STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICEUpdated January 4, 2012 The MBTA over the next several months will consider a mix of sharp fare increases and service reductions that would eliminate some bus […]
MBTA outlines possible fare hikes
Posted inEconomy
Patrick noncommittal on film tax credit
Is the Patrick administration sending mixed signals again about the state’s film tax credit? A story in today’s Globe reports that administration officials are declining to say whether the governor […]
Posted inEconomy, The Back Story
Smart growth funds running out
The account that funds the state’s smart growth law is running out of cash, raising the prospect that the state’s first major effort at using incentives to promote housing construction […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Legislature should pass ban on veal crates
This is a tale of two bills. The first one (H458/ S786) would ban the use of veal crates and gestation crates in Massachusetts. This is a modest step and […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Mostly Martha
NOTE: The Download will be taking an end of the year break next week, and will return on Tuesday, January 3rd. Happy holidays!If living well is the best revenge, Attorney […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Lt. Gov. to release black box data
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray today directed the State Police to release the data contained on the “black box” of the car he was driving the morning […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Checking the elephant for a pulse
Here in Massachusetts we have a sort-of democracy in which the Democratic Party wins most of the elections and the Republican Party contends only for the governorship or the rare […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
With casinos, all politics is political
If, as Barney Frank says, “Government is the name we give to things we choose to do together,” politics must be the name we give to things that advance our […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Romney roller coaster
Two weeks ago, this very space noted the odd timing of a New York Times Magazine story that marveled at Mitt Romney’s remarkable staying power, given the fact that, between […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Populist fury may not yield electoral edge
When President Obama traveled to Kansas recently and delivered speech full of populist fury at the great concentration of wealth among the country’s richest elite, a great sigh of relief […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Sales running slow for Lottery raffle
With 10 days to go, the Massachusetts Lottery has sold just a fifth of the tickets for a $10 million New Year’s Day raffle, which could mean millions of dollars […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Latest Census finds fewer young children in Mass.
In an aging state whose prosperity depends on a pipeline of skilled, well-educated workers, the burden of sustaining the Commonwealth’s future prosperity is resting on fewer small shoulders. The 2010 […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Unemployment down; political intrigue up
The economy, bit by bit and with all sorts of caveats, appears to be improving, which could reshape the political landscape next year. The national unemployment rate fell to 8.6 […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Economy, The Back Story
Film flim flam
How vulnerable to fraud is the state’s film tax credit? That’s the question quietly being asked on Beacon Hill in the wake of a 10-count indictment against director Daniel Adams […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Oh, ye of little faith
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 […]
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 […]