STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE COST OF BRINGING the MBTA’s trains, stations, tracks and other assets into good working condition has only grown larger with closer scrutiny, rising to $7.3 […]
MBTA’s ‘good repair’ cost rises to $7.3b
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
T control board may hire Green Line consultant
THE MBTA FISCAL AND MANAGEMENT CONTROL BOARD’S lack of confidence in the transit agency’s ability to build the Green Line Extension to Somerville and West Medford plunged to new lows […]
Posted inGambling, State House News Service
Keno sales lag near slots parlor
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE SEVERAL WEEKS AFTER the state’s first licensed slots parlor opened its doors, state Lottery sales are up, though there has been a noticeable lag in Keno […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Power prices at historic lows
AS THE NEW ENGLAND GOVERNORS and Eastern Canadian premiers meet at their annual gathering this week, the New England Power Generators Association and the COMPETE Coalition would like to take […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
For Pollack and Beaton, past makes for awkward prologue
Where you stand depends on where you sit. That old adage is doubly true this morning when it comes to Gov. Charlie Baker’s cabinet. Two of his cabinet secretaries, Stephanie […]
Posted inGambling
Baker administration OKs Wynn environmental report
THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION late Friday night approved a key environmental impact report for the proposed Wynn Resorts casino in Everett and said broader traffic concerns raised by Boston Mayor Marty […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Say it ain’t so, CNN
CNN’S CRITERIA for deciding who makes the grown-ups table for the GOP debate next month doesn’t make sense. It’s the sports equivalent of declaring the Red Sox losers in the […]
Posted inGambling, Politics
Healey, Pollack at odds over casino
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER, a Republican, and Attorney General Maura Healey, a Democrat, are two of the most popular politicians in the state, so when they disagree they tend to tread […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download
Welcome to the intersection of Massachusetts politics and media, Politico
News aggregation is nothing new. Google and Yahoo have been doing it since their inceptions and thousands of sites have since sprouted with the aim to bring news to their […]
Posted inThe Back Story, Transportation
T spin on the Green Line Ext.
I heard the cost of the Green Line Extension was spinning out of control in early June, but I had no proof and ended up not writing anything. That’s my […]
Posted inThe Download
Broadcast murder
Yesterday’s live broadcast of the execution of two unsuspecting Virginia television journalists was shocking, but in many ways simply represented the elevation to a new level of the digital era […]
Posted inUncategorized
Lawrence facing housing crisis, report says
A NEW REPORT suggests Lawrence is facing a major housing crisis, with property values low, rents high, and new construction failing to keep pace with population increases. The study, funded […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Amtrak, TSA, and security theater
While debates heat up over Green Line Extension cost overruns and the North-South Rail Link proposals, an even more vital issue is at stake in Boston: intercity rail security. In […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Presidential polling largely useless now
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP? You might want to stow that notion in the same category as the presidencies-that-weren’t of Howard Dean, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, and Mike Huckabee. Like the Donald, […]
Posted inGambling, Opinion
Two views of the Wynn casino
FREDERICK SALVUCCI Salvucci is a senior lecturer at MIT and a former state transportation secretary. He was asked by the city of Somerville to critique the casino’s transportation impact and […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Green Line extension could take a lot more green
Nearly 11 months ago, the federal government promised Massachusetts almost $1 billion to help the state extend the MBTA’s Green Line into Somerville and Medford. At the time, nearly everyone […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Stay the course on Green Line Ext.
THE DISCLOSURE OF A BREATHTAKING potential billion-dollar cost overrun for the proposed Green Line Extension was unwelcome news. Not only did it take everyone by surprise, it undermined confidence in […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Green Line extension endangered
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE COST SET set by the Green Line Extension contractor for the first three stations is more than double the amount state and federal transit officials […]
Posted inPolitics
Baddour to join ML Strategies
FORMER STATE SENATOR STEVEN BADDOUR, his colleague Daniel Connelly, and their Massachusetts lobbying clients are leaving McDermott, Will & Emery to join ML Strategies, the lobbying arm of Mintz Levin […]
Posted inGambling, Transportation
Pollack gives green light for Wynn
(A clarification has been added to this story in the next-to-last paragraph,) DISAGREEING WITH ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY and officials from abutting communities, Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack said Wynn […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Raising a stink at Boston City Council
Resolved: There is no good time and it never looks good for elected officials to propose and vote on their own raises. But, really, doesn’t City Councilor Bill Linehan, in rejecting […]
Posted inOpinion
“Black Lives Matter” more than a slogan
A BLACK LIVES MATTER banner hangs on the front of Somerville City Hall. We put it up this week. We shouldn’t have to. We shouldn’t have to put a banner […]
Posted inThe Download
Out and about in the Ashley Madison hack
There is nothing subtle about the website Ashley Madison, which acts as a hook-up site for married consenting adults whose trademark motto is, “Life’s short. Have an affair.” And the Impact […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Back Story
Probation juror: Patronage ‘disgusting’ but not illegal
A LITTLE MOREÂ than a year after the guilty verdicts came down in the Probation Department hiring scandal and with the appeals process inching along, a former juror in the widely […]