IN 2008, THE Patrick administration set out to wire 123 cities and towns in western Massachusetts for broadband. But eight years, 1,200 miles of fiber-optic cable, and nearly $100 million […]
The toughest mile
Posted inEconomy
Drawing a line
IT’S NOT QUITE a gang war with combatants brandishing mechanical pencils but there’s a brewing battle over state regulations that engineering companies say are arcane and outdated but architects insist […]
Posted inMicrophilanthropy
A personal form of charity
Microphilanthropy is an occasional feature that calls attention to small acts of generosity that people do for the benefit of others and highlights little-known needs that could benefit from generosity, […]
Posted inEducation
Pharmacy school pays chief well
CHARLES MONAHAN JR. makes $1.3 million a year in total compensation, more than all but one of his presidential peers at other colleges in Greater Boston. Monahan does not work […]
Posted inOpinion
We’re turning 20
MASSINC, THE PARENT of CommonWealth magazine, turns 20 this year. We’re planning a birthday party on December 1 that we’re calling Serious Fun II and we’re starting to think about […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion, Politics
Mending the social fabric
The Fractured Republic: Renewing America’s Social Contract in the Age of Individualism By Yuval Levin New York: Basic Books 262 pages SPEND SOME TIME in West Virginia or Kentucky and […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Charter schools are not ‘draining’ district budgets
AS THIS NOVEMBER’S ballot initiative on raising the cap on the number of charter public schools in Massachusetts draws closer, opponents find ever-more financial woes to blame on the schools. […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
The evolution of the presidential campaign
THERE WAS A TIME when presidential candidates stayed home and left their campaigns to surrogates. In his majestic history of the Civil War, Shelby Foote described the 1860 campaign as […]
Posted inEconomy
A Springfield revival?
Photographs by Mark Morelli SPRINGFIELD MAYOR DOMENIC SARNO remembers the day after Thanksgiving in 2012. The sky was clear and the temperature unseasonably warm. The mayor was at the city’s […]
Posted inPolitics
Trump needs a debate win. Bigly.
DONALD TRUMP SORELY needs to turn in a strong debate performance this weekend. The last two weeks have brought a near-constant stream of bad news for the Republican candidate: After […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Episode 21: The charter funding debate
The impact of charter schools on district school budgets has become a central point of contention in the debate over Question 2, the November ballot question that would allow an […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
The charter funding debate
The impact of charter schools on district school budgets has become a central point of contention in the debate over Question 2, the November ballot question that would allow an […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Computing the effect of charter expansion on district budgets
THE MASSACHUSETTS TAXPAYERS FOUNDATION (MTF) report on how charter school openings and expansions impact traditional districts ends with a caveat that should have been its thesis: “Consolidating, realigning or moving programs – […]
Posted inTransportation
Green Line extension getting close
THE $2.3 BILLION GREEN LINE EXTENSION project is not quite a go yet, but it’s getting close, MBTA officials reported to the agency’s oversight board on Thursday. Andrew Brennan, director […]
Posted inEducation, The Back Story
The charter funding debate
IN THE HIGH-STAKES battle over charter school expansion, the impact of charters on school finances has come front and center. Supporters of Question 2, which would allow up to 12 […]
Posted inTransportation
T board privatizes money collection work
UNRUFFLED BY MOUNTING UNION ANGER, the MBTA’s oversight board on Thursday swiftly approved a contract to dismantle the transit agency’s cash collection and money counting operations and turn the work […]
Posted inThe Download
MDC meets DCR
The old Metropolitan District Commission building on Somerset Street in Boston is no longer there, taken down and replaced by a shining glass and steel structure housing Suffolk University offices […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, State House News Service
MWRA: Old water tunnels in poor condition
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE CAST IRON AND STEEL PIPES and valves integral to the tunnel system that provides 60 percent of the water to eastern Massachusetts communities served by the […]
Posted inPolitics
Pot opponents hit ‘Big Marijuana’
OPPONENTS OF THE BALLOT QUESTION to legalize adult use of pot are pivoting their focus away from the dangers of the drug and taking aim at “Big Marijuana,” the burgeoning […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
September tax revenues remain sluggish
REVENUE DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS on Wednesday said collections in September were 1 percent above the monthly benchmark target, but cautioned that the state is hardly out of the woods financially because […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, State House News Service
Baker dumps more workers at DCR
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AFTER A DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION AND RECREATION official was fired and another resigned, management changes are in the pipeline at the agency whose personnel has recently […]
Posted inTransportation
T says hiring Brink’s would save millions
THE MBTA IS PREPARING to turn over its cash collection and money-counting operations to Brink’s Inc., the first major privatization move at the agency under special authorization granted by a 2015 […]
Posted inTransportation
T cleaning contract creates political divide
THE MBTA’S CURRENT CLEANING CONTRACT with two private vendors illustrates how the administrations of Gov. Charlie Baker and former governor Deval Patrick are both alike and different when it comes […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
MassDOT looks to trash records
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE IF YOU USED an old Fastlane transponder on the Massachusetts Turnpike 18 years ago, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation likely has a record of that trip. […]