House Speaker Robert DeLeo accused the Boston Globe on Wednesday of deliberately distorting and misrepresenting comments he made in a 2010 deposition about Probation Department hiring, so I expected the […]
Globe should publish the DeLeo transcript
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion, Politics
DeLeo calls for probe of leaked testimony
What follows is a statement issued by House Speaker Robert DeLeo in response to a Boston Globe story quoting sealed transcripts of his testimony before independent counsel Paul Ware, who […]
Posted inOpinion
The state should encourage accessory apartments
TEN YEARS AGO, I did a study of zoning regulations in the 187 communities within 50 miles of Boston. I wanted to find out if our region was allowing for […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Was the Trump wave a polling mirage?
DONALD TRUMP’S poll numbers are slipping in Iowa, and a new national poll is the first in a while to show him trailing. But a closer look at the polling […]
Posted inOpinion
Lift net metering cap, help low-income communities
What follows is a letter sent to state leaders on Wednesday by a large number of religious leaders, community groups, and academics. AS COMMUNITY LEADERS, religious and spiritual leaders, community […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
Massachusetts gets demographic boost, but still scores at top
Amidst all the debate about which annual standardized test to use in Massachusetts — and whether we are testing too much or attaching too many consequences to its outcomes — […]
Posted inEducation
Pioneer pans PARCC, Common Core
A DAY AFTER a group of Massachusetts educators called on the state to adopt the new PARCC test, Boston-based Pioneer Institute issued a detailed report calling the Common Core-aligned PARCC […]
Posted inPolitics
Carbon fee supporters turn out in force
SUPPORTERS OF A STATE-IMPOSED FEE on carbon emissions turned out in droves on Tuesday at a State House legislative hearing. No one, at least during the first few hours of […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Let’s boost solar with smaller subsidies
LEGISLATORS ARE HAVING A HEATED DEBATE over the subsidies that flow to those who install solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. That debate has been largely portrayed as dividing environmentalists and solar […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
House floats bill lifting solar net metering cap
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HOUSE LEADERS ARE FLOATING a strategy to expand the solar industry in Massachusetts that would more than double the amount of installed solar capacity and eventually […]
Posted inHealth Care, The Download
Where’s the beef?
In the 1973 movie Sleeper, Woody Allen plays a health food store owner who is cryogenically frozen after a botched ulcer procedure and is awakened 200 years later, unwrapped like […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Mass. needs paid family and medical leave
WHEN LIZ FREDETTE GAVE BIRTH to her son, she had to go back to work four weeks later because her company offered just a week of paid maternity leave, and […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
IG condemns BRA-Red Sox deals
MASSACHUSETTS INSPECTOR GENERAL GLENN CUNHA on Monday condemned the procedures the Boston Redevelopment Authority followed in awarding lucrative property easements to the Boston Red Sox in 2013, but didn’t recommend […]
Posted inEducation
Education leaders back PARCC test
A GROUP OFÂ Massachusetts education leaders is calling on the state to adopt the new PARCC student assessment a week after state education officials said they are preparing to pursue a […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Baker is better barometer on MBTA fare increases
In 2013, state lawmakers gave the MBTA the go-ahead to raise fares at predictable intervals in order to boost its bottom line and put riders on notice about the timing and […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion
What’s new in the state court system
What follows is the state of the judiciary address of Ralph D. Gants, the chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, on Tuesday. Introductory comments were edited out. In […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
House to address solar cap before break
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HOUSE SPEAKER ROBERT DELEO indicated Friday that the House would address the issue of the solar net metering cap separately from more comprehensive energy legislation that […]
Posted inHealth Care, State House News Service, The Download
It’s not brain surgery. Well, yes it is.
With football starting at 9:30 a.m. from London Sunday followed by a full slate of afternoon games, it’s possible people will be weary of watching men beat each other’s brains […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
Marlborough gasoline spill upends lives
KAREN BUCKLEY WANTS out. But she can’t go anywhere because she and her husband — along with three other Marlborough families — are stuck in homes that have lost a huge […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
The incredibly vanishing Boston voter
WE HAVE LOOKED at voter turnout in each off-year Boston City Council election beginning in 1985 – the first off-year election after the change in the structure of government brought […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Back Story
Solar fight getting nasty
THE FIGHT OVER SOLAR POWER incentives is coming to a head on Beacon Hill, and it’s getting nasty. Earlier this week, the leaders of six major business groups across the […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
In search of the root cause of the T’s problems
Did anyone seriously think MBTA officials would present a solution to the Green Line extension problem at Wednesday’s meeting of the Department of Transportation’s Board of Directors? Or go beyond hope […]
Posted inGambling, State House News Service
Fantasy sports regulation seems in the cards
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE UNREGULATED RIDE of the burgeoning daily online fantasy sports industry in Massachusetts appears to be coming to an end. Along with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s […]
Posted inEnvironment
Mass. wins top spot on energy efficiency scorecard
MASSACHUSETTS ON WEDNESDAY WON THE TOP SPOT in the 2015 state energy efficiency scorecard for the fifth year in a row. Vermont, Rhode Island, and Connecticut were all in the […]