This past August, staff and youth from the United Teen Equality Center (UTEC) in Lowell launched our Youth Violence Prevention Policy Series. Gubernatorial candidates visited UTEC and engaged in roundtable […]
Candidates address proven-risk youth
Posted inPolitics
GOP super PAC money swamps governor’s race
Outside super PAC spending in the Massachusetts governor’s race has nearly doubled the outside spending totals set four years ago, and the wave of outside money has been decidedly one-sided. […]
Posted inPolitics
Gateway City papers give edge to Baker
In the key electoral battleground of Gateway Cities, Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker holds an edge over Democrat Martha Coakley in major newspaper endorsements. Baker was endorsed by the Standard-Times […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Polito’s low-profile campaign for lt. gov.
Karyn Polito at the Baker-Polito Campaign Boston headquarters Karyn Polito, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, is both a plus and a minus in Charlie Baker’s run for governor against […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment, Politics
Baker and the gas tax
CHARLIE BAKER HAS vowed to oppose any tax increases if elected governor, and that includes any attempt to raise the gas tax. Baker opposes a move made by the Legislature […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
The ultimate Lawrence grudge match
Anyone who thought they’d seen the last of William Lantigua on Beacon Hill should pay close attention on Election Day. The former mayor is back on the campaign trail in […]
Posted inThe Back Story, Transportation
DOT’s asphalt nightmare
State transportation officials are scrambling to justify a potentially costly flip-flop that could end up leaving the state with mile after mile of crumbling roads. Frank DePaola, the state’s highway […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Goodbye to the urban mechanic
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Thomas Menino, a self-described “lunch bucket guy” who rose from his roots in Hyde Park to dominate Boston and Massachusetts politics as the capital city’s mayor […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Herald drops libel appeal, to pay $903,000
The Boston Herald dropped its appeal and agreed to pay $903,000 to end a libel case stemming from a 2009 story alleging that a woman engaged in “sexual acts” with […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
State House document room gets $2m facelift
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE The tab for an historic overhaul of the former “document room” at the State House has risen to more than $2 million. According to Senate President […]
Posted inGambling
Wynn promises unique design for Everett hotel
Steve Wynn told financial analysts on Tuesday that he has finished the redesign of his proposed casino hotel in Everett and said the property will be unlike any other in […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion, Politics
Earned sick time good for families, businesses
Think about the people you know who don’t have earned sick time. Maybe it’s your sister. Maybe it’s your neighbor. Maybe it’s the man who bags groceries for you every […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion, Politics
One size does not fit all
Question 4 mandates sick leave for every worker in the state. That sounds like a great idea, but the devil is in the details. Requiring employers to provide paid and […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
A tale of 2 states
The biggest political news of the past week came via the polls – the Boston Globe showing Charlie Baker opening up a lead in his race against Martha Coakley, and […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion
Former IG: Coakley cool to DiMasi probe
Attorney General Martha Coakley’s campaign manager Tim Foley issued a press release at 4:13 p.m. Sunday criticizing my answers to questions posed to me by Boston Globe reporters David Scharfenberg […]
Posted inEducation
Boston failing thousands of students, says reform group
A new education group is sounding the alarm on dismal outcomes in Boston schools, saying thousands of students remain mired in failing schools, a situation that demands urgent action and […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Falchuk loses court bid to gain debate access
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE After his attempt to secure a court order requiring debate organizers to include him in a Monday night event was denied, independent gubernatorial candidate Evan Falchuk […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Pollsters keep chasing elusive random sample
A group of top-tier pollsters gathered last Friday at a meeting of the New England chapter of the American Association for Popular Opinion Research to discuss the fractured state of […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Back Story
Electricity impasse
Electricity prices are going to skyrocket this winter, and state officials are discovering it’s too late to do anything about it. National Grid, which purchases electricity for many of its […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Cities are Democratic turf
Fewer than two weeks separate Martha Coakley and Charlie Baker from Election Day. The two major gubernatorial candidates are locked in a dead heat, and as they both scramble to […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Dem governor better on fiscal issues
To paraphrase Jane Austen, it is a truth universally acknowledged that Republicans do a better job safeguarding your tax dollars. Republican candidate for governor Charlie Baker is counting on this […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Jobs trump politics in T’s China deal
The Patrick administration is coming under fire for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s decision to award a $566.6 million MBTA subway car manufacturing contract to a Chinese railcar maker. But […]
Posted inPolitics
Outside spending bonanza for GOP
Super PACs and labor groups have combined to spend over $13 million in the Massachusetts governor’s race to date. Outside groups have outspent the gubernatorial field — the two major […]