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 […]
R.I. singles out trucks for tolls
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 […]
Posted inThe Download
A nuclear reminder
For most of those who live and play on Cape Cod Bay and the northern coast at the New Hampshire and Massachusetts borders, the cement structures housing aging nuclear generators […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service
November tax collections down
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE REVENUE OFFICIALS collected $105 million less in taxes last month than they did in November 2015, contributing to a long-running up-and-down pattern that has flummoxed […]
Posted inThe Download
Serious Fun II
MassINC, the publisher of CommonWealth, hosted a 20th anniversary celebration Thursday night called Serious Fun II. In keeping with the name, the entertainment featured a serious video about MassINC and […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics, The Back Story
Clinton outperformed Obama in Mass.
HILLARY CLINTON didn’t do as well on Election Day in most states as President Obama did in 2012 – except in a handful of spots, including Massachusetts. In fact, Clinton […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Warren backs one-time rival Brown for VA post
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE EVER SINCE SHE beat him in 2012, US Sen. Elizabeth Warren has used former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown as her go-to punching bag for laugh lines […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Episode 28: Not your fathers weed
Did you hear? Legal marijuana for adult recreational use is coming to Massachusetts. It may be soon, it may be later, but make no mistake, it’s on its way. Scott […]
Posted inThe Download
Not your father’s weed
Did you hear? Legal marijuana for adult recreational use is coming to Massachusetts. It may be soon, it may be later, but make no mistake, it’s on its way. But […]
Posted inPolitics
DeLeo, Rosenberg agree to a set of rules
HOUSE SPEAKER ROBERT DELEO and Senate President Stanley Rosenberg on Wednesday announced they had bridged their differences and found common ground on rules for running the Legislature, an issue that […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Trump poised to dump Affordable Care Act
PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP has nominated Rep. Tom Price of George, an orthopedic surgeon and the House Budget Committee chairman, to be his first secretary of health and human services. For […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The price of sanctuary
Massachusetts is walking on eggshells now that Donald Trump is poised to move into public housing in Washington and nowhere is that trepidation felt more than in the so-called “sanctuary […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Hedge fund could lose millions for campaign violation
A $500 CAMPAIGN donation to a family friend running for Massachusetts governor could potentially cost a New York hedge fund millions of dollars in its management fees of investments from […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Glass ceilings don’t always remain shattered
MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, what we take for granted was not always so. In a time when it seems unremarkable that a woman is leading the Commonwealth’s Department of Transportation, […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Boston’s presidential election numbers
NATIONWIDE, THE STORY over the past couple of weeks has been how Donald Trump outmaneuvered Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. Back here in Boston the converse was true: […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion, Politics
Fighting for a $15 minimum wage
IN 2014, a coalition of community, faith, and labor organizations called Raise Up Massachusetts led the campaign to raise the state’s minimum wage, which was then just $8 an hour. […]
Posted inThe Download
Kellyanne Conway is right
Many would view Mitt Romney’s selection as secretary of state as a betrayal. Sure, bringing the former GOP presidential nominee and Massachusetts governor into the Trump cabinet could be a […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
T preparing to privatize call center
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MBTA PLANS to go out to the market for private bidders to run its call center operations, which will likely be privatized, according to a […]
Posted inTransportation
Baker aide attends T board executive session
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER’S chief of staff attended a private, executive session of the MBTA’s oversight board on Monday, stirring speculation that a candidate for the T’s general manager’s post was […]
Posted inEconomy
Banking on the pot industry
AT LEAST ONE Massachusetts bank is offering services to the nascent legal marijuana industry in the state despite uncertainty over federal drug and banking regulations that still classify all pot […]
Posted inThe Download
The sorest winner
Another day, another circus act from the ringmaster who will soon be the leader of the free world. The latest mystifying feat under the big top? A Donald Trump tweet […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Zipcar founder Robin Chase on upending the status quo
This article is part of a series entitled The Future of Mobility, a joint project of CommonWealth and Meeting of the Minds, a San Francisco-based organization that seeks to build alliances around […]