Federal legislation requiring online retailers to collect state sales taxes from their customers is gaining momentum, picking up bipartisan support in Congress and the backing of one-time opponent Amazon.com. At […]
Online sales taxes coming?
Posted inHealth Care, The Back Story
The missing connection
The lead anecdote in a story about tiered network health plans in Monday’s Boston Globe omitted one potentially key fact. According to the story, Glenn McCarthy of Weymouth needed surgery […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
AIM exec responds on green programs
AIM appreciates substantive debate on issues as important as the high cost of energy in Massachusetts. But the recent posting in Commonwealth magazine by Lisa Capone, the assistant secretary of communications […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
Herald publishes five-part education series!
Even in its heydays, the Boston Herald was hard-pressed to match the Boston Globe in substantive beat reporting, especially on issues such as education, but it wasn’t for lack of […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment
Report: 2.7m green jobs in US; 63,523 in Mass.
A new report from the Brookings Institution indicates 2.7 million people hold down green jobs in the United States. The report says 63,523 of those jobs are in Massachusetts, virtually […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Michael Moore occupies Wall Street
Filmmaker and lefty firebrand Michael Moore decided that Occupy Wall Street could benefit from serious storyboarding. To help rescue the movement from what critics across the political spectrum have dismissed […]
Posted inEducation
BU probes teacher’s ad seeking grading help
Boston University is investigating one of its lecturers who placed an ad on Craiglist looking for someone to help grade his students’ papers. The situation involving Duane Lefevre was brought […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
State official differs with Rio, Coakley
This article was written in response to a piece by Associated Industries of Massachusetts vice president for government affairs Robert Rio, and a Back Story by Bruce Mohl about attorney general Martha […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Frank frenzy
Barney Frank totally could have won reelection to his new district. It’s just that he didn’t want to. So, he told reporters at Newton City Hall yesterday, he won’t be […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Mud season comes early
Do they make mudflaps for flat screen television sets?Although the presidential election is a full year away, the contenders have taken to the airwaves and the ratio of mud to […]
Posted inPolitics
Frank won’t seek reelection to Congress
Barney Frank has had enough. A Massachusetts congressman since 1981, Frank said he had been planning to run for one more term next year but decided to retire after Gov. […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion, State House News Service
Consensus emerging on green energy
UPDATE: Read a response by Lisa Capone, the assistant secretary for communications and public affairs at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.Rio’s article was originally written for AIM’s […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Senator 1 Percent leads battle for the 99 percent
There’s a certain irony in seeing the wealthiest man in the US Senate arguing against tax cuts for the richest Americans. US Sen. John Kerry stuck to the script as […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Back Story
Green alert on Coakley
Attorney General Martha Coakley insists she is as green as ever, but environmental activists aren’t so sure after her recent testimony on the state’s three-year-old Green Communities Act. Coakley warned […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The inside games of Murray and Bump
Here’s a question for everybody out there who wants to be governor, as well as the people who are in the business of charging this first group of people several […]
Posted inPolitics
New Bedford developer sues over gambling law
Hours after Gov. Deval Patrick signed legislation legalizing casino gambling in Massachusetts, the would-be developer of a New Bedford casino is asking a federal judge to block the law’s implementation. […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Uncategorized
Church speaks, but who’s listening?
Did you note take note of the strong call last week by the state’s four Roman Catholic bishops for Gov. Deval Patrick to veto the casino bill now on his […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, Politics, The Download
From American Dream to “American Scream”
“Occupy” protesters with tents pitched in city parks and loud marches in scores of US cities have been beating a drum figuratively — and sometimes literally — about the economic […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Somerville: End the liquor license cap
Thanks to the recently-passed casino gambling bill, the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission will soon be launching a two-year comprehensive review of Massachusetts’s liquor laws. Somerville officials have one suggestion for […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Conflicting opinions
Just hours after members of the US Supreme Court decided to hear the challenge to President Obama’s health care reform, the Los Angeles Times reported, Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Massachusetts stays true to its blue laws
There’s no better phrase than conspicuous consumption to describe the orgy of excess that is Black Friday. The first day of the traditional holiday shopping season had been creeping earlier […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Feeney’s stealth exit
Maureen Feeney, who quietly resigned her Boston City Council seat last week after nearly 18 years, was a diligent advocate for her Dorchester district and a steady presence in municipal […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Cambridge feels the diss in redistricting
The state’s proposed new congressional districts dice up Cambridge, to the benefit of the rest of the state. Or, as Rep. Alice Wolf puts it, “A lot of people are […]
Posted inEconomy
Movie spending, employment falls
Movie spending and employment in Massachusetts took a dive in 2010 amid the Great Recession and uncertainty about the state’s film tax credit, but picked up sharply this year and […]