THE MBTA OVERSIGHT BOARD on Monday put on hold a plan to add additional bus routes to mitigate the cancellation of late-night service until a more sweeping proposal for all-night […]
T board wants all-night service proposal vetted
Posted inPolitics
The anti-tax woman goeth
WHEN COMMONWEALTH MAGAZINE arrived on the scene 20 years ago, Barbara Anderson’s most public battles were already behind her. It was in that context that founding editor Dave Denison paid […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
A Marblehead housewife
“Darn, I knew this was going to happen someday. If you’re reading this, I’m dead.” So begins Barbara Anderson’s final column in today’s Salem News. Anderson died Friday at the […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Summer is no time to waste
BOSTON HAS SOME of the best summer programs in the country, but that is still not enough to ensure that all students have access to them. At the Boston Summer […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service
Senate charter school effort runs off course
AS THE HOURS passed on Thursday night in the Massachusetts Senate, so may have any hope for charter school legislation that would avert a divisive November ballot question showdown. Senators […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Value should determine a drug’s price
WHEN YOU LAST PURCHASED A VEHICLE, did you ask the dealership how much your car cost to manufacture? Chances are, you were more interested in the car’s durability and safety […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Should we smoot the subways?
Recent debates about whose subway is worse, Boston or DC, got me thinking about Moscow’s subway. Moscow’s metro stations are palaces for the people, actual palaces. They are filled with […]
Posted inThe Download
GateHouse creates its own conflict
As the print news business continues to contract, there’s a push on by the suits in the corporate suites to find revenues wherever possible. That push can sometimes blur lines […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
T: Service cuts still an option
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MBTA, which recently voted to raise fares and made significant headway on its structural deficit this year, could look to service cuts in fiscal 2017 […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
And when we get behind closed doors …
Something highly unusual is happening up on Beacon Hill. A legislative conference committee, a group of six lawmakers tasked with finding common ground between the House and Senate on a […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
GE’s tax avoidance: “Imagination at Work”
The General Electric saga took another turn with reports on emails that circulated among city and state officials showing a fevered effort to lure the company, a push that involved […]
Posted inEducation
More funding needed for afterschool programs
CHECK OUT THE NEWSPAPER, TV, or Twitter any day of the week and news floods in about the state of our educational system – debates over district versus charter schools, […]
Posted inEducation
Is charter debate headed for resolution or over the cliff?
WILL THURSDAY MARK the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end of the charter school debate on Beacon Hill? That’s the question as the Senate prepares to […]
Posted inUncategorized
Solar net metering bill moving fast
COMPROMISE SOLAR NET METERING LEGISLATION that allows the industry to resume expansion while reining in some costs borne by ratepayers appears likely to hit the governor’s desk by the end […]
Posted inUncategorized
Baker board denies Cape Wind permit extension
A BOARD DOMINATED BY APPOINTEES of Gov. Charlie Baker dealt a major blow on Wednesday to efforts to revive Cape Wind, voting unanimously not to grant the project a permit […]
Posted inTransportation
T discovers parking fee discrepancies
THE MBTA SAID IN A STATEMENT that it has uncovered discrepancies in parking fees collected at the North Quincy Red Line Station, and asked the private operator of the parking […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Race to the bottom
Straphangers the world over think their transit system is the worst and in Boston, we take a backseat to no one in holding out examples about why we’re number 1 […]
Posted inPolitics
Rivera’s school department odyssey coming to end
LAWRENCE MAYOR DANIEL RIVERA won City Council approval Tuesday night to do what he probably should have done two years ago – buy the headquarters of the school department, fix […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Solar negotiators reach a deal
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE FIVE MONTHS OF NEGOTIATIONS resulted in a deal Tuesday between House and Senate leaders to raise the cap on the amount of energy that public and […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
A transgender Republican appeals to Baker
Dear Gov. Baker, As I’m sure you’re aware, the topic of transgender accommodation is a pretty hot button issue lately. I feel the discussion around it is getting more heated, […]
Posted inUncategorized
Cape Wind appeals permit extension rejection
CAPE WIND IS URGING A STATE BOARD to overrule its staff and grant an extension of a permit needed to run a power line from the proposed wind farm in […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The politics of the millionaire’s tax
General Electric’s Jeffrey Immelt, trying very hard to fit in as the new neighbor, said on Monday that he wouldn’t mind if Massachusetts voters approved a constitutional amendment implementing a […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
GE’s Immelt not worried about local policy matters
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AIMING TO TRANSFORM BOSTON into the hub of the “industrial Internet,” the CEO of General Electric expressed a come-what-may attitude on Monday about two policy proposals […]
Posted inTransportation
T approves N. Quincy real estate deal
THE MBTA’S OVERSIGHT BOARD on Monday approved a transit-oriented development deal in North Quincy and rejected as too expensive a proposal to test daily commuter rail service to Cape Cod. […]