PEOPLE ASK ME all the time where we get our story ideas. There’s no easy answer. Sometimes they come from a tip, sometimes they spring from a question that needs […]
Tips, questions, and unexpected surprises
Posted inUncategorized
Spring 2013 correspondence and updates
DPH chief criticized It is unfortunate that Interim Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Lauren Smith made statements regarding patients with chronic Lyme disease that do not reflect evolving understanding […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download, Transportation
Beacon Hill’s numbers game
The great tax battle on Beacon Hill seems to be turning into a numbers game. After threatening to veto the $500 million transportation tax plan passed by the House on […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Third time a charm for transportation plan?
After days of posturing from both sides, Gov. Deval Patrick and legislative leaders may finally huddle mid-field to agree on a smaller transportation finance plan that whittles down operating gaps […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service, Transportation
Could the Senate plan provide common ground?
This is an updated version of a previously posted story. THE MASSACHUSETTS SENATE is preparing to vote on a transportation finance plan that is bigger than the $500 million House […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
GOP doesn’t want to play the game
Senate Republicans eschewed a chance to become dealmakers in the tax standoff, a rare opportunity for the minority party to influence a bill’s fate by either joining with liberals to […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Back Story
What’s Malloy up to?
CONNECTICUT AND MASSACHUSETTS have nearly identical regulatory schemes for the promotion of renewable energy, but that may be about to change. Gov. Dannel Malloy of Connecticut, concerned his state’s residents […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service
House rejects cap on film tax credits
THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE released a budget proposal on Wednesday that relies on far less new tax revenue than Gov. Deval Patrick’s plan, but the House initiative continues fully funding the […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service, The Download
Bay State shifting gears on bilingual education
Transportation budget shortfalls have dominated the debate on Beacon Hill in recent weeks. When lawmakers’ attention does swivel around to education, the public conversations tend to center on a lack […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics, Transportation
Transportation bill makes strange bedfellows
The tally from Monday night’s vote in the House for a $500 million transportation bill told you where lawmakers came down on the leadership-sponsored package, but that’s not the same […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Where have all the anti-tax advocates gone?
BARBARA ANDERSON Barbara Anderson used to prowl the halls of the State House with a vengeance whenever lawmakers started thinking about raising taxes or tinkering with her now-33-year-old baby, Proposition […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service
Springfield bets on sibling rivalry
THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE came to rest on the big money for Massachusetts two years ago when Gov. Deval Patrick signed legislation ushering the Bay State into the casino era. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Economy, Politics
What happened to Johnny Ramos is criminal
JOHNNY RAMOS SAYs he did “a lot of stupid things” when he was a teenager growing up in Boston’s South End. He says he never used drugs or carried a […]
Posted inEnvironment
William Koch
CommonWealth’s Bruce Mohl interviewed William Koch by phone from his office in West Palm Beach on Feb. 20. Koch was with Brad Goldstein, his media representative. What follows is a […]
Posted inEnvironment
Jim Gordon
This slightly edited interview with Cape Wind’s James Gordon took place at his office at the Park Plaza Office Building in Boston on Feb. 28 at 10 a.m. in the […]
Posted inHealth Care
Secondhand chemo
Workers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center prepare chemotherapy drugs in a clean room.NOT TOO LONG ago people smoked everywhere and gave little thought to how their smoke might […]
Posted inEnvironment
Look who’s talking
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,” […]
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 […]
