Through two weeks of testimony, prosecutors in the Sal DiMasi corruption trial have elicited sensational testimony about bribes, kickbacks, and sleaze inside the State House. But as they’ve tried to […]
DiMasi trial pulls back the curtain
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Download
The Download: The write stuff
Despite a national publicity tour and appearances on all the major television shows, Gov. Deval Patrick’s memoir “A Reason to Believe” is selling like cold hotcakes, according to Nielsen Bookscan, […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
White House all wet taking Herald out of pool
Did anyone with even a passing knowledge of Boston politics and media not know what the front page of the Herald would look like today after the White House made […]
Posted inEnvironment
Turbine testing facility opens in Charlestown
The huge building next to the lot holding imported cars in Charlestown looks a lot like a warehouse, but it’s actually part of an effort by Massachusetts to attract cutting-edge […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, The Download
The Download: Michele Bachmann’s teen problem
US Rep. Michele Bachmann is contemplating tossing her hat in the ring for the Republican presidential nomination. With Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee out, the Minnesota Republican says her telephone […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
Senate health plan gives unions little
Public sector unions were counting on the Senate to slow down the push on Beacon Hill for health care givebacks, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. Senate […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment, Health Care, The Download
The Download: Brown’s DiMasi diversion
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 […]
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 […]