STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE CALLING IT “ONE of the greatest health care tragedies in my memory,” the Patrick administration’s top health official told lawmakers Wednesday that she is committed to […]
Bigby says NECC has primary responsibility
Posted inPolitics
Gateway Cities key to Senate election
BOSTON MAYOR TOM MEnINO’S voter turnout machine got much of the credit for propelling Elizabeth Warren past Sen. Scott Brown last week, but the focus on Boston obscures a much […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
If Kerry bolts, do Dems have a replacement?
Massachusetts political watchers have had their eyes on John Kerry’s Senate seat for nearly a decade now. At first, the seat was going to open up when Kerry cruised past […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Warren the rookie
Like a rookie stepping up to the plate for the first time in the big leagues, Elizabeth Warren looked cautious and tentative in her first meeting with the State House […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Sen.-elect Warren is monosyllabic
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICECANDIDATE ELIZABETH WARREN was known for giving lengthy answers to the even the simplest of questions, often joking that she had not yet mastered the political skill […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
A machine without the operator
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino is being praised for setting his machine in motion to turn out the vote that helped ensure victory for Elizabeth Warren, who garnered nearly three-fourths of […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Deja vu all over again
(This article originally appeared in the winter 2009 print issue of CommonWealth, but it seems appropriate now in the wake of Tuesday’s election.) TWO-PARTY GOVERNMENT Is critical to the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Warren turnout machine sweeps away Brown
SCOTT BROWN HANDED OFF ownership of the People’s Seat, stepped off the Park Plaza stage, and tried to explain to a crush of reporters how he’d just lost hold of […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Winners & losers
If the tone of Scott Brown’s campaign had matched the tenor of his concession speech, the man from Wrentham might be looking at six more years. Instead, Elizabeth Warren goes […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
No election highlights for Massachusetts GOP
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the number of House Republicans members scheduled to be sworn in on Jan. 2, 2013. The correct number is 29, down […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Download
The Cahill defense: My candidacy was a joke
The trial of former state treasurer Timothy Cahill and his chief of staff Scott Campbell for using Lottery funds for political purposes began yesterday with a novel, if not humbling, […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
State tax revenues lag, mid-year cuts likely
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICEIN LIGHT OF a new dim revenue report for October that shows tax collections now trailing estimates for the year by over $250 million, the Patrick administration […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
What’s the story with Obama?
Barack Obama supporters are praying daily (many of them probably hourly) at the altar of Nate Silver. The creator of the poll-dissecting blog FiveThirtyEight, who was signed on by the […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
The SJC’s drunk driving report
For the second time in less than three years, the state’s court system is marching to the tune of the Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team. The first instance came in 2010, […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
The patient Menino
BOSTON MAYOR THOMAS MENINO is a patient investor with city money. Three years ago, when he was running for a fifth term, the mayor orchestrated a $200,000, two-year loan to […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Question 2 triggers a battle over life, death, and dignity
Early on, it appeared that Massachusetts would become the third state to legalize so-called physician-assisted suicide, with polls showing voters favoring the end-of-life ballot question by a more than 2-to-1 […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Abusing the disabled cannot be tolerated
ABUSE IN ALL ITS FORMS is shameful and grotesque, but abuse of people with disabilities is particularly horrific, and recent news accounts bring this fact into sharper focus. In […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, State House News Service
Coakley recuses herself in drug lab probe
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICEFOLLOWING CALLS for Attorney General Martha Coakley to recuse herself from a broader probe into the functioning of the state drug lab at the center of an […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Download
FEMA: How do you like me now?
If Katrina was the nadir for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, then Sandy is its brightest moment since New Orleans. Up and down the hurricane-battered Northeast corridor, local, state, and […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Reading law targets daunting problem
ON SEPTEMBER 26, surrounded by children in the Robin Hood School library in Stoneham, Gov. Deval Patrick signed An Act Relative to Third Grade Reading Proficiency into law. Three weeks […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Democrats target Republican freshmen
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICEFRESHMEN HOUSE REPUBLICANS are in the crosshairs this election cycle with the majority of incumbents from both parties facing no opposition and a Democratic majority all but […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Download
Sandy beaches
Sandy hit the state with force on Monday, and more than 300,000 Massachusetts customers were without power as of early this morning. However, state officials said there have been no […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Romney’s Etch A Sketch for the home stretch
It was way back in March, about a million Twitter news cycles ago, that Mitt Romney’s man behind the curtain, Eric Fehrnstrom, announced what nearly anyone who has followed Romney’s […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Lawrence’s licensing board circus
Nothing is easy in Lawrence — even filling empty seats on the city’s Licensing Board, which regulates nightclubs and hands out liquor licenses. One of the board’s three members stepped […]