In the gambling world, the house always wins. In the case of a bid to build a billion dollar casino in East Boston, the house is Suffolk Downs and its […]
Against all odds, casino vote in doubt
Posted inEconomy, Education, Politics
MAYOR MATTERS: Steady start
Fifth in a series Boston’s next mayor will face a range of crucial issues when he assumes office in January. Three areas that should receive particular attention, however, are the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Mystery money floods Boston mayoral race
With just days to go before Boston’s mayoral election, mystery money is flooding the race, most of it going to benefit Marty Walsh. CommonWealth’s Paul McMorrow called it “dark money” […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, Transportation
MAYOR MATTERS: Keep Boston moving
Fourth in a series Of the many issues facing the next mayor of Boston, one of the more pressing is ensuring that the city fulfills its potential for continued economic […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Payne and Domke go independent
Dan Payne and Todd Domke are well-known political consultants who often moonlight together as pundits for media outlets, with Payne representing the Democrat point of view and Domke the Republican. […]
Posted inEducation
Boston schools embrace autonomy in hiring
Boston officials say they plan to give leaders at every public school the autonomy to fill teacher vacancies with anyone they want while steering unplaced tenured teachers into professional development […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, The Download
Obama: Every little thing’s gonna be alright
With the Red Sox sucking all the oxygen out of the news cycle in these parts, it might have been a little hard to notice other things going on yesterday, […]
Posted inPolitics
When it comes to skylines, bigger isn’t always better
Fifteenth in a series When Boston College Dean W. Seavey Joyce flew over Boston in the mid-1950s for the first time (he was a fearful flyer), he looked down upon […]
Posted inPolitics
MAYOR MATTERS: A 21st century mayor
Third in a series Boston is embarking on a new era, as Mayor Thomas Menino leaves office after two decades. His successor will have to both build on Menino’s accomplishments […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service
State taking over 4 different schools
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICEThe state will take over four chronically under-performing schools that have been “stuck” as other troubled schools have made “quite good progress,” Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Cape officials show how to get rail done
For years, Cape Cod officials wanted to use rail to get tourists off their clogged roads and onto beaches and into restaurants and shops. Coordinated by the Cape Cod Regional […]
Posted inPolitics
MAYOR MATTERS: Boston’s parks need to play catch-up
Second in a series Boston is home to the oldest park in the country, so perhaps it’s no surprise that innovation may not be the first thing that comes to […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Linehan’s total isolation
Bill Linehan held on to his Boston City Council seat two years ago, but it appears that victory cost him the support of much of the city’s political establishment. Now, […]
Posted inPolitics
Boston: More integrated yet also very divided
Fourteenth in a series Boston was nearly torn apart by the forced busing experience. The palliative quality of time healed many of the wounds, as did lot of hard work […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Regional planner slams S. Coast Rail article
I am writing to give your readers some additional perspective on South Coast Rail in response to Gabrielle Gurley’s October 23 opinion piece singling out the project (“Deval Patrick, John […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, State House News Service
Warren: Obama ‘dropped the ball’ on website rollout
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICESen. Elizabeth Warren said on Monday that President Obama’s administration “dropped the ball” on the rollout of the federal health care website, but added that the Affordable […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Mayoral limits
BOSTON POLITICAL WATCHERS are breathlessly anticipating the final week of the mayoral showdown. Tomorrow is the last of three televised debates between John Connolly and Marty Walsh. The candidates will […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
It’s John Henry’s Globe and T&G
Red Sox principal owner John Henry officially took ownership of the Boston Globe and Worcester Telegram & Gazette from the New York Times Co. on Thursday, but we still don’t […]
Posted inHealth Care, The Back Story
Robin Hood health care
Like health-care Robin Hoods, Massachusetts officials are taking roughly $216 million from the state’s health insurance plans and biggest hospitals and giving the money to small community hospitals, physician practices, […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Big, dark money flowing into Boston mayoral race
Outside PACs and unions are funneling money into Boston at a rate that far outpaces anything seen nationally in other recent big-city mayoral races. The mayor’s contest is awash with […]
Posted inHealth Care, The Download
Rage against the machine
Technology has been credited – some would say condemned – for launching the demise of newspapers and other media. Now, the computer industry has been identified as the bogeyman in the […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
MCAS scores highlight 3d-grade reading problem
Last month’s release of 2013 MCAS results generated some good news. Concealed in the results, however, is a hidden story that is cause for concern: 43 percent of the state’s […]
Posted inPolitics
Walsh, Connolly say Boston racially divided
The two candidates for mayor of Boston told a large crowd in Roxbury Wednesday night that the city in many ways remains as racially divided today as it did in […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Deval Patrick, John Adams, and rail to the South Coast
The week before Halloween, Gov. Deval Patrick is giving out transportation projects like candy: New Red and Orange line cars to calm those anxious commuters in Greater Boston who despair […]