MCAS or PARCC? “None of the above” now looks like the correct answer to that test question. What looked like an either-or choice between retaining the state’s MCAS exam or […]
Chester pulls back from PARCC
Posted inGambling, The Download
Casino border wars
Let’s take a moment to retrace the steps of Mohegan Sun Resorts in and around Massachusetts. The tribal-owned company opened a casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, in 1996. The casino became wildly […]
Posted inHealth Care, State House News Service
DeLeo, Rosenberg raise opioid bill concerns
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE LEGISLATURE’S TOP TWO DEMOCRATS expressed reservations on Monday about one of the main provisions of Gov. Charlie Baker’s opioid abuse prevention plan that would allow […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Riley’s turnaround effort bigger than schools
A FEW YEARS AGO, Lawrence’s schools were considered some of the worst in the state. Only half of their students were finishing high school. Test scores were abysmal. Beyond the […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
PARCC vs. MCAS
CommonWealth’s new fall issue set the table for the debate over whether to scrap the use of MCAS in Massachusetts schools in favor of the new Common Core-aligned PARCC test, and […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
T eyes new revenue-raising efforts
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WITH THE GOAL OF BOOSTING its own-source revenues by about $40 million, the MBTA is looking at hiking parking fees, converting surface lots into developments, and […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
As media magnet, Trump is “yooge”
Call it a “sideshow” if you wish — and Huffington Post has done just that — but the phenomenon that is Donald Trump looks more and more like the act […]
Posted inGambling
Wynn turns ire on Chinese officials
BOSTON MAYOR MARTY WALSH isn’t the only public official driving Steve Wynn to distraction. The Las Vegas businessman told financial analysts on Thursday that Chinese government officials are threatening to […]
Posted inEconomy, Transportation
Cabbies defaulting on loans
BOSTON CABBIES GETTING hammered by the booming ride-hailing apps are beginning to show signs of being unable to stay afloat as banks have started to foreclose on delinquent loans they hold […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Back Story
Q&A: Sorting out solar
It seems like solar power was going great guns under former governor Deval Patrick, but now everyone is fighting about it. What’s going on? Solar did do phenomenally well under […]
Posted inGambling, The Download
Plenty of attention for fantasy sports
Fantasy sports companies have spent tens of millions of dollars in a short period to attract players to their sites. Lately, they’ve been getting the kind of attention money can’t buy […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
More natural gas, not LNG, is the answer
AS NEW ENGLAND PREPARES for another winter, there is a growing consensus among energy policy makers in New England that more natural gas is needed to mitigate the high cost […]
Posted inEnvironment
Pilgrim shifts Beacon Hill energy debate
THE LOOMING SHUTDOWN of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth is quickly transforming the debate about energy on Beacon Hill, moving it out of the policy-wonk arena and into the […]
Posted inEducation
Why I sent my children to a charter school
I’VE LIVED IN BOSTON my entire life, but from first through twelfth grade I was bused as a METCO student to Newton. At the time it was difficult because my […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Mass Reaction to the Democratic Debate
Hillary Clinton needed a mic drop moment and last night she delivered it. Some of the loudest cheers over her first debate appearance of the 2016 presidential campaign season came from this […]
Posted inEnvironment
What Pilgrim decision says about energy market
NO MATTER WHERE YOU STAND on nuclear power, the thought process behind Entergy Corp.’s decision to shut down its reactor in Plymouth reveals a lot about the energy market in […]
Posted inGambling
Two of Big Three want to tax fantasy sports
SENATE PRESIDENT STAN ROSENBERG has joined his counterpart in the House by calling for regulations and taxes on the booming business of online fantasy sports gaming, dismissing the argument that it’s […]
Posted inEducation
MCAS vs. PARCC: Dead-heat in predicting college readiness
THE MOST CONCRETE evidence state officials will have available in deciding whether to switch to the new PARCC test or to stay with MCAS turns out to be little help […]
Posted inThe Download
Pilgrim’s owner slams state officials on way out
The owner of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station said Tuesday morning it plans to shutter the 43-year-old plant by June 2019, a big financial blow to the town of Plymouth and […]
Posted inPolitics
All bases covered at ML Strategies
(Updated October 20, 2015. A correction was added to the chart of leading lobbying firms.) Photographs by Frank Curran IT WAS CRUNCH TIME in the battle for a Greater Boston casino […]
Posted inEducation
Rich-poor divide in high school sports
EACH YEAR, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association compiles athletic participation data from public, charter, and parochial high schools across the state. In nine out of the past 10 years, the […]
Posted inEconomy
Contracting system isn’t saving money
Photographs by Mark Morelli IT SOUNDED LIKE a good idea at the time. Stung by the enormous cost overruns of the Big Dig and other open-spigot public projects, officials […]
Posted inEducation
State faces testing showdown
Photographs by Kathleen Dooher IN 2010, WHEN the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted to adopt the Common Core State Standards, it marked a big moment for the […]