out of voting for DeLeo’s reelection to the post, even asking […]
Posted inPolitics
Rosenberg hews to liberal agenda
SENATE PRESIDENT STAN ROSENBERG offered a snapshot of his legislative priorities for the coming session, zeroing in on the need to invest in education and transportation, and enact criminal justice […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Schilling’s conservative pitch
For a guy who says he doesn’t care about going into the Baseball Hall of Fame, former Red Sox pitcher and noted right-wing flamethrower Curt Schilling is spending an awful […]
Posted inEnvironment
Trash commission stalls over reporting date
WITH TIME RUNNING OUT in the 2015-2016 session on Tuesday night, the Legislature failed to reach agreement on legislation to boost municipal recycling and reduce trash disposal to no more […]
Posted inPolitics
Pro-pot senators pass on blocking delay
SENATE PRESIDENT STANLEY ROSENBERG last week notified three of his colleagues who support marijuana legalization that the Senate was preparing to push back the starting date for retail sales by […]
Posted inEducation
State must signal arts education matters
ARTS EDUCATION PROVIDES vital learning benefits, helping students develop 21st Century skills such as problem solving, critical and creative thinking, collaboration, and teamwork. Research has also shown us for years […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Vennochi, Herald miss the point
Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi and the Boston Herald editorial page rush to the defense of the Beacon Hill insiders who last week pushed through legislation tweaking the timetable of […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion
A Massachusetts freedom agenda
THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONÂ election unleashed forces of racism, sexism, anti-immigrant sentiment, and authoritarianism that, we now know, have been simmering just beneath the surface of the collective American polity. But […]
Posted inOpinion
Let’s hold Exxon accountable
AS A LIFELONG CHELSEA resident, I’ve seen many positive transformations in our community over the past few years. But one thing that has been ever-present is the shadow that the […]
Posted inEnvironment
Trash debate coming to head on Beacon Hill
WITH MASSACHUSETTS RUNNING OUT OF OPTIONS to bury and burn its trash, the long-neglected issue of recycling is getting some attention in the final days of the 2015-2016 legislative session. […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker signs pot sale delay into law
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Friday signed into law a bill that will delay retail sales of marijuana for at least six months, capping an unusual series of holiday-week power moves […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Accountant group pushes tax filing change
IN THE SEEMINGLY ARCANE world of tax filing deadlines and extensions, timing is everything. And a simple change in Massachusetts tax filing deadlines to match new federal regulations would save […]
Posted inThe Back Story
MassHousing paid settlements to terminated workers
THE NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency terminated three employees earlier this year and cushioned the blow by paying them a total of $144,552, according to records […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
House, Senate OK delay in marijuana law
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE HOUSE AND SENATE on Wednesday passed a bill (S 2524) that would delay the licensing of retail marijuana outlets by six months, which could push […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
DNC needs to be turned upside down
IT HAS BEEN OVER A MONTH since the 2016 presidential election. For Democrats, the collective empty feeling and sleepless nights are still present. Why did the Democrats lose? Simply, it […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Boost the Renewable Portfolio Standard
AT THE SAME TIME president-elect Donald Trump has loudly promised job creation measures, he has also vowed to invest in fossil fuel expansion, including the coal industry. These two promises […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Standing in a train on a snowy evening
Whose trains these are I think I know. His office is high atop Beacon Hill though. He will not see me stopping here To watch the tracks fill up with […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Download, Transportation
The Codcast: Talking among ourselves
What do criminal justice reform, the MBTA, and legal marijuana have in common? Other than the fact you can get busted for smoking and selling pot on the Green Line, […]
Posted inEconomy
Highest and best use
ROBERT KENNEDY famously paraphrased George Bernard Shaw in a 1968 campaign speech when he said, “Some people see things as they are and say, why? I dream things that never […]