THE DEVELOPER OF the troubled Cape Wind project quoted Mark Twain on Wednesday, saying reports of his death are greatly exaggerated. But he had very little to say about efforts […]
Cape Wind developer mum on project
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Waging the war on poverty
IN 2015, THERE are emerging signs of bipartisan energy to address poverty. While contemplating a third presidential run, Mitt Romney vowed that a potential campaign would include a pledge to […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Battle for MBTA’s soul underway
As the task to slice and dice the MBTA’s historic collapse gets underway, a battle royale has erupted anew between two camps of transportation influencers who can be loosely described as […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service
Lottery cuts will decrease local aid
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE LOTTERY OFFICIALS say budget cuts ordered by Gov. Charlie Baker and the Legislature to close a mid-year budget shortfall will cut gambling profits by $35 […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service
Holyoke students being shortchanged
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE EDUCATION COMMISSIONER Mitchell Chester is not ready to recommend that the Holyoke Public Schools be put into receivership, but he has not ruled it out […]
Posted inThe Download
Eavesdropping on Instagram
The police and school departments in Lowell are preparing to hire a company to monitor social media use within the city’s borders, scrubbing public posts on Twitter, Facebook, and other […]
Posted inEducation
Guerrero’s trying time at Dever
THE GOOD NEWS for Guadalupe Guerrero, one of four finalists for the Boston school superintendent post, is that, as the only candidate with prior experience in the district, he is […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
A short and long-term plan
THE RECENT MBTA meltdown has impressed upon the general public the critical importance of a reliable transit system to their daily lives. The T’s utter failure to provide reliable service […]
Posted inOlympics, The Download
An elephant in the Olympics financing room
There has been all sorts of talk about the costs of a Boston Olympics, with elected officials left and right stamping their feet, drawing lines in the sand, and otherwise […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Baker creates MBTA commission
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER moved to put his administration’s stamp on the MBTA by appointing a special commission to investigate how past finance, maintenance, and management practices led to the wintertime […]
Posted inThe Download
Bill O’Reilly’s ‘war zone’ claims
Fox news host Bill O’Reilly criticized NBC anchor Brian Williams for falsely claiming that he was nearly shot down in a helicopter covering the invasion of Iraq in 2003. But […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Baker talks more broadly about the T
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER, who has avoided discussion of long-term solutions in favor of focusing on short-term fixes for the snow-battered MBTA, said Thursday he is not […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Back Story
Should electric ratepayers pay for gas pipelines?
THERE SOON MAY be a new charge on your electric bill for natural gas pipeline construction. The novel idea first surfaced last summer as the six New England states began […]
Posted inOlympics, The Download, Transportation
Blizzard burying Olympics bid?
It’s easy to forget in the mind- and finger-numbing midst of Snowmaggedon about Boston’s 2024 Olympic bid – easy to forget, that is, if you don’t pay attention to everyone decrying […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
On Fairmount Line, opportunity knocks
THE BLIZZARD OF 1888 left Boston gridlocked, and over 1,000 people died in its wake. Tragic as the storm was, there was a substantial silver lining. This catastrophe is often cited as the impetus […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Beacon Hill’s MBTA fix: Let them ride the T
Nonplussed by the plight of the poor, a French aristocrat once said “let them eat cake.” With hundreds of thousands of people struggling during the MBTA’s winter crisis, Massachusetts legislative leaders […]
Posted inPolitics, Transportation
Rosenberg sees transportation disconnect
SENATE PRESIDENT STANLEY ROSENBERG said on Tuesday that the problems at the MBTA are straight out of “Democracy in America,” the book Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in the 1800s which […]
Posted inHealth Care
Partners surrenders
PARTNERS HEALTHCARE HAS agreed to end its controversial pursuit of South Shore Hospital and will hold off on acquiring two Hallmark Health hospitals on the North Shore for the time […]
Posted inGambling, The Download
Gaming Commission challenge fails
A federal appeals court upheld a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit brought by Caesars Entertainment against Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby. The ruling uses language that could spell trouble for […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Cape Wind, on life support, deserves better
THE HEADLINES DO NOT look good for the country’s first offshore wind farm. On Jan. 7, National Grid and NSTAR announced that they would be canceling their contracts to buy […]
Posted inEducation
NU resumes Boston payments
NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY STOPPED making in-lieu-of-tax payments to the city of Boston last year, but now the school is back on board, possibly because of some hardball tactics by Mayor Marty […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Great Scott!
MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott’s press conference on Tuesday was one of those rare moments in political life when an official just lets it rip. We in the press are […]
Posted inTransportation
Excerpts from Beverly Scott’s 26-minute press conference Feb. 10
I can sleep at night with no equivocation that to the extent we had information anyone that needed to have information had the information. We do not control Mother Nature….I […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker to cut another $1b
THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION, which just cobbled together enough money to close a $765 million shortfall in this year’s budget, is now preparing to pare back spending by another $1 billion […]