Embattled former Probation Commissioner John J. O’Brien filed for his state pension on New Year’s Eve, the same day he abruptly resigned his $130,000 post rather than face a disciplinary […]
O’Brien files for state pension
Posted inPolitics
O’Brien resigns, says he’s scapegoat
Suspended Probation Commissioner John J. O’Brien issued a press release today saying he is resigning his post immediately because he won’t receive a fair hearing on charges that hiring and […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Download
The Download: Mass inequality
Massachusetts is leading the way into a new Guilded Age. The Bay State has one of the largest income gaps between the rich and the poor in the country. The […]
Posted inPolitics
Insurance by the mile makes cents, study says
A new study indicates there is a strong correlation in Massachusetts between the miles a car is driven and the number of automobile insurance claims and losses associated with that […]
Posted inUncategorized
Life science firms get $24m in tax credits
[CORRECTION: A correction had been added to this story] The state awarded nearly $24 million in tax credits today to 30 life sciences companies that promised to create 1,000 jobs […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, The Download
The Download: Senator Zelig
Another week, another round of head-scratching and hand-wringing over just who Scott Brown (Wrentham resident, truck owner, and current occupant of the People’s Seat in the US Senate) really is. […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
The governor’s transition
jobs, jobs, jobs is the mantra on Beacon Hill, but it’s not what you think. State officials are talking more about their own jobs than about the moribund economy. They’re […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Download, Transportation
The Download: Michelle Rhee, Inc.
Michelle Rhee has certainly landed on her feet. Rhee stepped down as chancellor of the Washington, DC, public school system in October after the mayor who hired her was tossed […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Download: There will be blood
Few, save the most minimalist proponents of small government, think there’s much left to cut in the state budget without inflicting pain, so it’s now a matter of whose priorities […]
Posted inThe Back Story, Uncategorized
The BPL’s dirty laundry
The Boston Public Library has quietly settled litigation with a lawyer-lobbyist who the library alleged was secretly paid by its former president for doing no work. The settlement offers few […]
Posted inEconomy
State’s film business doing a fade?
Movies made in Massachusetts like The Fighter, The Town, and The Social Network are basking in award nominations right now, but there’s a sense the Bay State film industry is […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Download: Mitt’s op-ed machine
While Sarah Palin goes the reality show route to boost her popularity and reduce her negatives, Mitt Romney takes a more conventional path to building presidential gravitas: holding forth on […]
Posted inEducation, Environment, Politics, The Download
The Download: Setting up a schoolyard brawl
There was tough talk aplenty in Boston Mayor Thomas Menino’s speech to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. And it was all built on a strange paradox. Menino isn’t asking […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment, State House News Service, The Download
The Download: House hunting
Headlines about housing woes are usually followed by tales of low-income families squeezed by the sky-high cost of housing in Greater Boston. But that very difficult reality has obscured a […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, The Download
The Download: Where the grads are
Well-educated people tend to congregate together, and sometimes so do high school dropouts. Portfolio.com scoured Census data for information on educational attainment and then ranked the 200 largest metropolitan statistical […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Education, The Download
The Download: Counterpunch
Suspended, and likely to be soon ousted, commissioner of Probation John O’Brien is fighting back. O’Brien’s attorney, Paul Flavin, went on “Greater Boston” last night to repeat his allegations that he gave scores of notes […]
Posted inThe Back Story, Uncategorized
Should we subsidize Canadian hydro?
Republican Charlie Baker may not have won the race for governor, but his idea to import more hydroelectric power from Canada isn’t going away. Canadian provinces are eager to do […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Download
The Download: Obama hits back
When it comes to taxes, presidents can’t get a break and Barack Obama is no exception. Obama is on the defensive after the announcement of a tax deal that includes […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
The Download: Kick the can
The midterm elections last month presented the country with the prospect of a deadlocked Congress, one that had been birthed by obstructionism, and one whose leadership measured success in terms […]
Posted inPolitics
Harshbarger dismisses Civil Service call
The head of a task force reviewing hiring practices at the Probation Department hit the ground running today, calling for the agency to be subject to the state’s Public Record […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Economy, Education, Politics, The Download
The Download: Crusadin’ Galvin
Bill Galvin has always been something of an enigma in Massachusetts politics. A former Brighton state rep who has served as the Commonwealth’s secretary of state for 15 years, Galvin cuts […]
Posted inPolitics
DeLeo: Put probation under Civil Service
House Speaker Robert DeLeo now says he wants all hires at the state’s Probation Department to be subject to Civil Service requirements, an approach he raised concerns about less than […]
Posted inEconomy, Health Care, The Download
The Download: Immunization exemptions
Whooping cough, an infectious bacterial disease that causes uncontrollable coughing, used to be one of the most common childhood diseases in the United States and a major cause of childhood […]