AFTER SPENDING 12 YEARS and $65 million trying to bring wind turbines to Nantucket Sound, Jim Gordon thinks the end of his struggle is in sight. “This is the year,” […]
Look who’s talking
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
DC lobbyists Maxed out
It’s become a well-worn phrase in coverage of Washington doings to refer to the “revolving door” that connects Congress and K Street — the new shorthand for DC lobbyists. The […]
Posted inPolitics
Capitol turnover
MASSACHUSETTS REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS have for decades enjoyed key committee and leadership posts in Congress because of their seniority, and the state has reaped the benefits, both in funding from […]
Posted inPolitics
Where the votes are in Boston
THE 2000 CENSUS CATEGORIZED BOSTON as a majority-minority city for the first time in its history, but this new classification has not been the primary cause of a changing political […]
Posted inPolitics
Is two years too short?
THIRTEEN TIMES between 1983 and 2010, John Barrett III ran for mayor of North Adams and won. But Barrett said the constant drumbeat of running for election in the […]
Posted inPolitics
Gateway insights
Urban Mayor–Making a City WorkBy Jack Yunits with contributions from Lees YunitsBoston, Acanthus Publishing396 pagesTHE COMMONWEALTH’S GATEWAY CITIES have enormous potential, which explains why state officials, after years of neglect, […]
Posted inEnvironment
One on One
Your report on rising sea levels suggests Boston dodged a bullet with Hurricane Sandy. The report says if Sandy had come ashore five hours earlier, at high tide, 6.6 percent […]
Posted inEducation
Teacher lessons
A CENTRAL FOCUS of education reform efforts over the last decade has been the premise that classroom teachers are the single most important in-school variable affecting student learning. The idea […]
Posted inEnvironment
No help needed
AS RESIDENTS OF THE COMMONWEALTH of Massachusetts, we live in a state where we spend more than over $22 billion a year on energy, about $18 billion of which we […]
Posted inEnvironment
Subsidize hydro
AS MASSACHUSETTS POLICYMAKERS seek to move today’s economy beyond the legacy of fossil fuel combustion, we’re forgetting our heritage. New England was a world-class industrial power in the early 19th […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service
Tax battle joined
THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE late Monday night approved a $500 million transportation tax plan by a 97-55 margin, eight votes shy of being able to override Gov. Deval Patrick’s promised veto. […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Charter numbers game
Some district public school leaders and union officials are seizing on the fact that charter school waiting lists are double counting some kids, thereby overstating the demand for seats at […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Uncategorized
Women lean every which way
Nearly a century after women got the right to vote and several generations after they became mainstays in the workforce, it seems society – at least the male half – […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Aloisi to lawmakers: ‘I give up. You win’
DEAR MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE: When I was Secretary of Transportation in 2009, I thought I could use my many years of good will and fundraising on your behalf to leverage support […]
Posted inEconomy
Fear and loathing on the tax trail
THE MEN IN expensive suits came by the hundreds, but as they ambled into the ballroom at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel on a cold March morning, they already knew […]
Posted inPolitics
Bacon Hill
Prosecutors said former Probation Commissioner John J. O’Brien was successful in getting his wife a job at the state Lottery because the office of then-Treasurer Tim Cahill was just as […]
Posted inEconomy
Patrick threatens veto, calls DeLeo-Murray plan ‘pay more get less’
THE CONFRONTATION between Gov. Deval Patrick and Beacon Hill’s legislative leadership is boiling over. House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray came together this week to deliver a […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
The true measure of gun violence
Gun owners staged a large rally outside the State House yesterday. The show of force came as state and national lawmakers move toward tightening restrictions on firearms, whether through background […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
State getting some leases in order
IT HAS TAKEN THREE YEARS, but state officials are finally putting the finishing touches on a plan to start charging yacht and boat clubs fair rents for the public […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
More school time needs to be part of broader effort
THERE IS GOOD REASON TO BELIEVE a longer school day for students in high-poverty school districts could make a big difference in closing the persistent achievement gap that leaves poor […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service, Transportation
Patrick muted in response to House-Senate tax plan
GOV. DEVAL PATRICK spent months racing around the state trying to whip up support for his $1.9 billion tax plan, but he seemed muted on Wednesday as the Legislature prepared […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Life in the fast lane
If Gov. Deval Patrick’s $1 billion, 10-year transportation plan telegraphs ambition in the fast lane, then the Legislature’s $500 million, five-year design signals austerity in the slow lane. CommonWealth’s Paul […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Osterville man says Cape Wind fight nearing end
Joe Keller, in a fundraising letter on behalf of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, predicts 2013 will be the beginning of the end for Cape Wind. The Osterville-based developer […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service
Tax tag team
HOUSE AND SENATE LEADERS issued an unusual united rebuke of Gov. Deval Patrick’s sweeping transportation finance proposal on Tuesday, countering a wide-ranging billion-dollar transportation pitch Patrick made in January with […]