THE MYSTERY FIGURE who spurred a state ethics investigation of Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby turns out to be Charles A. Baker III, a lawyer and top Democratic political […]
Mystery figure in Crosby ethics probe revealed
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
With Pacheco law, it’s all about the narrative
Sen. Marc Pacheco, author of a 1993 law that became the focus of the behind-the-scenes wrangling over the 2016 state budget, says people forget the context in which the measure […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
Baker files Canadian hydroelectricity bill
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Thursday filed procurement legislation to boost the state’s supply of hydropower, presumably from Canada, a goal that the governor says will increase […]
Posted inPolitics
Does budget run afoul of Baker push for no new taxes?
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Wednesday hailed the Legislature’s plan to boost the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit and pay for the tax giveback for low-income working families by permanently doing […]
Posted inOlympics, Opinion
Americans really want to host Olympics
AMERICANS REALLY WANT to host the 2024 Olympics. They want it more than they have in the past. They want it more than other countries do. They want it more […]
Posted inGambling
Gaming Commission, Walsh square off over writing style
THE MASSACHUSETTS GAMING COMMISSION and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh are scheduled to square off in court on Thursday on what is in many respects is a writing dispute. The Gaming […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Disrupting business as usual @ the MBTA
For MBTA riders, life on the T during the Wednesday morning rush was perfectly normal. There were “moderate” disabled-train delays on the Orange Line, signal problems on the Green Line, […]
Posted inPolitics, Transportation
House, Senate negotiators break budget stalemate
HOUSE AND SENATE NEGOTIATORS broke their deadlock on the fiscal 2016 budget Tuesday night by finding a novel way to fund an expansion of a tax credit that benefits low-income […]
Posted inGambling, The Download
The Wynn-Walsh soap opera
Wynn Resorts and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh have become the lead players in a tawdry soap opera that somehow manages to keep spinning off in new and strange directions. The […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Lost years
ABRIGAL FORRESTER REMEMBERS the day he climbed out of the prison van delivering him to state prison in Walpole. “I felt like I was walking into a pressure cooker of […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Rethinking tough-on-crime
BONNIE DITORO DOESN’T try to hide from her past. She was a heavy-duty cocaine user, a newly widowed mother of two whose life in the mid-1990s was spiraling out of […]
Posted inPolitics
Rivera’s old-school push for change
AT DANIEL RIVERA’S INAUGURATION as mayor of Lawrence in January 2014, he was hailed as the guy who would take the city in a new direction. Even though he squeaked […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, State House News Service
Plum Island at risk
Photographs by Mark Morelli except headline photograph by Gabrielle Gurley PLUM ISLAND IS one of the most spectacular places to live in Massachusetts. With high dunes and rolling beaches on the […]
Posted inHealth Care
Health care sticker shock
I HAD A minor stroke in April. Then I saw the bill and nearly had a heart attack. For a trip to the emergency room, admission to the hospital for […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Uber is a transportation outlaw
THIS LEGISLATIVE SESSION, the Massachusetts House and Senate will most certainly take up debate on the controversial issue of so-called “rideshare” companies. These are companies that use an app to […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Ridesharing choices must be protected
UBER IS A technology platform that allows people in Massachusetts, and in more than 310 cities worldwide, to find rides from available drivers. In many of these cities, Uber offers […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Man in the middle
Photographs by Frank Curran JOHN GROSSMAN calls himself an intermediary. It’s an unusual job description, but it’s one that captures what he does putting together complex deals that leverage money […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics
DCR 2.0
IN LATE 2011, the commissioner of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation said the agency’s system for leasing public land was in disrepair, with many tenants enjoying sweetheart deals, […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
State House press gets free office space, parking
THE MEN AND WOMEN who are elected to state office are provided office and parking space at the State House when they arrive for work on Beacon Hill. The same […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
The failure of public assistance
Democrats and Republicans alike have fought for and voted to support programs and funding to provide assistance to our most vulnerable citizens. The intention of this support was always to […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Instant runoff voting could improve Boston elections
ACROSS THE COUNTRY, voter turnout in local elections has steadily dropped. Electorates for local elections are a shell of what they once were — and of what they could be, […]
Posted inEconomy
Field of Dreams
You’ve owned several minor league professional teams in the Northeast. What about owning a team of college players in the Futures League in Brockton interested you when the previous owners, […]
Posted inPolitics
A rookie on Pelosi’s team
WHEN SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES gathered in the House chamber in January to hear President Obama’s State of the Union address, Katherine Clark, the Melrose representative who is now serving her first […]
Posted inEnvironment
Region’s cap and trade program draws interest
The Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed Clean Power Plan is drawing a lot of attention to the carbon cap-and-trade program run by nine Northeast and mid-Atlantic states, including Massachusetts. The Clean […]