STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Â IN AN EMOTIONALLY CHARGED GYMNASIUM filled with parents and bureaucrats, the state’s education board voted narrowly on Tuesday to revoke the charter of Dorchester Collegiate […]
State board votes 6-4 to close charter
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Baker right on hydropower, clean energy contracts
DAN DOLAN’S broadside against Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposal to bring additional hydropower into our electricity market reminds me of the time when the New England power generators essentially told me […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Amazing gains in global health – 2015
WE GET SO caught up these days in the Donald and Hillary and Ted and Bernie shows. Yet there is so much else going on in the world about which […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, Health Care, The Download
New law offers women drug treatment instead of prison
The disgraceful practice of sending women who have been civilly committed for substance abuse disorders to the state prison in Framingham rather than a treatment facility is finally coming to […]
Posted inTransportation
T ridership: Flat or flying high?
NO ONE CAN SEEM TO AGREE whether the glass is half full or half empty when it comes to MBTA ridership. In its annual report, the T’s Fiscal Management and […]
Posted inUncategorized
Supreme Court upholds demand-response payments
THE US SUPREME COURT ruled 6-2 on Monday that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has the authority to pay major consumers of electricity for commitments to use less power during […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Downing will not run for sixth term
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WITH A DECISION that surprised many of his colleagues, Sen. Benjamin Downing, a rising star in state Democratic politics, said Monday he would not seek a […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Raise the net metering cap
MASSACHUSETTS SPENDS more than $28 billion per year on energy and electricity, with much of that money leaving the state to pay for fossil fuels from other parts of the […]
Posted inOpinion
Municipalities shouldn’t go it alone on IT
EVERY ONE OF US relies on the services of local public works departments, pretty much every day, from morning to evening, in one way or another. Think for a moment […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Bloomberg news
There apparently can never be too many New York billionaires in the race for president. Or, at a minimum, one may not be enough. The weekend brought news that former […]
Posted inPolitics
ML Strategies lobbying fees soar
ML STRATEGIES COLLECTED more than $2.7 million in Massachusetts lobbying fees during 2015, vaulting the company into the top spot among the state’s leading lobbying firms. The well-connected company saw […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion, Transportation
CLF’s contradictory philosophies
NOT ALL MBTA COLLISIONS involve the rolling stock. On Jan. 4, there was a head-on collision between two contradictory philosophies affecting the T. Both philosophies are espoused by a single […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Baker’s hydroelectricity plan a bad bet
GAMBLING RATEPAYER DOLLARS on Canadian government-owned hydropower is a bad bet for Massachusetts. Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposal to carve out a third of the Commonwealth’s electricity market for Canadian provincially-owned […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download
Patching together blanket coverage on Baker’s speech
There was a time in the not-too-distant past when the State of the Commonwealth speech received blanket coverage and analysis in print and on television. But that was then and this […]
Posted inPolitics
Urbane mechanic
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER, who took a decidedly workaday approach to his first year in office, favoring a head-down focus on the basics of government over a sweeping vision for Massachusetts, […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, State House News Service
Peyser opposes millionaires tax amendment
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT raising taxes on millionaires to generate $1.9 billion for education and transportation would hurt the economy and damage the state’s ability to support […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
5 fixes for Seaport District
CALL IT THE SEAPORT DISTRICT, the South Boston Seaport, the Innovation District, Fort Point Channel – call it whatever you want, Boston’s busy development boomtown is in the throes of […]
Posted inEconomy, Gambling, The Back Story
A tale of two companies
STEVE WYNN MUST BE CRYING in front of his Picasso reading about the efforts of state and city officials to bring GE to Boston. The so-called Summary of Incentives agreement […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Milton senator claims victory even as clouds swirl
Embattled state Sen. Brian Joyce went before a television audience Wednesday night and stated at least one thing everyone can agree upon. “The optics looked bad,” the Milton Democrat told […]
Posted inHealth Care
HPC to tackle hospital pricing disparities
THE STATE’S HEALTH POLICY COMMISSION on Wednesday said it is time for Massachusetts policymakers to address the glaring disparity between what hospitals charge for services even when there is no […]
Posted inEducation, Politics
Senate will take up charter school issue
SENATE PRESIDENT STAN ROSENBERG said on Wednesday that the state Senate will work to fashion a compromise bill on charter schools in an effort to stave off a costly and […]
Posted inTransportation
Another $80 million debt for MBTA
THE CASH-STRAPPED MBTA, with a seemingly bottomless supply of bad financial news, received another jolt on Wednesday when an audit revealed the agency owes about $80 million to retired agency […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Joyce ethics, campaign issues resolved
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Sen. Brian Joyce of Milton has made a $3,367 personal donation to charity to resolve the use of campaign funds to help cover the $5,200 cost […]
Posted inThe Download
GE coming because of our brains, not brilliant pols
With all the excitement and high-fiving among state and city and leaders starting to wind down, now comes the annoying reality check on the General Electric news that ruins all […]