THERE HAS BEEN a lot of talk about Gov. Charlie Baker’s education budget vetoes. Even national news outlets chimed in, making strange points about how this is somehow the fault […]
Baker’s misguided early education cuts
Posted inHealth Care, State House News Service, The Download
Clark gears up federal machinery on postpartum depression treatment
In June, the Baker administration mandated postpartum depression screening for MassHealth patients, making it one of only a handful of states that screen Medicaid recipients for the condition. But what the […]
Posted inEconomy, Transportation
An Uber problem for the cab industry
First in a series THE NUMBERS DON’T LIE: Uber and other ride-sharing companies are steadily chipping away at the business of taxi and livery companies which find themselves hamstrung by […]
Posted inGambling
Healey: Wynn plays by a ‘different set of rules’
ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY sent a letter on July 13 to state Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack calling for an independent study of the traffic impact of the proposed Wynn […]
Posted inGambling, Opinion
Healey is right about Wynn casino
THE VOTERS HAVE SPOKEN and, agree or disagree—and everyone knows I disagree—casinos are a reality in the Commonwealth. But that doesn’t mean casino operators, and those who regulate them, get […]
Posted inOlympics, The Download
An Olympic accounting
Thank God it’s over.That was the overwhelming sentiment among the area’s columnists and editorial pages. Boston Globe columnists Joan Vennochi, Dan Shaughnessy, Dante Ramos, John Powers, and Kevin Cullen all welcomed […]
Posted inOlympics, Opinion
Finish line for Boston 2024
BOSTON’S DREAMS OF Olympic glory are over. Did we snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? Did we blow a transformational opportunity, with all that talk that the US entry […]
Posted inOlympics
What does Boston’s withdrawal say about the city?
Statement of No Boston Olympics Boston is a world-class city. Â We are a city with an important past and a bright future. We got that way by thinking big, but […]
Posted inOlympics, Politics
Olympic end signals bright future for Boston
THE END OF the Boston 2024 Olympic bid says a lot about Boston 2015, and what it says bodes well for our future. Perhaps the most important take-away is that […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Cake and cupcakes for Medicare and Medicaid’s 50th anniversary
FIFTY YEARS AGO this Thursday, July 30, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law legislation creating two new national health insurance programs, Medicare and Medicaid. Fifty years later, these programs […]
Posted inOlympics
Boston drops out of running for Olympics
THE PRIVATE GROUP seeking to host a Boston Olympics in 2024 dropped its bid on Monday, shortly after Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Gov. Charlie Baker told the US Olympic […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
With tax holiday, sound thinking takes a vacation
Beacon Hill’s top legislative leaders are potent politicians with an ability to shape the direction of state policy or law with a nod of the head. Except when they’re completely […]
Posted inOlympics, The Download
A Herald blackout and Olympic assurance that ‘people adjust’
If a debate falls on a Thursday night in a semi-forested office park but no one from the Boston Herald is there to hear it, did it really happen? Last night’s […]
Posted inOlympics, Opinion
Five takeaways from the Olympics debate
THIS BOSTON OLYMPICS DEBATE was a train wreck. There were occasional flashes of insight, but overall the two reporters asking the questions and the four debaters answering them did little […]
Posted inGambling
US Attorney files testy motion in Everett case
US ATTORNEY CARMEN ORTIZ’S office filed a scathing court motion on Wednesday accusing the city of Boston and the defendants in a criminal lawsuit of working together to spread unfounded […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Baker’s public records silence
Gov. Charlie Baker isn’t saying where he stands on legislative efforts to update the state’s Public Records Law, possibly because he is not eager to disrupt the status quo. Like […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Download
Dig safe: Chatham, Plum Island, and environmental laws
Yet another case is showing that there is little tolerance on Cape Cod for those who skirt environmental regulations. The question is whether the hard line taken there by local […]
Posted inOlympics, Opinion
4 things to watch in Olympics debate
THURSDAY NIGHT, Boston 2024 and No Boston Olympics will meet in a debate hosted by Fox25 and the Boston Globe. Boston 2024’s representatives will be chairman Steve Pagliuca and Daniel […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
MBTA has to up its game for control board
It has come to this: The fate of the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority lies with a fiscal and management control board tasked with rebuilding the legendarily feckless public transportation system […]
Posted inTransportation
What the T fiscal control board needs to do
NOW THAT THE MBTA’S fiscal control board is in place – a board that reflects a consensus approach to creating an additional power center at 10 Park Plaza – we […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
MBTA to use fines to improve commuter rail customer service
MBTA OFFICIALS KNOW that commuter rail riders hate late trains. They also get an earful about conductors who fail to collect fares and the passengers who evade paying them. So […]
Posted inHealth Care, The Download
Partners: We’re No. 1
Partners HealthCare has been taking a lot of hits from state policymakers and business rivals, but the hospital network is receiving accolades elsewhere. US News & World Report just released […]
Posted inPolitics
DeLeo raises nearly $415,000 in 6 months
An update was added to this article on July 23 HOUSE SPEAKER ROBERT DELEO’S political campaign committee raised nearly $415,000 during the first six months of 2015, a record […]
Posted inPolitics
Warren calls Trump a ‘blowhard’
US SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN on Monday called Republican presidential contender Donald Trump a “blowhard” for his recent comments about U.S. Sen. John McCain and decried the partisan politics that she […]