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, […]
3 Probation defendants found guilty by jury
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billion state budget a few weeks ago, outgoing Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick vetoed a provision that would have repealed a transparency law aimed […]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 inEducation, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
Charter defeat is a winning issue for Baker
After the Senate voted Wednesday to keep the state’s cap on charter schools in place, the head of one of the state’s teachers unions told the State House News Service, […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Solar bill improves on utility proposal
PowerOptions urges the passage of House Bill 4185, An Act Relative to Net Metering and Solar Power, which will uncap solar net metering and create new opportunities for renewable energy […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
How DeLeo became a coconspirator
Federal prosecutors changed their view of House Speaker Robert DeLeo during the course of the trial of former Probation commissioner John O’Brien, largely because of the testimony of a shaky […]
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 […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
Health policy agency critiques Partners deal
The state’s Health Policy Commission raised concerns on Thursday about some aspects of Attorney General Martha Coakley’s proposed agreement with Partners Health Care on hospital acquisitions, but the agency did […]
Posted inGambling, State House News Service, The Download
A Massachusetts billionaire could torpedo Atlantic City once and for all
Why paddle around with the little fish when you can swim with the big ones? That seems to be the calculation made by venture capitalist Paul Fireman, the founder and […]
Posted inEducation
Inching along in the market: The genesis of this story
Few stories start in a vacuum. At some point, quite often outside of work, a reporter or editor will come across information that is worth examining. That’s how I began […]
Posted inEducation
Inching along in the market
in 1996, when William Bulger took over as president of the University of Massachusetts, the school system was an afterthought in many ways on the college scene, both regionally and […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Caught in a time warp
Members of the Berkshire County NAACP, with Will Singleton in center in drawstring pants. Will singleton didn’t know what to make of it. The retired Pittsfield native had been back […]
Posted inEducation
Comeback kids
JAZZMIN HERNANDEZ DOESN’T fit anybody’s profile of a likely high school graduate, never mind a soon-to-be college student. When she was 10, she and her older brother spent two years […]