The Legislature is trying to tighten the state’s business improvement district law, sending Gov. Deval Patrick an economic development bill that includes a little-noticed provision preventing commercial landlords from opting […]
BID proposal would corral landlords
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, State House News Service
Patrick signs sentencing reform bill
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Gov. Deval Patrick on Thursday morning signed legislation eliminating parole eligibility for certain repeat violent offenders and making about 600 non-violent drug offenders immediately eligible for […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
The Catholic church is finding its lost voice
Most everyone over the age of 30 remembers a time when the Catholic Church was a dominant force in social, cultural, and political issues, especially here in Massachusetts. Richard Cardinal […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Opinion, Uncategorized
Gore Vidal: Writer, activist, social critic
Gore Vidal was the last of an extraordinary generation of American writers who came of age during the 1940s and 1950s. Just considering the roster of talent that emerged from […]
Posted inHealth Care
Steward ads promote its ‘new health care’
Steward Health Care is using the Olympics to hone its image. The Boston-based chain of 10 community hospitals, many of which were on the verge of going under when Steward […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Gov. Patrick and the tale of two bills
If the end of the General Court’s 187th session precipitated a chaotic though predictable scramble to move the session’s most consequential bills, it was an even more challenging time for […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, State House News Service
DeLeo uncertain of Patrick’s sentencing bill plan
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE With the possibility that Gov. Deval Patrick could quietly kill habitual offender legislation by vetoing it after formal sessions end for the year at midnight tonight, […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Legislature loses track of time
Two years ago, the Legislature slept on a ticking clock and paid the price. Lawmakers put off priority legislation, their prized casino bill, until the last possible moment, as is […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Opinion, Uncategorized
A populist vision for US rowing
The women’s “eight” rowing entry representing the United States is poised to make history in London. These eight stellar athletes are heavily favored to win the gold, besting the British […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service, Transportation
Moving with delays
Both the MBTA and the Massachusetts Port Authority have interviewed candidates for their top jobs, but after a year of searching neither agency appears close to naming executives to run […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Download
The usual gun play
When it comes to guns used in crimes, Massachusetts is in the import business. The Boston Globe reports today that of the 1,020 firearms used in crimes last year in […]
Posted inEconomy, The Back Story
The Greenway standoff continues
The state Department of Transportation didn’t take the knees out from under the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy this week. MassDOT may not have heard what it wanted to hear […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Download
SJC chief sounds notes of caution on crime bill
The chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court raised two major concerns about the pending crime bill: the lack of judicial discretion on sentencing and the automatic appeals that could […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion, State House News Service
The House’s bottle deposit tax delusion
The opposition by House leaders to expanding the reach of the bottle deposit law is becoming more and more bizarre. It’s one thing to say there are unacceptable costs associated […]
Posted inUncategorized
Gateway Cities caucus flexing its muscle
The four-year-old Gateway Cities legislative caucus began flexing its muscle this term, winning support for a host of new and expanded tax credits, grants, and enhanced education programs. The caucus, […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Uncategorized
38 Studios post mortem: Not enough mac and cheese
It’s been roughly a month since the highly publicized collapse of Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios, and while a recent Boston magazine feature pieced together a startling story of an overconfident […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Coakley reshaping the race to the White House
With one move three years ago, Attorney General Martha Coakley set in motion events that now seem poised to position gay marriage as the new abortion. In 2009, she filed […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment
Solarize Massachusetts spreads to 17 towns
Massachusetts is rolling out a bulk-purchasing solar program to more than a dozen communities this summer that will allow homeowners to save as much as 30 percent on installations. Patterned […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, The Download
Bloomberg urges police strike
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has found the solution for a political culture that responds to a gun massacre by stampeding away from any debate about gun laws. Bloomberg is […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
A bold community college move
Massachusetts stepped up its oversight of the state’s community colleges with legislation enacted last month that ties funding to student performance levels and gives state leaders more control over individual […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Back Story
Keenan bends the rules
Rep. John Keenan is bending the rules on the construction of new power plants to benefit his home town of Salem, but he’s doing it in a very clever way. […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service
Bottle deposit provisions tucked into jobs bill
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Thrilling supporters and puzzling opponents of the idea, the state Senate on Thursday quietly tucked a controversial expansion of the state’s bottle deposit law into a […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Public relations misstep at gaming agency
Internal emails indicate the Massachusetts Gaming Commission earlier this year failed to anticipate public and media reaction to the hiring of Carl Stanley McGee, a Patrick administration official who had […]
Posted inPolitics
The inside story of gaming agency hire
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission hired Carl Stanley McGee as its interim executive director on May 1. McGee, a Harvard Law School graduate, former Rhodes Scholar, and Gov. Deval Patrick’s point […]