STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE The state’s largest gun owners group released a critique on Tuesday of a task force’s recommendations to reduce gun violence, concluding that experts appointed by House […]
Gun group critical of report for DeLeo
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Barros, key Walsh supporter, takes cabinet post
Marty Walsh swept into Boston City Hall by assembling a team of former campaign rivals behind him. Endorsements from former mayoral hopefuls Felix Arroyo, John Barros and Charlotte Golar Richie […]
Posted inGambling, The Download
Losing your shirt – and your home – at the casino
It’s a well-known truism in the casino world that the house always wins. Less well known is the fact that sometimes, apparently, what the house wins is your house. On […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
House rules
The Massachusetts House expelled Rep. Carlos Henriquez of Boston on Thursday because the representatives couldn’t tolerate having a colleague who was serving time in jail for assault and battery against […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Where are the most “swingers” in Massachusetts?
Read the original post on massincpolling.com Democrats have had a lock on the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation (as well as every statewide office) for some time now, with the exception of […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Is CVS a leader – or merely reading the smoke signals?
Ed Sweda must be dusting off his costume and doing a little dance. Sweda is the longtime archnemesis of Big Tobacco and, as senior counsel for the Group Against Smoking […]
Posted inEducation, The Back Story
BPS to replace a fifth of teachers
The Boston Public School system is about to launch a dramatic overhaul of its teaching staff, replacing a fifth of its 4,500 teachers. The unprecedented teacher turnover headed into the […]
Posted inPolitics
Henriquez expelled
A correction was added to this story. Former Rep. Paul Kujawski lost a reelection bid in 2010. The Massachusetts House on Thursday voted 146-5 to expel jailed Boston Rep. Carlos […]
Posted inPolitics
House panel backs Henriquez expulsion
THE HOUSE ETHICS COMMITTEE issues a report setting the stage for a Thursday vote to expel Rep. Carlos Henriquez from the body. The committee voted 9-1 that House Speaker Robert […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Bay State is a bottom-dweller on budget planning
What do Massachusetts and Alabama have in common? They both are lousy at using the best tools available to craft state budgets. That news may come as a shock to […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
House panel backs Henriquez expulsion
The House Ethics Committee issues a report setting the stage for a Thursday vote to expel Rep. Carlos Henriquez from the body. The committee voted 9-1 that House Speaker Robert […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The declaration of independents
Massachusetts has a large, and growing, block of independent voters. They call out like a siren to ambitious outsider politicians, ambitious individuals who set out to vanquish partisan politics. These […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The whirling revolving door
What do you call a long-time congressional staff member? A chump. Lawrence Lessig , the Harvard law professor who has been on a crusade against the corrupting influence of money […]
Posted inEducation
Pricey foreign study
James Romanelli, a senior at Boston College, paid full BC tuition last year, plus the cost of housing, to spend a semester at the Copenhagen Business School. So he was […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
44 gun recommendations
The committee created by House Speaker Robert DeLeo to explore ways of reducing gun violence in Massachusetts made 44 recommendations on Monday, most of them nuts and bolts proposals to […]
Posted inThe Download
Tsarnaev and the death penalty
Attorney General Eric Holder approved a motion for prosecutors to seek the death penalty for alleged Boston Marathon bomber Dzokhar Tsarnaev, triggering an emotional debate inside Massachusetts about the ethics […]
Posted inThe Download
Trying to Patch the sinking news lifeboat
Soccer is the game of the future, its deriders have long said, and always will be. After the latest news that Patch, the pet project of AOL CEO Tim Armstrong, […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Panagiotakos’s lobbying fees soar
Steven Panagiotakos, once one of the state’s most respected lawmakers, is quickly becoming one of Beacon Hill’s top lobbyists. Records on file with the Secretary of State’s office indicate Panagiotakos’s […]
Posted inPolitics
DeLeo’s probation problem
Laughter and applause rained down on the House chamber on Wednesday. Beacon Hill lawmakers sent one of their own off in style, welcomed a new member to their ranks, and […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
Political fallout from Jeremiah Oliver case
Gov. Deval Patrick pronounced the state of the Commonwealth “strong,” but the state of the Department of Children and Families is anything but. Patrick won’t be able to revel in […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Economy, Politics, State House News Service
DeLeo rules out new taxes, fees
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE House Speaker Robert DeLeo on Wednesday ruled out any new taxes or fees in the budget his deputies will produce this spring, essentially nixing Gov. Deval […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service, The Download
Fall River goes all in – again
The last time a casino deal blew up on Fall River Mayor Will Flanagan, he shrugged it off as the cost of rolling the dice. Flanagan’s gambling had nearly blown […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Lynn police cleared in fatal shooting
The Essex District Attorney says the fatal shooting of an Iraqi war veteran in September by Lynn police was justified because the man, Denis Reynoso, had grabbed an officer’s gun […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
Nose to the grindstone
A week ago, Tom Friedman diagnosed the problem with American education and the reason why US kids are falling farther behind on international benchmarks of achievement: We’ve become a nation […]