CAROL SANCHEZ, the former commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Recreation, pocketed $8,200 for doing nothing after she was apparently pushed out the door in early November. Sanchez served […]
An exit sweetener
Posted inOpinion, Politics, State House News Service
Big Three dynamics
JUST BEFORE THE HOLIDAYS kicked into high gear, the Big Three—Gov. Charlie Baker, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, and Senate President Stanley Rosenberg—sat down for a joint interview with the State […]
Posted inOpinion
Letters, Winter 2016
MASSPORT HIGHLIGHTS MISPERCEPTION I am writing in response to Jack Sullivan’s informative article (“Contracting system isn’t saving money,” Fall ’15) to correct a misperception some readers may take from the […]
Posted inGambling, State House News Service
Lawmakers urged to weigh in on fantasy sports
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THERE IS “SOME URGENCY” for the Legislature to weigh in on the legality and regulation of daily fantasy sports and online gaming, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission […]
Posted inTransportation
T hires interim Green Line ext. team
THE MBTA ON MONDAY named an interim leadership team that will be charged with bringing the cost of the proposed Green Line extension to Somerville and Medford in line with […]
Posted inTransportation
T cites progress on structural deficit
MBTA OFFICIALS ON MONDAY said they are making progress in eliminating the T’s structural deficit and told the agency’s oversight board that major decisions must be made in the next […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
House unveils its own opioid bill
THE HOUSE UNVEILED its version of a bill to address the opioid epidemic in the state but the measure drops two key provisions of legislation filed by Gov. Charlie Baker, […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Lawsuit settlements should pay student loan debt
THE ONCE BOOMING for-profit college industry has experienced a year of reckoning. The recent announcement of a $95.5 million multistate settlement with Education Management Corp. (EDMC) followed numerous state and […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Drug Addiction, Opinion
Ending driver’s license suspension for drug offenders
I APPLAUD THE members of the 189th General Court of the Massachusetts House of Representatives for finishing what their colleagues in the Senate started in September by unanimously supporting legislation […]
Posted inThe Download
Globe highlights its own hypocrisy
A little over a year ago, the Boston Globe ran a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of editorials documenting the challenges facing food service workers– wages too low to live on, minimal […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Baker slashes $50M in spending
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Friday slashed nearly $50 million from the state budget to partially close what his administration identified as a $320 million gap between […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
DeLeo rips Globe for ‘painful’ analogy
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HOUSE SPEAKER ROBERT DELEO lashed out at the Boston Globe Friday afternoon, asking for an apology after the broadsheet likened the House to a plantation. The […]
Posted inEducation
Universal, broader screenings of students needed
THE OPIOID LEGISLATION taken up by the House this week excludes a controversial provision from the Senate bill requiring public schools to screen all students in grades 7 through 10 […]
Posted inUncategorized
State courts revamp their website
THE STATE’S TRIAL COURT has upgraded its outmoded computer system to allow lawyers to electronically file case records and to allow judicial decisions to be shared automatically with other government […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Obamacare repeal would mean 22 million people lose coverage
TWENTY-TWO MILLION – that’s how many Americans would lose their health insurance, according to the US Congressional Budget Office, if the reconciliation legislation approved by the House of Representative on […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Replacing No Child Left Behind an inadequate step in right direction
It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge […]
Posted inThe Download
Can NBC and Ansin cut a deal?
NBC said it plans to part ways with WHDH-TV (Channel 7 ) at the end of this year, but it’s unclear whether the breakup is really going to happen or […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Massport wants to add 5,000 parking spots
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MASSACHUSETTS PORT AUTHORITY plans to upgrade facilities for travel by ground, sea, and air with added parking and international gates at Logan Airport and a […]
Posted inThe Back Story, Transportation
A Beacon Hill switcheroo
In 2013, a bill went into a legislative conference committee on Beacon Hill with a section limiting MBTA fare increases to 5 percent every two years. The section emerged from […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion, Politics
It’s time to act on gun violence
THE REPUBLICANS WHO CONTROL CONGRESS Congress have had all the time in the world to do something about gun violence in America. I mean that. If the GOP spent a […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, The Download
Death moves into the neighborhood
Drug abuse has come out of the shadows. No longer is it just the junkie in the back alley that gets our sympathy but little else for treatment. It’s now in […]
Posted inTransportation
Lots of no-shows at value capture hearing
THE LEGISLATURE’S TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE heard testimony Wednesday on a bill that could help fund the cash-strapped Green Line Extension, but neither the communities that would provide the funding nor the […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Community health centers have been ahead of the curve
HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS across the country are struggling to adapt to the team-oriented, patient-centered approach to care that makes up the foundation of Affordable Care Act era health care delivery. […]
Posted inTransportation
T passes exempt from fare constraints
THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION is adopting a definition of the word fare that would allow the MBTA to increase the prices of bus and subway passes at any time and by […]