There’s nothing quite like identify fraud to capture the imagination. Cases like “Clark Rockefeller” and now, Adam Wheeler – accused of faking his way into Harvard, and nearly into a […]
In defense of a B +
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Red ink not unique to MBTA
The budget woes of the MBTA seem relatively minor compared to the fiscal problems currently facing many of the country’s largest transit systems.At a forum on the future of public […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Slots don’t cure all deficits
By Alison Lobron The bright lights of casinos have entranced Beacon Hill for years, but a new report from the American Gaming Association offers a stark reminder that glittering slot […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, Transportation
Tracking the truth
Click here for a timeline of what MBTA officials knew and when they knew it. Also see a suit by the MBTA, a private briefing for legislators, and correspondence involving the […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
The ‘comment’ game, part 2
By Bruce Mohl As of this afternoon, 90 comments had been posted on Boston.com about the Boston Globe’s story about Don Chiofaro’s clash with Mayor Thomas Menino, and they seemed […]
Posted inEnvironment
Grid strikes Cape Wind deal
The largest electric utility in Massachusetts today agreed to buy half of the power output of Cape Wind over the next 15 years, paying a significant premium over current prices. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, The Download
Firefighter follies
By Michael Jonas There was already so much to stir public outrage in an arbitrator’s decision last month to award Boston firefighters a 19 percent raise over four years. Today’s […]
Posted inPolitics
CW on Broadside
CW senior investigative reporter Jack Sullivan joins Jim Braude on NECN’s “Broadside” to discuss the MBTA’s failing concrete railroad ties and the state of investigative journalism. Here’s the link.
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
Salem mayor says health care impasse may require ballot solution
By Gabrielle Gurley Unless more immediate steps are taken to rein in accelerating health care and pension costs, municipal officials will continue to triage community services to pay for employee […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Playing the ‘comment’ game
By Bruce Mohl The reader comments at the end of online newspaper stories are apparently becoming a battle ground in the fight over a proposed high-rise tower along the Rose […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Newspaper endorsements still matter
I’ve been on the “ed board” circuit lately—tromping around the state and attending meetings with newspaper editorial boards. The goal is for my clients to wow the opinion-makers with their […]
Posted inUncategorized
Defining nepotism is all relative
It’s not nepotism if you have the qualifications to do the job, no matter how many relatives work in the state’s trial court. That was the argument to the state’s […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Download
Berwick to replace Hibbard at DPU
By Bruce Mohl Paul Hibbard is stepping down as chairman of the state Department of Public Utilities and being replaced by a top aide to Ian Bowles, the secretary of […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Download
Holding on tight and not letting go
By Jack Sullivan Judging from comments House Speaker Robert DeLeo made to The Republican of Springfield, it doesn’t appear there’s any appetite in the Legislature for reining in the autonomy […]
Posted inEnvironment
Bowles urges more monitoring
The state’s top environmental official today released a letter he sent to the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station urging officials there to enhance air and water monitoring efforts. (See below, or […]
Posted inEnvironment
After tour, Bowles backs Pilgrim
The Patrick administration’s top environmental official says he is comfortable with the level of environmental monitoring at Pilgrim Nuclear Station and believes the plant should be relicensed by the federal […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Budget transparency – even for tax credits
By Bruce Mohl The Massachusetts House voted Wednesday night to create a budget website where taxpayers could track the flow of funds in and out of state government – even […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Chiofaro: A latter-day Leventhal?
Developer Don Chiofaro says his escalating battle with City Hall is not about his proposed waterfront towers, but about the future of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. At a press […]
Posted inEnvironment
Persistence pays off for Cape Wind
Gov. Deval Patrick and his energy and environment secretary, Ian Bowles, were beaming earlier today as they stood behind US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and they had good reason to […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Chiofaro to crank it up
By Bruce Mohl The sparks are about to start flying between developer Don Chiofaro and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. Chiofaro wants to build a pair of 625-foot towers on the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Economy, Politics
Courts “functionally disabled” due to cuts
Budget cuts have created a “functionally disabled judiciary” that strains the lives of families and the operations of Massachusetts’ businesses in real and immeasurable ways, according to a panel of […]
Posted inTransportation
T confirms $91m pricetag to fix ties
MBTA officials , after a year of minimizing the problem, have confirmed it will cost more than $90 million to replace the 147,000 defective concrete ties on the Old Colony […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Ethics complaint against Ethics Commission
Jack Authelet, the retired managing editor of the Foxboro Reporter weekly newspaper, filed a complaint with the State Ethics Commission after what he said were inappropriate remarks by a commission […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion, Politics
Tea partying for fun and profit
Even a grass-roots movement of The People needs leaders, and the recent Tea Party festival on the Boston Common reveals the group’s vanguard: commercial hucksters, both small-time and big-name, in […]