A picture can be worth a thousand words, and the shot of a steroid-bulked Jared Remy staring blankly at his murder arraignment last August said plenty, splayed out across the […]
Jared Remy’s rage – and the fallout in the announcers’ booth
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
A transportation option: Local option taxes
The recent history of transportation funding in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts suggests that new approaches to the funding of our transportation infrastructure must be considered. The chronic underfunding of our […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service
Lawmakers want charters, regular schools in same boat
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Two key Democratic lawmakers on Monday promoted a plan brokered over the weekend and designed to resolve the impasse over legislation that would trigger an expansion […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Republican candidates hiding in plain sight
It’s been a generation or two since the GOP in Massachusetts – the so-called Saltonstall, Sargent, and Lodge Republicans who would now be termed RINOs on the national stage – […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Walsh wants it all
Greater Boston Mayor Martin Walsh wants a seat at everyone’s table. Or at least those within the planets that circle the state capital. Walsh sent a letter to the state […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Gaming change gains traction
Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn has taken a lot of heat for calling for changes in the state gaming law, but it now appears that at least one of […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
DCF and the upskirting standard
Jawbones rattled to the floor across the Commonwealth last week when state lawmakers likely set a legislative speed record with a new law that criminalized upskirting. Can Beacon Hill act […]
Posted inPolitics
Tabloid trouble
The Boston Herald and one of its reporters, Jessica Van Sack, recklessly published a false and defamatory story in 2009 alleging that a woman engaged in “sexual acts” with a […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Lantigua plots a comeback
Big-name Democrats abandoned William Lantigua last fall, as the then-mayor of Lawrence battled for his political life. Now, as Lantigua lays the groundwork for a possible political comeback, he has […]
Posted inEnvironment
N.E. electricity costs jump 55% to $8b in 2013
The wholesale price of electricity in New England jumped 55 percent in 2013, driven primarily by a steep increase in the price of natural gas, according to ISO New England, […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Breakfast special
“Do not adjust your television set.” With that, Linda Dorcena Forry dispensed to great laughter with the issue that has made her the lead character of late in Boston’s ongoing […]
Posted inThe Download
The Catholic Church’s gay fixation
It must be confusing to be Catholic today. On the one hand, you have a pope who is softening the church’s tone on gays, abortion, and other hot button issues. […]
Posted inEnvironment
2 agencies told to do more Cape Wind work
A federal judge in Washington on Friday sided with Cape Wind on nearly all the legal challenges raised by opponents of the offshore wind farm, but directed two governmental agencies […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, The Download
The politics of terror
Terrorist acts, by their very definition, are political statements. But the fallout and aftermath can trigger political posturing as well, as evidenced by some local involvement in two of the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Forry’s redistricting debt
The election last year of Linda Dorcena Forry, a Haitian-American state representative from Dorchester, to the state Senate seat representing South Boston has been hailed as the clearest sign yet […]
Posted inPolitics
Coakley challenges church in bias suit
Attorney General Martha Coakley thrust her office into the middle of a civil suit against the Worcester Diocese, saying the church’s refusal to sell property it owns in Northbridge to […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Boston’s public transit conundrum
The MBTA is going all out. But riders are fed up. After years of fits and starts, there’s additional service on the Worcester-Boston commuter rail line, complete with a brand new […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
Solar backers push to lift subsidy cap
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Solar energy proponents urged a legislative panel on Tuesday to remove a barrier to renewable energy production by lifting the state’s cap on the amount of […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
An unwelcome spotlight for Markey
When Sen. Ed Markey urged federal regulators in January to investigate a weight loss company, he thought he was heading off a pyramid scheme. It turns out that he’d put […]
Posted inPolitics
A fight brewing in Lawrence
Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera wants to move agencies currently scattered around the city into cheaper office space downtown, but his drive to consolidate departments is likely to trigger a multimillion-dollar […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Trouble in the “velvet coffin”
Another day, another juicy installment in the soap opera that is doubling as the office of the Suffolk County Register of Probate office. In today’s episode, Globe reporters Sean Murphy […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Are state campaign finance laws irrelevant?
Over the past 40 years, legislative changes have placed stringent restrictions on individual campaign contributions in Massachusetts. The maximum amount one can contribute to any candidacy in the course of […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
New Hampshire sours on Brown
Scott Brown couldn’t hold on to his Senate seat two years ago, despite being one of the most popular politicians in Massachusetts. The lesson in Brown’s 8-point loss to Elizabeth […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Super PAC bill may be too late to cover governor’s race
The Massachusetts Legislature is likely to take up a campaign finance package that would impose stricter disclosure rules on super PACs soon, but the new regulations are unlikely to take […]