President Barack Obama and Gov. Deval Patrick see eye-to-eye on most energy issues—except nuclear power. Obama is on board, but Patrick isn’t in any hurry to catch up. Nuclear power […]
Nuclear: Obama on board but not Patrick
Posted inEnvironment
Energy efficiency drives reinvention of Bay State company
The roots of East Walpole-headquartered Hollingsworth & Vose Co. extend back to the 18th century and to a product as basic as rag paper. But today, this old-line manufacturing firm […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics
Cheap, clean energy stirring interest in Holyoke
Cheap, clean electricity is putting the city of Holyoke on the map.Holyoke, one of the poorest cities in Massachusetts, hasn’t attracted any significant business development in a long time. But […]
Posted inEnvironment
8 questions for Tom King, president of National Grid-US
cw: Why does National Grid make a portion of your salary contingent on meeting a company carbon-reduction target?king: National Grid is committed to taking a leadership role in addressing climate […]
Posted inHealth Care
Overexposed
Gov. Deval Patrick in April took the unprecedented step of rejecting double-digit rate increases being sought by most of the state’s health insurers for their small business plans. It was […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Just plain ugly
Bill Pedersen is a principal at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates in New York, a powerhouse architectural firm known for designing tall towers across the globe. He personally oversaw the design […]
Posted inPolitics
Deval on the defense
Four years ago, the Democratic Party reached a new apex in Massachusetts with the landslide election of Deval Patrick as governor. And the demographics seemed to portend further happy days, […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment, State House News Service
Who’s the real environmentalist?
The elegant, lazy motion of wind turbines once appealed to Eleanor Tillinghast. Generating energy takes a heavy toll on the natural world, so it stood to reason that Tillinghast, a […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics
The big bet
The south shore community of Milton is planning to borrow $6 million to build a large wind turbine on town land. Normally, a project of that magnitude in such a […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment
Seeing green
The air was thick with anticipation as US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar stepped to the microphone, even though the news he was about to make had already leaked […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, State House News Service
41 munis, but no new ones since the 1920s
There are 41 municipal electric companies scattered across Massachusetts that charge, on average, 21 percent less for their power than the four investor-owned utilities that serve the rest of the […]
Posted inUncategorized
Saying sorry
Rick Boothman still thinks about a malpractice case he won 30 years ago. Fresh out of law school, Boothman represented a surgeon who had been sued by a former patient. […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics
Attitude adjustment
After his family moved from Massachusetts to San Francisco in 2008, Will Anastas noticed a big change in his trash. The family of four went from producing five bags of […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Shirley Sherrod he knew
By Michael Jonas It is a mild understatement to say there is plenty that initial media reports and the Obama administration had wrong about Shirley Sherrod. But the lessons involve more than just the unconscionable […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Mohl on Broadside with Jim Braude
Friday, July 23, 2010 Here is a link to CommonWealth editor Bruce Mohl’s appearance on Broadside to talk about the gambling impasse on Beacon Hill. The host of Broadside, a […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
In gambling showdown, greed is king
By Michael Jonas News that things are getting testy among legislators trying to reach agreement on an expanding gambling bill is hardly surprising. When it comes to jockeying for position in […]
Posted inEducation
A high-stakes education test
The controversy over federal education standards that the Massachusetts Board of Education approved this morning would be great material for an MCAS question that requires multilayered, critical thinking. That’s because […]
Posted inPolitics
Marshall retiring
Margaret Marshall, the chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, stunned the worlds of law and politics by announcing that she plans to retire no later than the end […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics, Transportation
Shouting into the void
There’s a line from an episode of SuperNews, the satire cartoon on the cable network Current, which comes to mind whenever I talk about Twitter. The main character, frustrated with […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Grow the Greenway the right way
Public discussion about real estate development on parcels adjoining the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway is being polarized by “debate” over the height and shadow impact of one proposal for one […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Fresh thoughts for the Greenway
Monday, July 19, 2010 By Michael Jonas What to do with Boston’s Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway? The question gets a fresh airing Tuesday night when the Boston Redevelopment Authority board […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Uncategorized
The unpredictable Scott Brown
By Gabrielle Gurley US Sen. Scott Brown continues to gain national prominence as Washington’s new go-to guy. All it takes these days is a letter from Brown to signal the […]
Posted inEconomy
Alcohol tax raises $97m, sales dip 1%
New sales taxes on alcoholic beverages raised $97 million over the last 10 months while beer, wine, and spirit consumption fell by 1 percent. The state raised its sales tax […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Neighborhood politics
By Michael Jonas What’s in a name? Plenty when it comes to Boston neighborhoods and local politics. Matt O’Malley, an earnest 30-year-old activist, was the first one out of the […]