Jurors went with their heads rather than their hearts in finding former Probation commissioner John O’Brien and two of his top aides guilty of mail fraud, racketeering, and conspiracy. Their […]
Probation jurors go with their heads
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
CommonWealth’s coverage of the Probation trial verdict
3 Probation defendants found guilty by jury Fraudulent hires linked to DeLeo, Murray, other lawmakers A federal jury found former state Probation Department commissioner John O’Brien guilty of mail fraud, […]
Posted inPolitics
Putting thumb on scale is the Beacon Hill way
The federal corruption trial of John O’Brien unfolded on two levels. It was equal parts law enforcement exercise and political soap opera. The trial of O’Brien, the former state Probation […]
Posted inPolitics
Ware says his probe did not clear DeLeo
Paul Ware, the independent counsel appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court to investigate Probation Department corruption, took issue with House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s contention that his 2010 probe found the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Baker’s McCormick problem
Gov. Deval Patrick’s bid to shelter immigrant children in Massachusetts is creating some interesting plot lines in the race to succeed him. The Democratic candidates for governor — Attorney General […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Back Story
A regional power solution
The six New England governors are plotting huge changes in the region’s energy market, but none of them are stepping up to explain why their proposals are needed or how […]
Posted inPolitics
DeLeo: Jury cleared me of inappropriate conduct
A chastened House Speaker Robert DeLeo responded to Thursday’s Probation Department guilty verdict by issuing a statement saying “it is a verdict that all of us have to respect.” But […]
Posted inPolitics
A stain on the dome
The guilty finding was made at the federal courthouse on Boston’s waterfront, but its reverberations were loudest a mile away at the State House. No legislators were formally charged in […]
Posted inPolitics
Ortiz wins big victory, but questions remain
US Attorney Carmen Ortiz with prosecutors Robert Fisher (left) and Fred Wyshak Nearly everyone on Beacon Hill thought US Attorney Carmen Ortiz was over-reaching by attempting to make a crime […]
Posted inPolitics
3 Probation defendants found guilty by jury
Defense attorneys (from left) John Amabile, William Fick, Stellio Sennis, Jeffrey Denner, and Brad Bailey A federal jury found former state Probation Department commissioner John O’Brien guilty of mail fraud, […]
Posted inThe Download
The puzzling ProJo purchase
When GateHouse Media, the conglomerate that owns scores of smaller daily and weekly papers across Massachusetts, entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year, it did so with an eye on getting […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
T Retirement Fund fights transparency
When signing into law this year’s $36.5 billion state budget a few weeks ago, outgoing Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick vetoed a provision that would have repealed a transparency law aimed […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
DeLeo flattered by term limit talk
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE House Speaker Robert DeLeo, who has helmed the chamber since 2009 and is staring at a term-limited departure from the speaker’s office in just over two […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service, The Download
Market Basket, Arthur T, and the American Dream
Thousands of angry Market Basket workers have elevated ousted Market CEO Arthur T. Demoulas as close to god-hood as a man can get. More than 5,000 employees turned out to […]
Posted inGambling, Opinion
Connecticut’s casino boom going bust
Massachusetts officials repeatedly cited the spectacular success of Connecticut’s two casinos, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, when making the case for legalizing casinos in the Bay State. With a casino repeal […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics, Transportation
With government, the little things matter, too
When a T worker notices that something is “off,” and acts quickly to save a vision impaired rider from getting hit by a train, or when a State Trooper helps […]
Posted inGambling
The Popeye factor
Casinos are supposed to be hurting financially, but maybe Wynn Resorts didn’t get the memo. The Wynn Las Vegas announced this week it has purchased a 2,000-pound sculpture of Popeye […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Police chiefs, activists rip Senate on gun bill
Standing in front of phalanx of more than a dozen Massachusetts police chiefs, gun-control activist John Rosenthal called out the state Senate this morning for giving in to pressure from […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Casinos’ slipping fortunes
It seems like eons ago that Bob DeLeo was extolling his casino bill (insisting on calling it a “jobs bill”), Deval Patrick was waxing rhapsodic about something called a “destination […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, The Download
The politics of guns
Beacon Hill moved closer to passing a new gun control law on Thursday, but not before once again scaling back the proposed legislation to appease the concerns of firearm owners […]
Posted inPolitics
Coakley spinning her wheels
A new Boston Globe poll has Martha Coakley locked in a statistical dead heat with Charlie Baker, the presumptive Republican nominee for governor. Coakley’s lead in a matchup against Baker […]
Posted inPolitics
Probation closing statements: The prosecution, the defense & the judge
The prosecution: Former Probation commissioner John O’Brien wrote a January 2007 letter to his nemesis, Trial Court chief Robert Mulligan, in which he defended the way people were hired at […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Attorney: Globe column targeted Probation jury
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE On the second day of jury deliberations in the probation trial, one of the defense attorneys accused the Boston Globe of an “attempt to manipulate the […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Walsh calls BRA a mess
Shoddy record-keeping and weak management inside the Boston Redevelopment Authority have cost Boston’s powerful development agency millions of dollars in unpaid fees and lease payments, an outside audit of the […]