Campaign fundraising by Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown continues apace, which is to say it is happening at ridiculous levels. Brown, who used to have a campaign war chest that […]
The Senate money pit
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
State makes plans for revenue falloff
State House News Service In the face of economic risksand uncertainty three months into the fiscal year, the Patrick administration is capping full-time equivalent employees at current levels and taking […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
For Patrick, the heat is on
Gov. Deval Patrick’s breakfast cereal yesterday probably didn’t go down too smoothly if he ate it while reading the Sunday Globe. The front of the paper’s Metro section featured a […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Download
Boston braces for crime surge from state lab scandal
What was interesting about Thursday’s press conference at Boston City Hall on how the city plans to cope with the fallout of the Annie Dookhan scandal was who showed up […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, Politics
Waiver warfare
of the domestic policy achievements of the past two decades, most would agree the two biggest are the welfare reform law of 1996 and the No Child Left Behind education […]
Posted inPolitics
Tracking the cash
after decades of shrugging off campaign finance disclosure mandates, Massachusetts lawmakers have finally turned the tide in reporting what their donors do for a living, giving watchdogs the tools to […]
Posted inPolitics
A representative sample
as we approach election day, one can scarcely turn on the news or pick up a newspaper without reading about polls. Polls in the run-up to election day tend to […]
Posted inUncategorized
Correspondence
Green is good, economically My fellow real estate developer David Begelfer misses the mark when he suggests Massachusetts’ forward-looking climate and energy policies are somehow too expensive and bad for […]
Posted inUncategorized
No dice
since the state of Massachusetts legalized casino gambling, many cities throughout the state have begun competing for the opportunity to place a casino within their borders. Indeed, many in my […]
Posted inUncategorized
All in
on august 27, I announced that Springfield was beginning its selection process for a destination resort casino project pursuant to the Commonwealth’s recently enacted gaming legislation. This legislation is unique […]
Posted inEconomy
Making it in Massachusetts
Barry Bluestone (left), dean of the Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University,and Michael Tamasi (right), owner of AccuRounds and a leading manufacturing industry voice.when the great […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service
Rhode Island red
little rhody was in big trouble. That much Gina Raimondo knew when she pumped her fist in victory on election night two years ago. It wasn’t until the new Rhode […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Education
Fire drill
‘ As adults we believe we are putting our children into a safe environment,” says State Fire Marshall Stephen Coan.as tropical storm Irene raged through the western part of the […]
Posted inPolitics
Romney writes off 2002 campaign loan
FOR NEARLY EVERYONE else, a half-million dollars would be a pretty healthy retirement account. But for Mitt Romney, who has an estimated worth of $250 million, it’s akin to change […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics
DCR cottage leases face quicker demise
massachusetts officials are vowing to phase out a controversial program that has offered cheap, virtually permanent permits for state park land to private citizens for summer cottages. After years of […]
Posted inEducation
Chinese students flocking to UMass Boston, Lowell
CHINESE AND OTHER international students are flocking to US colleges, including two campuses of the University of Massachusetts. UMass Boston, viewed locally as primarily a commuter school, saw its number […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
A bank for infrastructure
Illustration by Peter and Maria Hoey.the pivot was abrupt, but it hardly sounded unfamiliar. For two straight hours, Joe Curtatone, the mayor of Somerville, had led an auditorium packed […]
Posted inPolitics
Kaleidoscope
Photo credit: Tannen Maury/EPA/Landov Photo credit: Don Treeger/The Republican/Landov Story telling Spinning a good yarn is how we have recorded history, shared experiences, and tapped human emotion going back […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
‘No money’ Mike Connolly
BY HIS OWN admission, “No Money” Mike Connolly has made hundreds of people laugh by telling them he is running for state representative but not accepting any campaign donations. But Connolly, […]
Posted inEconomy
Half full or half empty?
from the sound bites blanketing the airwaves, it’s clear that politicians everywhere are concerned about the impact of the recession and slow recovery on the middle class. Elected leaders intuitively […]
Posted inPolitics
High-stakes test
Photographs by Michael Manning JEFF RILEY RECEIVED a fairly consistent piece of advice when he was considering the offer to become receiver for the Lawrence public schools, the person in […]
Posted inPolitics
Here comes StateStat
FOLLOWING THE LEAD of many cities and towns across the country, the state of Massachusetts is launching a program to harness more data that can be used to sharpen government […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Menino, Davis warn of surge in crime
The Suffolk County District Attorney says he and his staff will do everything they can in court to keep a scandal at a state drug lab from returning hundreds […]