It’s all over, including the shouting. If some MBTA riders actually thought that negative testimonies at public hearings were going to prevent fare increases and service cuts, now they know […]
Transit insaniTy
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service, The Download
Gambling law unknowns
The late entry of the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe has upended the calculus behind the Mashpee Wampanoag’s Taunton casino bid. The Mashpee were supposed to have a head start on one […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Retaining Boston’s tech cluster
Today marks the fourth day of South by Southwest (SXSW), a conference that attracts almost 50,000 people and showcases the latest in music, film, and technology each year in Austin. […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Back Story
The private talks with NStar
The deal paving the way for the $17.5 billion merger between NStar and Northeast Utilities was set in motion more than a year ago, when executives from the two companies […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Mystery woman to run for office
The mystery woman who was at the center of a House chamber incident with a Braintree lawmaker last year says she is going to challenge Rep. David Torrisi of North […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, The Download
The Thin Blue Line’s thinner wallets
Cities and towns were just handed some fiscal relief by the state Supreme Judicial Court but don’t expect a lot of high-fiving among local officials to follow. If past is […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
Where the Pentagon sees guns, Mass. sees butter
With Gov. Deval Patrick gone AWOL more and more, Lt. Gov. Tim Murray has been tapped to lead the fight to forestall cutbacks at Bay State military facilities. So far, […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Worries about Warren
A new Western New England University poll has Sen. Scott Brown rocketing past Elizabeth Warren, and that has some Democrats sizing up the distance between the window ledge and the […]
Posted inEnvironment, Transportation
Gas price crackdown has no legal authority
Patrick administration officials are pledging to crack down on gas stations engaging in price gouging, but under current state regulations they have no legal authority to take any action.With gasoline […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, The Download
On higher ed, Santorum flunks out
It certainly didn’t match the coarseness of Rush Limbaugh’s characterization of an articulate Georgetown University law student as “slut.”  But when Rick Santorum called President Obama a “snob” for encouraging […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
DCR not talking
Over the past couple months, Ed Lambert has been talking tough about the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s deadbeat renters, but now he’s not talking at all. The DCR commissioner […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
FinCom calls for Swan Boats audit
The Boston Finance Commission is calling for an audit of Swan Boats Inc., the family-run ferry service in the Public Garden that says it earned $1.4 million between 2008 and […]
Posted inEconomy
Watchdog calls for Swan Boat audit
The following is the text of a letter sent to Boston Mayor Tom Menino from Matthew Cahill, the executive director of the Boston Finance Commission. February 23, 2012 The Honorable […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
HR department key to reform
In December, the Supreme Judicial Court Task Force on Judicial Hiring issued its sixth and final report, completing an exhaustive year-long review of hiring and promotion practices in all of the judicial branch. These reports mark a […]
Posted inOpinion, Uncategorized
Psychotherapist-patient sex is crime in New York
As an attorney who represents victims of sexual exploitation by psychotherapists, I have witnessed the devastating effects that such abuse has on the victims. I have interviewed hundreds of victims […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
A cause to go Gaga over
Anyone who’s ever been the target of bullying or taunting back in the day and later achieves some measure of success relishes that opportunity to go to the high school […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion
CommonWealth urged to rethink use of name
By Janet W. Wohlberg I am writing in response to a recent CommonWealth story about the sexual and emotional abuse of a patient by a renowned Boston-area psychoanalyst. In the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Snowe storm
If Americans needed yet more evidence that Congress has been taken over the political equivalent of the walking dead, there is now the case of US Sen. Olympia Snowe. The […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
OneUnited’s “cardinal sin”
OneUnited Bank has a complicated relationship with bills. Specifically: It isn’t fond of paying its own. The Boston-based bank was saved in 2008 with a $12 million cash infusion from […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, The Download
The cause endures
With the entry of Joe Kennedy III into the race for an open US House seat, the political chatter has returned for the umpteenth time to the question of whether […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Education, The Download
Is Lynn overreacting?
City and school officials in Lynn say they plan to prosecute two freshman girls who fought each other at Cook Street Park and discipline at least 27 other children who […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
The underbelly of Beacon Hill
Richard Vitale, the friend and financial advisor to former House speaker Sal DiMasi, admitted last October that he illegally lobbied on Beacon Hill without registering as a lobbyist. He was […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
In sports, boys need to be men
The Boston University men’s hockey team, among the most successful college sports programs in the country, is reeling after the dismissal of two stars who were arrested and charged with […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
The lessons of the failed Columbus Center project
After a dozen years, 125 public meetings, and $100 million in sunk costs, the saga of the failed Columbus Center project, a mixed-use development slated to straddle the Massachusetts Turnpike […]