US Sen. Scott Brown doesn’t want to talk about Osama bin Laden. He does, however, have plenty to say about the disgraced former speaker of the House, Sal DiMasi. DiMasi […]
The Download: Brown’s DiMasi diversion
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, The Download, Transportation
The Download: The T’s contract problem
The Boston Globe yesterday wrote another chapter in the ongoing saga that chronicles failures at the MBTA, this time regarding the T’s relationship to Mass Bay Commuter Rail, the company […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Download: The Eagle-Tribune and Lantigua
In 1988, the Eagle-Tribune won a Pulitzer Prize for its relentless coverage of Willie Horton and the Massachusetts prison furlough program. The paper published nearly 200 stories detailing how Horton, […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Back Story
The other gas
The price of gas at the pump is rising dramatically, but the cost of the other gas – natural gas – is going in the other direction. Thanks to breakthroughs […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Download
The Download: Oddfellows: Globe to print Herald
What’s next, Howie Carr sporting a bowtie? Frank Phillips and Brian Mooney acknowledging their Herald roots? The Inside Track finding something interesting in the Boring Broadsheet? The Globe writing a […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Download: Southern comfort
The most popular governor in the North is from the South.  There was lots of carping in 2009 when Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor only got a measly $112 million in high-speed […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion, State House News Service
Labor pains
It’s always sad to witness the estrangement of a long time committed couple who have been good for each other over so many years. Could we be seeing this today […]
Posted inPolitics
DeLeo flexes muscle on court reform
Speaker Robert DeLeo showed off some serious political muscle today when the House voted 152-0 to reform the courts and retain the embattled Probation Department within the judicial branch rather […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Download: Governor’s Council on thin ice
When the needle moves on Beacon Hill, it tends to move quickly. Last Tuesday, one member of the Governor’s Council was warning his colleagues that if they didn’t stop attracting […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
The middle-class squeeze
The much-heralded demographic change seen in the latest Massachusetts census numbers is at least partly the reflection of a decade of economic change that was particularly challenging for the state’s […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, The Download
The Download: Flaherty’s return engagement
He’s now made it official: former Boston city councilor Michael Flaherty wants his old job back. Actually, he doesn’t really want his old job at all. He wants the job […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Patrick proposes youth violence prevention plan
Gov. Deval Patrick, who said prevention of youth violence would be one of the priorities of his second term, laid out his plan for tackling the problem at a Mattapan […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
The Download: Another patronage haven bites the dust
One by one, state government’s biggest patronage havens are being shut down. The state’s Probation Department, long an employment agency for politically connected friends of state lawmakers, got a makeover […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
League puts Brown in spotlight
The League of Women Voters, perhaps best known for its dry, down-the-middle voter guides, is running a hard-hitting TV ad that slams US Sen. Scott Brown for voting to shortchange […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Post mortem
What should we make of the celebrations after Osama bin Laden’s death? I teach and write about the ethics of war for a living, and this has been a strange […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, The Download
The Download: Grave dancing
“We don’t need to spike the football,” President Obama said in his decision to not release photographs of Osama bin Laden’s dead body. “That’s not who we are.” But who […]
Posted inPolitics
Bump releases report critical of DeNucci
Massachusetts Auditor Suzanne Bump unveiled a highly critical report on the condition of the office she inherited today, driving a wedge between herself and her predecessor, longtime auditor Joe DeNucci. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Health Care, Politics, The Download
The Download: Eternal vigilance in Boston and beyond
The death of Osama bin Laden changed little for Boston’s Logan International Airport, the launch point for the September 11 attacks almost ten years ago. Gov. Deval Patrick advised “an […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, The Download
The Download: Now to the political calculus
It’s now the second day of Osama bin Laden stories, which means the narrative has turned to stories detailing how the daring weekend raid came together, and to stories speculating […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
CommonWealth magazine’s new video conversations feature
CommonWealth has launched the beta version of a new video feature we’re hoping will become a mainstay of our website – and a must-see for those who follow policy and […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, The Download
The Download: KIPP success a matter of degrees
In the world of high-achieving urban charter schools, seeing graduates ultimately go on and finish college has always been the Holy Grail, the goal that school leaders say truly represents […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Bin Laden’s long time on the lam
By Michael Jonas Just how long was the period between Osama Bin Laden’s emergence as the most wanted man on the planet following the 9/11 attacks and his killing last […]
Posted inPolitics
Records law doesn’t apply to governor
Another in a series of occasional articles concerning Massachusetts public records and open meetings laws. Responding to an appeal filed by CommonWealth, Secretary of State William F. Galvin officially ruled […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
44 reps disclose health care conflicts
More than a quarter of the 160 members of the Massachusetts House disclosed last week that their votes on municipal health care legislation, hotly debated by unions, mayors and selectmen, […]