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 […]
Where’s the beef?
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 OF 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 […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
The keys to helping students in poverty thrive
WITH POVERTY ON THE RISE in many communities across the state, and with a noticeable uptick in youth violence this summer in Worcester and the Boston area, many of our […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
The pushback against T-Day openings
Workers want their lives back. That’s the sentiment behind the campaign to curb retail Thanksgiving Day business. The latest group to jump into the fray is package store owners who […]
Posted inEducation
Chester pulls back from PARCC
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 […]
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 […]