The election of 1909/1910 represented a number of firsts and lasts: the first election where the winner would receive a four-year mayoral term; the first election under a city charter […]
Irish ascendancy and Honey Fitz
Posted inEducation, The Download
Different views on school committee in Lawrence, Boston
The schools in Lawrence were so bad that the state took them over. But the candidates for mayor don’t seem inclined to change one key aspect of the school system’s […]
Posted inEconomy
House, Senate leaders plan to repeal tech tax
The leaders of the House and Senate said on Thursday they plan to repeal the software design tax they approved just months ago and fill the resulting $161 million revenue […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Insensitivity training at Massport
My 9-year-old granddaughter knew that yesterday was the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States. Her class read it in their history books and discussed it during […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
Healthy attitude
In the crowded race for mayor in Boston, where candidates have struggled to distinguish themselves from the pack, Bill Walczak finds himself in an unusual position. He has stood alone […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
No letting up
Go ahead, try to hide behind your sunglasses. Stare down at the sidewalk — no, better, stare right through the concrete on the ground. Walk as quickly as possible. Discover […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Uncategorized
West Springfield rocks casino world
Never underestimate the threat of traffic nightmares to doom an $800 million economic development project. West Springfield voters said no in a Big E way to Hard Rock International’s plan […]
Posted inPolitics
The race for mayor: Past is prologue
The history of any city is a patchwork quilt of events, mismatched pieces that often bear no relation to one another but nevertheless come together to tell a story about […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Service taxes: Where the money is
Bank robbers stick up banks because that’s where all the money is. States feel the pull of service taxes for the same reason. Today, Governing magazine looks at the way […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service
Analysis: Mass. tech tax “most burdensome”
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICECasting the state as out of step with the norm, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation released an analysis Monday of state approaches to taxing computer and software design […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Breakfast reflux
For something teed up in Friday’s Globe as a “no-holds-barred political slugfest,” the showdown over South Boston’s annual St. Patrick’s Day breakfast quickly got downgraded into more of a playground […]
Posted inEconomy, Health Care
Bush hit and miss on new tech tax
The new computer and software services tax is stirring strong opposition in the business community – and a large dose of confusion as well. Jonathan Bush, the president of Watertown-based […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Baker’s one-two punch
Charlie Baker took some heat from Democrats for announcing his run for governor in a video, but the strategy appears to have worked perfectly. The good-guy image Baker cultivated in […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Motor City breakdown
“I’d blow up the place and start all over.” That was the quip from Boston Mayor Tom Menino about Detroit that has caused such a stir. Menino’s comment, which appeared […]
Posted inPolitics
Heavy hitters go to bat for Wolf
State Sen. Dan Wolf has lined up nearly a dozen big guns, including former judges, top prosecutors, and ethics experts, to persuade the Ethics Commission to change the rules to […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
The future of newspapers – again
Seems every time a newspaper is sold, the prognosticators and print junkies predict – and hope for – a new way forward. Isn’t that the expectation for Jeff Bezos and […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Back Story
Solar subsidies raising concerns
The state’s two leading utilities are raising concerns about the high cost of the Patrick administration’s new plan for subsidizing solar power. In comments filed with the state Department of […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Baker goes upbeat in campaign video
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Republican Charlie Baker, a former state budget chief and health care executive, officially jumped into the wide open 2014 governor’s race Wednesday with a more upbeat […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service
Tech tax repeal push clears first hurdle
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A push to repeal the new sales tax on computer and software design services through a ballot initiative cleared it first hurdle on Wednesday as a […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service, The Download
Technology services tax snafu ensnares Democrats
What if Massachusetts levied a tax and no one wanted to pay it? The business community is in full chuck-the-tea-in-Boston-Harbor mode over the new computer and software services tax. […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, Opinion
Educated workforce key to high wages
In our modern economy, what creates strong state economies that support high-wage jobs for their people? Low taxes, well-educated workers, or something else? When we look at data from across […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Bezos’s hard charge into the great unknown
Jeff Bezos knows two things that won’t save newspapers: Advertisers and paywalls. Bezos is aware that ads and paid content are the only two ways that newspapers make money these […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
What’s a Big Mac worth?
In the big picture, no one would argue that everyone deserves a decent wage and decent benefits for a decent job and decent work effort. It’s what’s euphemistically referred […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
The natural
Subway stations are full of voters. They’re also pretty terrible places to talk to voters. The folks spilling in and out of an MBTA station are normally in a hurry […]