The suddenly chummy House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Stanley Rosenberg issued a one paragraph joint statement on Monday saying they weren’t going to delay the effective date of […]
It’s marijuana time
Posted inTransportation
Curtatone on $50m GLX contribution
SOMERVILLE IS NOW officially on the hook for contributing $50 million to the MBTA’s $2.3 billion Green Line extension project, a first-of-its kind donation by a municipality for a transit […]
Posted inTransportation
T to replace all Red Line cars
THE MBTA DECIDED on Monday to replace all of the older Red Line cars in its fleet rather than just a portion of them, a move that is expected to […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Download
Connecting climate change dots
Let’s connect a few dots on climate change from the day’s news. Attorney General Maura Healey is locked in a fierce legal battle with ExxonMobil over her request for decades […]
Posted inPolitics
The antiquated Electoral College
WHEN THE FOUNDING generation realized the Electoral College they created contained serious flaws, they changed it to reflect emerging norms of democracy. We should follow their example. The method of […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Episode 29: The case for extending the GLX ‘path’
To make the Green Line extension into Somerville and Medford more affordable, state transportation officials pared back spending on the project by close to $1 billion. A lot of items […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Mass. = primary care doctor desert
MASSACHUSETTS IS ARGUABLY home to the best hospitals, doctors, and medical research institutions in the world. The best and brightest attend our medical schools and many will subsequently live and […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Debunking the Track 61 plan
EFFECTIVE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION systems are those that excel at getting people to places they want to go. That may seem an obvious point but the two attributes that help make […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
The Codcast: The case for extending the GLX ‘path’
To make the Green Line extension into Somerville and Medford more affordable, state transportation officials pared back spending on the project by close to $1 billion. A lot of items […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Is MBTA absenteeism really declining?Â
MBTA officials regularly report they are reining in rampant worker absenteeism, but the progress they report is largely an illusion created by making comparisons to 2015, when severe winter weather […]
Posted inUncategorized
Sheehan steps down as CEO of Globe
THE BOSTON GLOBE on Thursday shuffled its top management, bringing newspaper executive and publisher Doug Franklin out of retirement to replace Mike Sheehan as CEO. Franklin, 59, is the former […]
Posted inThe Download
Owner of Mass. psych hospitals in cross hairs
Some accounts sound like a step into the Twilight Zone, with people who arrived for free mental health assessments finding themselves in locked psychiatric wards without even realizing they had […]
Posted inTransportation
Dalton to bike proposed Green Line ext. path
John Dalton, recently hired to manage the Green Line extension project for the MBTA, is an avid biker, someone who in his previous job in Chicago biked or took public […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Probation fees hit poor the hardest, says report
MONTHLY FEES CHARGED to those on probation in Massachusetts disproportionately hit poorer communities, a costly obstacle to rehabilitation for those least able to afford it, according to a new study. […]
Posted inPolitics
Joyce hit with bigger tax bill
MILTON ASSESSORS HAVE hiked the value of Sen. Brian Joyce’s home because of a real estate listing that showed an opulent finished basement, a livable attic, and more bathrooms than […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Time to invest in voc-tech
THE DEFEAT OF QUESTION 2 to lift the cap on charter schools has left many on both sides of this issue wondering if any common ground can be found to […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download
The Catch-22 of online advertising
As advertisers flee the dead tree versions of news for the online sites that can target audiences through complex algorithms, they are confronting an unintended and growing problem that has […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
Baker, nervous about budget, cuts $98m
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE LURCHING FROM ONE BUDGET PROBLEM to another, Gov. Charlie Baker moved Tuesday to cut $98 million from the $39.25 billion state budget in an effort to […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Repealing Obamacare won’t fix health care
“ALL BUREAUCRACIES, PUBLIC OR PRIVATE, are the same” is a motto I have lived by for years, and it applies to the health care and health insurance bureaucracies. I purchase […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Meditating on liberty
WE DID NOT invent America – we inherited it. What are the core elements of our inheritance, and are they at risk in an era when many of the norms […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
R.I. singles out trucks for tolls
Rhode Island is embracing road tolls in an interesting way, with a plan to assess the fees only on big-rig trucks. The idea, conceived by Gov. Gina Raimondo and backed […]
Posted inTransportation
Lyft offering a ride to the T
MBTA OFFICIALS, ALREADY heartened by improvements in transportation for the handicapped by taxis and private ride-hailing companies, are entertaining a proposal from Lyft to launch late-night on-demand pick-ups that would […]
Posted inPolitics
Tax revenue forecasts all over map
THE STATE’S TAX REVENUE FORECASTERS are more than $1 billion apart in their projections for fiscal 2018, the largest gap between high and low estimates in the last six years. […]
Posted inTransportation
T officials want janitor contracts cleaned up
MEMBERS OF THE board overseeing the MBTA lambasted the private vendors who took over the transit agency’s cleaning operations, suggesting the contracts should be voided after the companies cut back […]