An effort to raise the Massachusetts minimum wage by $3 per hour has run into static on Beacon Hill, where business groups have protested the size of the wage hike, […]
Minimum wage hike a boon for state budgets?
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Lantigua’s long goodbye
Lawrence may be done with Willie Lantigua, but Lantigua is not yet done with Lawrence. The irascible — some wonder whether indictable — Lawrence mayor is no quitter. Not when […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Dookhan gets 3-5 years
Annie Dookhan quietly admitted she tampered with evidence and falsified documents that potentially affected tens of thousands of drug cases in Massachusetts before being led away in handcuffs to spend […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Can Walsh make good on his promises?
Marty Walsh made a lot of promises while running for mayor, and now he has to start figuring out a way to deliver on all of them. Back in July, […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Is John Henry a local?
John Henry says he bought the Boston Globe because the newspaper needs “private, local ownership” in order to prosper. But there’s a flaw in his reasoning: He isn’t a local. […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service
Teacher evaluation data released by state
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICEOver 90 percent of the state’s public school educators received passing grades in the first year of a new evaluation system that rated teachers and administrators on […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Download
Up in smoke?
It’s kind of hard to say there’s a chasm between voters and politicians in deciding what’s best for the state, given that the voters put these folks into office and […]
Posted inBy The Numbers, Opinion, Politics
UMass Lowell pollster defends surveys
In a recent CommonWealth article by Lawrence DiCara and James Sutherland, “A Tale of Two Cities: Boston Mayoral Vote Shows Big Split on Education and Income,” the authors note two […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Ties to ADL imperil Patrick judge nominee
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICESaying he hadn’t had a chance to work on rounding up votes to ensure confirmation, Gov. Deval Patrick prevented the Governor’s Council from voting on judicial nominee […]
Posted inEducation
Boston releases ratings of teachers by school
The Boston school system rated 93 percent of its teachers as exemplary or proficient under a new evaluation system, although ratings varied fairly significantly from school to school. Overall, 13.5 […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Another casino setback
Small town Massachusetts has spoken and it seems that many of them don’t want casinos. Milford, a MetroWest town of 25,000, soundly defeated a host community agreement with Crossroads Massachusetts, a […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Warren: US faces retirement crisis
The following is a transcript of Sen. Warren’s speech on the Senate floor on Monday. I rise today to talk about the retirement crisis in this country – a crisis […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Casino confusion on Vineyard
The Massachusetts casino hunt has turned upside-down, and then flipped upside-down again. The wild turns of fortune now have wild turns of their own. The Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe threw the […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
Teacher evaluation data to be released
We will soon know how individual Boston public schools fared under a new state-mandated evaluation system. Less clear is what the the data will tell us or how they should […]
Posted inUncategorized
What should a city charge for renting a sidewalk?
The city of Boston rents its sidewalks for outside dining to more than 50 restaurants using a fee structure that is getting poor reviews from budget watchdogs and economists.The base […]
Posted inPolitics
Asians do better than their numbers would suggest
One minority group that seems to be moving assertively into Greater Boston’s power structure is Asians. They are making stronger inroads in the workplace than blacks and Hispanics, who outnumber […]
Posted inPolitics
The numbers for the state, Boston show improvement
The minority hiring records of the state of Massachusetts and the city of Boston are both relatively good, a sharp contrast to most companies in the private sector. State records […]
Posted inUncategorized
Diversity lacking at Boston law firms
Nutter McClennen & Fish, one of the largest law firms in Boston, is proud to point to the fact it was founded way back in 1879 by renowned Supreme Court […]
Posted inEnvironment
The zombie coal plant
Jay O’Hara didn’t have to see the gun to get spooked. The sound of the bullet hitting the chamber of a police officer’s rifle was enough. “I heard the bolt […]
Posted inUncategorized
No seat at the table
Boston has come a long way since the days of school busing in the 1970s. The city is far more racially diverse, with blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and other minority groups […]
Posted inEducation
Rocky road
It was an unwelcome, but not unfamiliar, spot for the Renaissance Charter Public School to find itself in. In February, the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted for […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
¡Arriba Lantigua!
“Who are you?” Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua is not happy to see a reporter in his downtown campaign headquarters, much less one who has dropped in unannounced and is busy […]
Posted inPolitics
Boston’s oracle
Turmoil and Transition in Boston: A Political Memoir from the Busing EraBy Lawrence S. DiCara, with Chris BlackLantham, Hamilton Books234 pages Turmoil and Transition in Boston, the title of Larry […]
Posted inUncategorized
The GOP’s corner office strategy
While Massachusetts ranks as one of the bluest states in the nation, giving the average Democratic presidential nominee a 20-point advantage over his GOP rival in the last 14 elections, […]