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 […]
Mud season comes early
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 […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Occupying the campus auditorium
It had a whiff of the 60s about it, and that was no accident. Yesterday’s “Reclaiming Our Economy” teach-in at Northeastern University was the brainchild of Northeastern economics professor Barry […]
Posted inThe Back Story, Uncategorized
Patrick targets the achievement gap
In a passionate speech before a packed house at UMass Boston on Wednesday, Gov. Deval Patrick announced that we must close the achievement gap in our schools if opportunity is […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Journalism cuts are serious business
The never-ending reductions in newsrooms just keep piling up. The latest victims, though, are not reporters on the front lines of journalism or in the support areas in circulation or […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Lisa Wong answers the wake-up call
Fitchburg Mayor Lisa Wong received a Martha Coakley-style shock to the system when City Councilor Joseph Solomito trounced her in the September preliminary election, 60 percent to 37 percent. But […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Menino’s power plays
It’s election day in Boston, which means all eyes are on Tom Menino. Political watchers are wondering whether he can tamp down an insurrection in South Boston, whether his political […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service, The Download
Charter foes try a new tack
Opponents of charters schools, who have long complained about funds being lost to district schools when students enroll in charters, have opened a new front in the war they’ve been […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Murray’s mystery ride
The Boston Herald’s Howie Carr asks the question everyone has been wondering this week: What was Lt. Gov. Tim Murray really doing in the predawn hours on Wednesday when he […]
Posted inEconomy
Dream deferred
for ann jones, the clerk-teller’s position she landed at the Registry of Motor Vehicles in 1984 was her shot at the American Dream. Jones had worked a few jobs, gotten […]
Posted inPolitics
Court rejects Parente pension claim
A state appeals court has rejected a bid by a former lawmaker who sought to increase the value of her pension by counting her monthly walking-around stipend and per diem […]