Religion and politics are two topics my Boston Irish clan was forbidden from discussing at the Sunday dinner table. Which would have made for some very quiet dinners had we […]
Oh, ye of little faith
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Green investments are a good idea
We at the New England Clean Energy Council appreciate substantive debate on energy issues, and are glad to see energy at the forefront of conversation in CommonWealth. But readers of […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Crosby Show
Even Scott Harshbarger, the Bay State’s most irascible casino critic, could find little to quibble with in Gov. Deval Patrick’s “inspired” selection of Stephen Crosby as the state’s first gaming […]
Posted inOpinion, Uncategorized
Wedding restrictions win initial support
The wedding bells and cash register may be ringing a lot less at Boston City Hall. Several Boston city councilors voiced support today for a proposed ordinance that would limit […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Coakley’s foreclosure gamble
We’ll know as soon as this week whether Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley was right to walk away from a national foreclosure settlement, or whether that decision will leave Bay […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Crosby named gambling chief
Press conference video via State House News Service: Gov. Deval Patrick today named Stephen Crosby, a veteran of Beacon Hill and the dean of a University of Massachusetts policy center, […]
Posted inUncategorized
Wal-Mart, Bank of America bought film tax credits
State investigators today charged that a Cape Cod filmmaker fraudulently obtained $4.7 million in film tax credits over several years and then sold those credits to Wal-Mart and Bank of […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Inequality or failure to rise?
According to a recent WBUR poll done by The MassINC Polling Group, more than half of us doubt that the American Dream of a better life for the next generation […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
A bump in the patronage road
The charade the Boston City Council is engaged in as it attempts to hand off the $100,000-a-year city clerk position to barely-former city councilor Maureen Feeney held its opening act […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Wedding ordinance proposed for clerk post
The Boston City Council, facing heat for trying to place one of its former colleagues in the city clerk’s post, plans to take up a proposed ordinance today that could limit […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Mitt’s $10,000 pyramid
Poor Mitt Romney. Probably a poor choice of words. Which is exactly the problem for the once — and perhaps future — front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. No matter […]
Posted inPolitics
State hits Progressive with $125,000 fine
The Massachusetts Division of Insurance today slapped a $125,000 fine on Progressive Insurance for inadvertently posting a link on its website about the use of credit scores in setting auto […]
Posted inEducation
BU instructor resigns after seeking grading help
A Boston University lecturer resigned after using Craigslist to hire someone to help grade student papers, BU officials said. A BU spokesman confirmed Duane Lefevre, a marketing instructor at the […]
Posted inThe Back Story, Uncategorized
Massport still interviewing
Nearly 10 months after Tom Kinton announced he was retiring as executive director of the Massachusetts Port Authority, the quasi-public agency is still looking for a replacement. Michael Angelini, a […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, State House News Service, The Download
Mankiw’s evolution on income inequality
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney doesn’t seem troubled by income inequality, but his economic advisor, Harvard professor Gregory Mankiw, says he is worried. “Widening income inequality is a real and […]
Posted inEconomy
Director’s cut
A Hollywood director who made several movies on Cape Cod was arrested and charged with defrauding the state by filing bogus expenses for film tax credits of nearly $5 million, […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Hey, hey. Ho, ho. Occupy has got to go.
And so the word has gone out to the Occupiers in Dewey Square: You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here. Suffolk Superior Court Judge Frances McIntyre […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Poll data indicates challenges for Brown
This fall’s Senate election is shaping up more like a replay of the statewide election at the end of 2010 than the one at the beginning. US Sen. Scott Brown’s […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
State House computergate
It’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up. No one has accused Mitt Romney of wrongdoing. It’s been established that Romney aides operated within the bounds of Massachusetts law when 11 […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
DeLeo bid to tamp down patronage talk does the opposite
Here’s how Charley Murphy rings out the old year, and rings in the new: The calendar turns, and the ambitious Burlington Democrat gets knocked down another rung in the House […]
Posted inPolitics
DeLeo benches Murphy during tense caucus
House Majority Whip Charles Murphy resigned today from his leadership post moments before he was about to be removed from that position by House Speaker Robert DeLeo, who elevated three […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The perhaps at this moment not so inevitable Mitt Romney
The Republican presidential primary campaign can be a frustrating exercise for voters interested in substantive discussion of the great issues, what with Michele Bachmann’s talk of the HPV vaccine causing […]
Posted inUncategorized
DeLeo sets caucus of House Democrats
House Speaker Robert DeLeo today summoned his Democratic members back to Beacon Hill for a caucus tomorrow amidst speculation that he intends to reshuffle his leadership team and demote House […]
Posted inPolitics
State rolls out Open Checkbook
Massachusetts officials today unveiled a new $1.8 million website that allows the public to review and ask questions about most government expenditures, including payments to vendors and the salaries and […]