Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter says flourishing cities have sex appeal. I hadn’t thought about cities that way, but she’s got a point. The good ones have a […]
The Download: Sexy cities
Posted inHealth Care, The Back Story
Collective bargaining brouhaha
Union officials are threatening to take out Massachusetts lawmakers who strip away their collective bargaining rights. The officials say they are ready and willing to negotiate lower health care benefits; […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, The Download
The Download: No idle threat
With the price of oil topping $112 a barrel, the highest price in nearly three years, it won’t be long before we see $4 a gallon here in Massachusetts, perhaps […]
Posted inPolitics
The start of a beautiful relationship
The state’s judicial branch, historically wanting in the ways of Beacon Hill, came out on top in the fight with Gov. Deval Patrick for control of probation and may have […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
The Download: Getting bolder on the environment
With Earth Day on the horizon, Phil Primack, a CommonWealth contributing writer, turned on the wayback machine, lamenting in a recent Boston Globe Magazine column that the passion that marked […]
Posted inOpinion, Uncategorized
Hugs for Democrats
When I see the politically humbled I offer comfort. When I see the politically downtrodden I rush to bring hope. When I see the politically bullied I want to envelope […]
Posted inEducation
Field of dreams
The University of Massachusetts football program is looking to run with the big dogs, but the move to Division I-A comes with financial risks.Administration and athletic officials from the flagship […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
The Download: The debt ratings game
Standard & Poor’s tried to goose Washington into tackling its financial problems yesterday. The ratings agency lowered its outlook on government debt, effectively saying that unless Congress and the White […]
Posted inEnvironment
Salazar gives final Cape Wind OK
US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, wearing a white cowboy hat, rode into Boston today to give the Cape Wind offshore wind project the final approval it needs to […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Download
The Download: What the frack?
Sherry Vargson lights a match, sticks it near the water coming out of her kitchen faucet, and watches as a flame shoots upward. As this multimedia story from Time magazine […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, The Back Story
Supply and demands
Four charter schools are opening in Boston next fall and they need classroom space. The Boston Public Schools are downsizing and will have 10 empty buildings at the end of […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
The Download: Putting the budge in the budget
Who blinked? Who will blink? And is blinking overrated? Pundits and experts are beginning to pore over the deal to cut $38.5 billion from the federal budget, and what they’re […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Thinking outside the box to build a square
Cities and towns across the Commonwealth are being hit harder than ever as revenue and state aid decrease. Many municipalities have put on hold development projects that could revitalize public […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download, Transportation
The Download: Reform before revenue resurrected
Another hearing, another round of mea culpas from Bay State transportation officials. This past winter’s commuter rail problems set the stage for Transportation Secretary Jeffrey Mullan to put a new […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment
Organogenesis breaks ground on tissue factory
Massachusetts bet more than $30 million on Evergreen Solar and lost, but its $8 million wager on Organogenesis is paying off handsomely so far.The Canton manufacturer of living cell tissue […]
Posted inEconomy, Health Care, Politics, State House News Service
Dempsey tweaks Patrick proposals
The new House budget proposal tweaks two of Gov. Deval Patrick’s major initiatives, eliminating collective bargaining for many aspects of municipal health plan design and reducing the number of attorneys […]
Posted inEnvironment
Fish fight
massachusetts democrats are close allies of the environmental community, routinely receiving top scores on environmental scorecards and leading the charge on major environmental legislation in Washington. But don’t tell that […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Public sector pay: reasonable or excessive?
gov. scott walker’s victory in curbing collective bargaining rights of Wisconsin public sector workers casts a spotlight on the issue of disparities between public and private sector compensation. The same […]
Posted inUncategorized
The next great thing
despite the economic woes in the country, investment in research and development continues to expand in all public, private, and nonprofit sectors, according to federal statistics. Nowhere is that impact […]
Posted inEconomy
Untethered competition
wireless phones, it seems, are ubiquitous. Talking, texting, surfing. On the street, on the T, and in the car. You can’t swing a dead Samsung without hitting someone with a […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Public or private?
gov. deval patrick clearly doesn’t think much of the judiciary’s management skills. He’s filed legislation calling for a professional manager, instead of a judge, to oversee the trial court. He […]
Posted inEconomy
Urban (love) affairs
Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier By Edward Glaeser New York, The Penguin Press, 352 pagesREVIEWED BY JOHN SCHNEIDERcities have always […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
Lawrence on the mat
lawrence, with an anemic tax base and the state’s highest poverty rate, is no stranger to the usual litany of urban woes facing struggling cities. But Lawrence’s problems suddenly became […]
Posted inUncategorized
Who does he think he is?
IT’S AN EARLY March afternoon and a gaggle of reporters are waiting outside the House chamber. The focus of their interest finally steps out and obliges the group. He and […]