STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MBTA PLANS to move its Transit Police dispatching function to the private vendor IXP Corporation, freeing up 15 officers to move to patrol as […]
MBTA police plan to privatize dispatch services
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Time for action on high cost of electricity
THE HIGH COST of electricity is a major issue impacting Massachusetts businesses and residents alike. Cheap electricity is available throughout much of the United States. That is not the case […]
Posted inThe Download
The thin blue target
There have probably been better times to be a cop, possibly some worse, but has there ever been a more tense and dangerous time than now? Police are under fire, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Education, Opinion
Missed opportunities in Channel 5 forum on race
THE CONVERSATION ON race in Boston hosted by Channel 5 and the Boston Foundation on Thursday offered a tremendous opportunity to confront prejudice and systemic discrimination in Boston. Sadly, people talked around […]
Posted inGambling
Wynn prevails in Somerville permit challenge
WYNN RESORTS on Friday moved a big step closer to beginning construction on its $2.7 billion hotel and casino in Everett when a state hearing officer said the Las Vegas company […]
Posted inEducation
Democrats’ ed reform pivot
LESS THAN TWO weeks before they will anoint Hillary Clinton as the party’s new standard-bearer, Democrats are putting the finishing touches on a party platform that signals a big shift […]
Posted inEnvironment
Pipeline tariff is not a tax
SEVEN OF THE TOP 10 most expensive states for electricity costs are in the Northeast, including Massachusetts. We pay the sixth-highest retail electricity prices in the nation – almost 50 […]
Posted inThe Download
T control board’s one-year assessment
On the eve of their one-year anniversary, the five members of the MBTA’s Fiscal Management and Control Board report that the “long-term rebuilding of the MBTA is underway.” That’s not […]
Posted inTransportation
Legislature rejects Baker T fare amendment
The Massachusetts Senate both and House rejected Gov. Charlie Baker’s amendment to a proposed new cap on MBTA fare hikes on Thursday night. The Legislature had sent the governor a […]
Posted inEconomy, The Back Story
Airbnb follows Uber playbook
FIRST UBER, NOW AIRBNB. The so-called sharing economy that went from zero to billions of dollars in the blink of an eye caught the State House off-guard, but it now […]
Posted inEnvironment
What will Brad Jones do?
REP. BRADLEY JONES JR. of North Reading is caught in a tug-of-war between the House and Senate as the two branches try to find common ground on energy legislation. Jones […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download
Lyme disease showdown on tap
What happens when 200 people with no medical expertise gather to debate the finer points of scientific evidence on treatment for a serious disease? We’ll soon find out in the […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Obama, Clinton and the new public-option debate
THE ERA OF Democratic silence on strengthening and improving the Affordable Care Act is officially over. President Obama’s tour de force review of the ACA’s successes in the new Journal […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Prohibit the ‘pipeline tax’
What is the proposed “pipeline tax” on our electric bills, and why is there a bipartisan effort to ban it? The so-called “pipeline tax” is a scheme under which consumers […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download
The Notorious RBG
People in their 70s and 80s may not always say it but there is a liberating sense to reaching that age. It comes with impunity to say what’s on your […]
Posted inPolitics
Senate set to tax Airbnb
THE SENATE WILL take up a proposal to extend the hotel tax to home-sharing apps such as Airbnb and Homeaway, the latest effort to rein in and reap revenue from […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Baker pushes T fare flexibility
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER WANTS to give the MBTA a freer hand in raising fares, sending back to the Legislature a budgetary provision that would have imposed […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Episode 11: US Attorney Carmen Ortiz
CommonWealth interviewed Ortiz on June 28 for a story that appears today in the just-released Summer print issue of the magazine. The story, entitled “Leaks, leaks, and more leaks,” raises […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download
The Codcast: US Attorney Carmen Ortiz
US Attorney Carmen Ortiz says her office is not the source of press leaks about ongoing federal investigations. “I know people think that, and I know that they’re wrong,” she […]
Posted inEconomy, Education
The next Kendall Square?
AFTER YEARS OF DELAYS and then years of planning, something big is starting to happen on the Boston side of the Harvard University campus. Out behind the stately Harvard Business […]
Posted inEducation
Musical chairs
Photographs by Michael Manning STATE EDUCATION OFFICIALS placed the Southbridge schools into receivership earlier this year, citing continual underperformance in all testing areas, high suspensions and disciplinary problems, and unacceptable […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Leaks, leaks, and more leaks
Illustrations by Anthony Freda THE HEADLINES KEEP COMING. “Mayor Walsh is drawn into federal labor probe”…“Prosecutors investigate fees collected by Joyce on Randolph projects”…“Joyce’s role in solar project probed”…”Everett mayor […]
Posted inPolitics
A nation divided
ALAN WOLFE HAS had a long interest in American democracy and in Americans’ attitudes toward it and toward issues related to religion and morality. But the longtime sociology professor at […]
Posted inPolitics
To serve and elect
Photograph by Frank Curran The organization you founded, New Politics, is committed to finding and helping elect candidates for office who have backgrounds in the military or civilian service […]