RICHARD MCGOWAN, a professor at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management and a leading researcher on gambling, has called compulsive gambling the “Achilles’ heel” of the casino industry. He’s right, […]
The casino debate’s Achilles’ heel
Posted inEnvironment, The Download
Wishing for the return of Luddites
Climate change skeptics are increasingly turning to a weapon many conservatives have over the years despised: Public record access. A suit in Virginia by a right-wing group to secure the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The other Warren moves to the head of the pack
It’s official: Scott Brown can start worrying.Elizabeth Warren is in. Prior to Warren’s announcement, smart money was on Brown to skate to re-election. After all, Brown is the most popular […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The casino bill’s bad press
As far as inevitable developments go, Beacon Hill’s consensus proposal to license three resort casinos and one slot parlor sure has a lot of questions hanging over it. When the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Warren off and running for Senate
Harvard professor and former presidential advisor Elizabeth Warren will announce Wednesday she is officially in the race to unseat US Sen. Scott Brown. Aides say she will greet commuters in […]
Posted inPolitics
Globe launches pay website
Boston.com splits in two today, spinning off BostonGlobe.com as a separate, subscription-only website costing $3.99 a week. It’s an attempt by the region’s largest news organization to begin collecting money […]
Posted inEducation
Middle class schools called underperformers
A new education report by the Third Way, a Washington, DC-based think tank, found that the nation’s middle class schools aren’t performing up to par. The report found that three […]
Posted inPolitics
Pierce leaving Globe after being disciplined
Boston Globe magazine writer Charlie Pierce, who needs little prompting to offer opinions on everything from sports to politics, is leaving for a job at Esquire magazine after the newspaper […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
The minority voting rights imperative
Dear Governor Patrick: Few Americans are more aware than you of the salient and inherent value of the right to vote and the importance and indispensability of representative democracy. Having […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Post 9/11 stress syndrome
The nation paused yesterday to reflect on the horrors inflicted a decade ago. The observance was moving, and it was hard not to be touched by it. The day of […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
DiMasi sentenced to eight years
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Former House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, once arguably the most powerful man in Massachusetts, was hit Friday with an eight-year jail sentence for his conviction on charges […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
The middle class candidate
When Elizabeth Warren was asked at one of her invitation-only, listening-tour house parties in Andover whether she was ready for the onslaught of scrutiny a potential US Senate candidacy will […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Opinion, Uncategorized
9/11 and the arts
The arts have always had a humanizing influence — rising above political differences to celebrate the transformative power of creative expression. I find myself reflecting on that as we observe […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, The Download
Patrick consolidates UMass control
Gov. Deval Patrick consolidated his control over the 19-member University of Massachusetts board of trustees by reappointing its controversial chairman and naming six others who are political supporters and Democratic […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Remembering 9/11
As the United States nears closer to the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the media has embarked on a collective national memorial in print, broadcast, and online. The […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
FEMA: Rescue me
Be grateful that Hurricane Katia is headed to out to sea rather than toward New England since the Federal Emergency Management Agency appears to be the next agency in line […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Next DC crisis: The Postal Service is broke
Washington loves a good crisis, and it has had no shortage of them this year, from a near-shutdown of the federal government in April, to the 11th-hour negotiations over the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Agents, insurers at odds over credit scores
The state’s automobile insurance companies and the agents who represent many of them are on opposite sides of a hot-button issue: Should the companies be allowed to consider a driver’s […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Scott Brown’s secret
Two stories tucked inside the metro section of The Boston Globe this morning help explain why US Sen. Scott Brown is going to be hard to beat. The first story […]
Posted inOpinion, Uncategorized
Memo to the Gang of Twelve (aka the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction)
For decades economists have chided the American people for spending too much and saving too little. Now we are told we should spend money to make it circulate while we […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Film tax credit: take two
There’s no denying the excitement when a major motion picture production comes to your neighborhood. Increasingly, in recent years, movie making has moved out of the Hollywood soundstages to our streets […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Justice sends clear signal to AT&T: No more T’s
The Justice Department’s decision to sue to disconnect the conversation between AT&T and T-Mobile is being hailed by many consumer advocates as a victory for competition even as it comes […]
Posted inEducation, Politics
Special needs misspending found
Auditor Suzanne Bump today released her audit of the embattled Merrimack Special Education Collaborative (MSEC), along with audits of the Southeastern Massachusetts Education Collaborative (SMEC) and READS Collaborative. The audits found serious […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
How do you solve a problem like Uncle Omar?
Jimmy Carter had brother Billy. Barack Obama has Uncle Omar. Carter’s headline-grabbing younger brother produced countless headaches for the White House as his elder brother fought for reelection in 1980. […]