When the Boston police arbitration award first popped two Fridays ago, it looked like an issue that could be trouble for mayoral candidate Marty Walsh. By this weekend, there seemed […]
Walsh’s arbitration albatross
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, State House News Service
Sen. Timilty, others shift on seatbelt law
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICEThe state senator who reviews public safety bills has changed his mind about stiffening the state’s seat belt law, and plans to vote in favor of making […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
David Koch: Pariah and patron
Billionaire New Yorker David H. Koch landed in both Boston newspapers on Friday for very different reasons. The Herald ran a story on an environmental group that is calling on […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
No new fees, taxes for convention buildout
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICEWithout increases in fees or taxes or additional state funding, operators of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, already the largest building in New England, plan to […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Unions emerge as defining issue in mayor’s race
Marty Walsh is making Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham look bad. Yvonne Abraham does not like looking bad. And so, in what’s increasingly looking like a defining issue in Boston ‘s […]
Posted inPolitics
Collins and Logue: a formidable team
Tenth in a series John Collins had won an impressive, surprise victory over John Powers. It was a moment to relish, but in the long term it would become a […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Political friends – with benefits
When the Massachusetts Legislature passed its highly touted Ethics Reform Act in 2009, tucked inside was a change to the law that allows elected officials to set up funds separate […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Patrick embarrassed by government shutdown
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICEA sharp-tongued Gov. Deval Patrick on Wednesday said he was “embarrassed” by having to explain the government shutdown to a group of visiting students from London this […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
Administration OK with Mass. fracking ban
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICEA top Patrick administration official says he could support a fracking ban in Massachusetts to ensure that a potential natural gas reserve in the Springfield area is […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Uncategorized
On a mission from God in East Boston
Another front line has opened up in the battle over an East Boston casino: Multifaith coalitions. Friends of East Boston, a group of neighborhood ministers, announced their campaign against the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Scott Brown is taken aback by politics
The sitting senator sent out a fundraising appeal, citing the specter of a potential challenge from a partisan television personality and commentator. The TV type immediately fired back, dismissing the […]
Posted inPolitics
Coming from nowhere, Collins beats Powers
Ninth in a series When he took office as mayor, John Hynes was faced with the prospect of a dying city. He ably performed the many tasks that were required […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
At the voting booth, Rivers runs dry
It’s the stuff of which Boston Herald front-pages are made. Gene Rivers, the voluble Dorchester minister who backed Charlotte Golar Richie’s mayoral bid and ripped other minority candidates for not […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion, Politics
To be or not to BRA: Is that the question?
During the mayoral primary, the future of the Boston Redevelopment Authority emerged as a hot topic, and rightly so, as the BRA touches on our lives in so many ways. […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Is Patrick in denial?
He didn’t get the new taxes he wanted, but Gov. Deval Patrick is nevertheless pushing ahead with the transportation projects they were supposed to help finance. The Patrick administration on […]
Posted inPolitics
A look at the BRA and city building
Eighth in a series The Hynes Administration put the brakes on Boston’s mid-century slide, and put into place new ways of doing business in the city. Two initiatives arising from […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Gabriel Gomez’s Etch A Sketch moment?
Former Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez insists his conversion from staunchly defending an absolute Second Amendment right to bear arms to now supporting an assault weapons ban and limiting magazine sizes […]
Posted inPolitics
The New Boston was a mix of good and bad
Seventh in a series Writing of Boston in 1952, the author John Horne Burns began his last novel, A Cry of Children, with this observation: “It takes time and tiredness […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Patrick indirect on ruling out presidential run
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICEGov. Deval Patrick was insistent Wednesday that he would stay involved in public discussions after leaving office, and less direct on whether he would “rule out” a […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
New Boston gets to vote for old Boston in November
What’s old is new again in Boston. John Connolly and Marty Walsh, two middle-aged white men of Irish descent, will go into the general election to succeed to Mayor Tom […]
Posted inPolitics
The first mayor of the new Boston
Sixth in a series It was the mid-point of the century, and Boston was at a crossroads. For too many years city leaders stood by as Boston gradually lost its […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
Renewable energy procurement announced
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICEThe largest renewable energy procurement in state history, which involved the six Massachusetts electrical utilities teaming up to increase their buying power, will provide electricity at a […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Taking stock of Tommy
Bostonians head to the polls today. For the first time in two decades, they’re picking up mayoral ballots that don’t have Tom Menino’s name on them. As the city works […]