New Boston Herald presidential polls released this week indicate Jeb Bush is tied with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker among Republicans and Hillary Clinton is all alone on the Democratic side. […]
Herald teams with Franklin Pierce
Posted inCriminal Justice, Economy, Politics, State House News Service
Gun advocates protest billboards
A war of words over words erupted this week as gun rights advocates checkmated Boston developer John Rosenthal’s effort to spread his anti-gun violence message across Massachusetts via billboards. The […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Rules debate puts Beacon Hill on hold
THE MBTA ISN’T the only state entity that’s been operating with significant delays. The movement of legislation on Beacon Hill has been ground to a halt by a debate on […]
Posted inOlympics, Opinion, Transportation
Pride alone won’t fix things
PRIDE IS A tricky emotion. Even in ancient times, thought leaders cautioned people about the dangers of pride. “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before the fall,” is […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Can the T do anything right?
Perhaps we should consider changing the name of the public transit agency from MBTA to MPTA, for Massachusetts Piñata Transportation Authority. From public records to the new casino industry, the […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Culture wars at the MBTA
The circular firing squad otherwise known as the MBTA unleashed more volleys during this week’s transportation oversight hearings on Beacon Hill. Thomas Murray, the Transport Workers Union president, summed the […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Union chief criticizes T’s commuter rail oversight
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A TRANSPORTATION UNION chief laid into the MBTA on Tuesday, referring to new equipment as “wrecks on wheels” and charging the transit agency with micro-managing the […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Earned income tax credit vs. film tax credit
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER made the first move, calling early in March for an expansion of the politically popular earned income tax credit and proposing to pay for it with money […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Pollack: “Hemorrhaging” MBTA needs tourniquet
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MBTA HAS an estimated 535 employees on its debt-funded capital budget and without state budget help will run a $187 million deficit next fiscal year, […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
End downtown Boston’s busmageddon
THIS WINTER’S PUBLIC transportation crisis offers our elected and appointed leaders a unique opportunity to undo decades of questionable decisions. Others can opine regarding commuter rail and other segments of […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Download
Rethinking cop cameras?
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and his police commissioner may be cool to the idea of outfitting police with cameras, but video from the scene of a police traffic stop gone […]
Posted inPolitics
Still bridging divides
IN 2007, WHEN I was editorial page editor at the Patriot Ledger in Quincy, I wrote an editorial for the paper’s support of the immigration reform bill before Congress. It […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Let Warren be Warren
As a rare convocation of America’s political nobility gathers to mark the opening of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston, there is palpable relief that the […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Holyoke’s school challenge
THIS PAST TUESDAY, after a careful review of the Holyoke Public Schools, Commissioner Mitchell Chester recommended that the state Board of Education take a vote on whether to place our […]
Posted inThe Download
A story about nothing
The television show Seinfeld famously referred to itself as a “show about nothing.” There’s a new genre of news reporting emerging in the same vein, something that essentially tells readers […]
Posted inThe Back Story, Transportation
Commuter rail ridership numbers don’t add up
COMMUTER RAIL RIDERSHIP is up. No, it’s down. Actually, it’s held steady. These three statements cannot all be true. And yet, all three are supported by official data collected and published […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Probation drama not over yet
For months during the federal trial of former Probation commissioner John O’Brien and two top deputies, defense attorneys continually drew attention to the fact that only O’Brien, Elizabeth Tavares, and William […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment
National Grid electricity prices to drop
National Grid’s 1 million basic service electricity customers will see their monthly bills drop in May, but rates aren’t returning to the level they were last summer and they will be significantly higher […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Beacon Hill’s doobage dithering
The contours of the marijuana legalization debate have filled out on Beacon Hill and opponents have scored some powerful allies. Will the presence of those heavy hitters make a difference […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service
Chester calls for state takeover of Holyoke schools
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE STATE SHOULD take over the Holyoke Public Schools, Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester recommended Tuesday, saying “persistent and pervasive” problems in the school district make receivership […]
Posted inOlympics, State House News Service
Boston 2024 backs state referendum
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE CHIEF BACKER of a Boston bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics is now supporting the idea of a 2016 referendum on the bid. Suffolk Construction […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
PARCC will work
AT THE City on a Hill Charter School in Roxbury, where I teach high school math, 91 percent of students are designated as high needs. Before my students returned for […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Selkoe’s Karmaloop seeks bankruptcy protection
Greg Selkoe, the Boston Internet entrepreneur who has tried to make the city more appealing to young professionals, is facing a financial crisis. Selkoe’s online streetwear company, Karmaloop Inc., filed […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Explaining Obamacare to foreigners
On the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act, I ponder how non-Americans view our momentous and controversial health reform law. Like many US health policy analysts, […]