In the 35 years since National Urban League conventioneers last ventured into Boston, the city has made galactic strides in race relations. Boston is finally getting control of the one […]
Black holes
Posted inOpinion, Uncategorized
The William Bulger I know
The recent capture of James “Whitey” Bulger has brought forth a torrent of commentary, much of it involving former state Senate president and University of Massachusetts president William Bulger. A […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
Retail politics
In Washington, politicians are fighting over debt. Closer to home, it’s groceries they get all worked up about. The mayors of Somerville and Boston are currently beating up on Wal-Mart. […]
Posted inArts and Culture, The Download, Uncategorized
Bowling abroad
The breakdown in American civic culture and community has been well documented. The definitive treatise on this, of course, is Robert Putnam’s 2000 book Bowling Alone, which painted a picture […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
T chief responds to story on garage
It is important and necessary that I correct several facts and assertions made by Paul McMorrow in his Back Story entitled “Garage gamesmanship.” The MBTA concluded that the fair market […]
Posted inPolitics, Transportation
Massport revenues sought for transportation
The Patrick administration, desperate for new transit revenues, is exploring ways the Massachusetts Port Authority can pump more money into the state’s transportation network. At a Massport board meeting on […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Download
Wallace indicted, questions remain
The indictment of former South Boston state representative Brian Wallace on campaign finance charges leaves a lot of questions unanswered. News outlets across the state carried the basics. The 61-year-old […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Back Story
Regulatory chess
The proposed merger of NStar and Northeast Utilities is starting to get interesting. What started out as a fairly straight-forward merger proposal is fast becoming a game of regulatory chess […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Education, The Download
Just between us, watch what you say
Mark Tremblay is, by all accounts, a reasonably intelligent family man who works two jobs, including installing “kill switches” in police cars. A 5-2 majority opinion by the state’s highest […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, Health Care, The Download
Standard-Times all in on New Bedford schools
In this continuing era of reduced resources, it is both noteworthy and newsworthy when a newspaper devotes time, space, and manpower to examine in depth an issue that is critically […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Economy, Politics, The Download
For lawmakers on Beacon Hill, patronage is the scandal that won’t go away
<div id=”fb-root”></div><script src=”First it was Probation, a legislative jobs bank that blew up in spectacular fashion in its sponsors’ faces. Now, just two months after the Legislature tried distancing itself […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
40B debate, cont’d
Voters settled the latest battle over the state’s affordable housing law last November when they soundly rejected a ballot question that would have repealed the 42-year-old statute known as Chapter […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
MTA head responds to pension column
Stephen Eide’s argument for switching public employees in Massachusetts from a defined benefit pension system to a defined contribution system (“Time for Real Pension Reform,” July 5, 2011) ignores one […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Patrick’s compensation philosophy and Mullan
State Transportation Secretary Jeffrey Mullan is leaving his job later this year because Gov. Deval Patrick refused to give him a raise. The Globe broke the story, reporting that Mullan […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
The Big Dig’s paper trail problem
If the recent report on secrecy in the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the subsequent suspension of engineer Helmut Ernst tell us anything, it’s that access to public records and […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
A woman’s place is in the House
When Niki Tsongas , the Lowell-based congresswoman, testified recently before the Massachusetts Special Joint Committee on Redistricting, she caused a kerfuffle. As the only woman in an otherwise all-male and […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Not your father’s Kennedys
With the passing of Ted Kennedy, it appears the family’s well-known ability to circle the wagons and protect the familial legacy as well as each other may also be slipping […]
Posted inHealth Care
Health compromise becomes law
What started as an all-out battle over municipal health care reform ended today in a show of kumbaya at the State House as the proposed reforms became law. Gov. Deval […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
SJC decries ‘catastrophic’ budget
The state’s highest court yesterday called on Gov. Deval Patrick to freeze political appointments to the judiciary and announced the consolidation of nearly a dozen courts because the fiscal 2012 […]
Posted inHealth Care, The Download
All quiet on the union front
Just a couple months ago the leaders of public sector unions in Massachusetts were up in arms about attempts on Beacon Hill to curb their collective bargaining rights. They threatened […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
The real “culture of corruption”
There has been plenty of talk in the wake of the Sal DiMasi verdict about whether or not Massachusetts has a “culture of corruption.” The DiMasi situation is the standard […]
Posted inHealth Care
Municipal health care refinements approved
Gov. Deval Patrick successfully tweaked the Legislature’s municipal health care reform package to buttress his claim that Massachusetts is demanding $100 million in givebacks from public sector unions in a […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Closed door democracy
The political class in Massachusetts, birthplace of the American Revolution, has a rather inglorious record when it comes to practicing some of the basic tenets of the open democratic government […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Unions, think-tank spar in Connecticut
Public sector unions in Connecticut filed a complaint last month with the state’s attorney general alleging a conservative think tank located in Hartford unlawfully tapped into the state’s email system […]