The business on Beacon Hill is always a mix of political posturing and policy, with it sometimes difficult to know where one leaves off and the other begins. That can […]
The politics of policymaking
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Judges to Patrick: Hands off probation
Two top state court officials say they oppose Gov. Deval Patrick’s “radical proposal” to wrest control of the probation department and warn that budget cuts proposed by the governor would […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Economy
Patrick seeks cap on film tax credit
JANUARY 28 UPDATE: A top House leader says the $50 million cap on film tax credits proposed by Gov. Deval Patrick would be a disaster for the movie business in […]
Posted inEducation
Reform in the real world
it sounded so easy. How could I not ace a college class called “Going to High School in America?” I had, after all, just finished going to high school in […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
The price of reform
one of the hallmarks of a successful and compassionate society is its ability to provide care for its citizens. I believe that every individual and family in the Commonwealth should […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
No room for error
part one of Massachusetts’s courageous leap into health system reform offered something for everyone. It brought health care coverage to uninsured residents; it promised (but could not deliver because of […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Pay for quality, not quantity
it is clear in 2009 that fee-for-service medicine is not the most efficient or effective payment system we can devise. It should be pretty obvious to almost everyone, even those […]
Posted inUncategorized
Technology makes ride sharing a better way to go
Last Friday, Zipcar, the world’s largest car sharing provider, and Zimride, the largest online ride-sharing community, announced an expansion of their partnership to five more university campuses in the US […]
Posted inEducation
Correspondence
IT’S TIME TO LEARN WHAT WORKS IN THE CLASSROOM Who doesn’t want to believe that teachers matter? It makes intuitive sense. It’s what any good teacher knows instinctively. And now […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Hail to the chief
Margaret Marshall ushers me down a series of hallways, turning on lights as she goes. It’s nearly 5 p.m. on the 10th anniversary of her appointment as chief justice of […]
Posted inUncategorized
Fox Undercover
On Tuesday night at 10, Fox 25 Undercover ran Part 1 of their two-part series on the Boston Redevelopment Authority, which was prepared in collaboration with CommonWealth magazine. The segment […]
Posted inEducation
State employee investigated for selling term papers
The Massachusetts Appeals Court has placed a senior staff attorney on paid administrative leave after CommonWealth reported that the attorney was running a side business writing term papers for students […]
Posted inHealth Care
Teen use of smokeless tobacco leads to call for tax increase
when state lawmakers increased the tax on cigarettes two years ago by $1 per pack, it was a good move, but they didn’t finish the job, say anti-tobacco activists and […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Probation head responds to reports of excessive spending
john j. o’brien, the reclusive state commissioner of probation, is coming out of his shell. Faced with two reports suggesting that spending at his agency is excessive, O’Brien is suddenly […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Four-day week deemed a success
A yearlong Utah experiment with a four-day work week for state employees has ended with a positive verdict, even as its goals changed along the way. In August 2008, then-Gov. […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
All aboard
Sen. Steven Baddour, the co-chair of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Transportation, was ticked off. The five members of the new Massachusetts Department of Transportation board of directors had been […]
Posted inPolitics
Stepping up
When Edward Kennedy died in August, the country lost one of its most able lawmakers, a liberal who could cross the aisle on issues ranging from education to immigration. For […]
Posted inUncategorized
Entrances and exits
Each year, the state’s Department of Public Health releases two thick reports on vital statistics: Massachusetts Births and Massachusetts Deaths. To mark the new year, we’ve culled some of the […]
Posted inEconomy
Going it alone
According to data released late last year by the US Census Bureau, “nonemployer businesses”—mostly consisting of just one person, working full or part-time— have been on the rise, at least […]
Posted inPolitics
The wild, wild west
the Massachusetts GOP is gazing longingly at 1990, the last time that anti-incumbent fever put one of their own — Bill Weld — in the governor’s office. And Charles Baker, […]
Posted inEconomy
Zeroing in on the BRA
The Boston Redevelopment Authority isn’t easy to write about. The agency wears so many hats (regulator, landlord, banker, developer) and is involved in so many things (city planning, real estate, […]
Posted inPolitics
You win, you’re fired
UPDATE: On January 26, the day of our release of CommonWealth’s winter issue, the Patrick administration announced that the governor was filing new pension reform legislation. The governor’s bill, which […]
Posted inUncategorized
CW and Fox 25 Undercover
<!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:””; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Money machine
UPDATE: CommonWealth magazine and Fox 25 Undercover worked together on our special reports on the Boston Redevelopment Authority. For links to the Fox 25 broadcasts, go to Fox Undercover. The […]