State officials are slashing budgets and eliminating programs, but they aren’t cutting back on corporate tax breaks, at least not yet. The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, as promised in the life science legislation […]
Budgets slashed, but not corporate tax breaks
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Mass. beats Florida, 24 other states in population growth this year
The Census Bureau released its annual Christmas present to demographers this morning: state-by-state population estimates as of six months ago. The US as a whole went up by 2.6 million […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Where’s Martha Coakley’s love for the League of Women Voters?
Some debates are more equal than others. That’s one political strategy that plenty of candidates for higher office have embraced, and Attorney General Martha Coakley is no exception. Coakley has […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Be happy we’re not New York. But not too happy.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009 In a new study claiming to rank the level of happiness among Americans, New Yorkers finish dead last in 51st place (the study included Washington, DC […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Globe calls for NE Corridor funds
Today's Boston Globe editorializes against the "narrow rules" that resulted in Amtrak's Northeast Corridor being shut out of high-speed rail funds. MassINC's Daniel Grabauskas commented on the strangeness of the […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, The Download
Coakley and the abortion question
A month ago, during the Democratic Senate primary, Attorney General Martha Coakley said she would hold up national health-care reform rather than vote for the House bill, which could result […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
The measure of success for Scott Brown
I think the Globe's Joan Venocchi is correct that Scott Brown's chances of winning the special US Senate seat in January are poor: Brown, a Republican state senator, can’t beat […]
Posted inHealth Care, The Download
As Massachusetts goes, so goes health care reform?
Saturday, December 19, 2009 The New Republic's Jonathan Cohn leans on the Bay State's health care reform law to make the case for national reform:Has reform solved the access problem […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
“Fix it first!” New projects get the headlines, but we need to repair what we already have
By Daniel Grabauskas In January 2003, just days after being sworn in as governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney stood alongside a structurally deficient bridge on Route 2 and said: "Fix […]
Posted inUncategorized
“Fix it first!” New projects get the headlines, but we need to repair what we already have
In January 2003, just days after being sworn in as governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney stood alongside a structurally deficient bridge on Route 2 and said: "Fix it first!" That […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Elizabeth Warren, “Bostonian of the Year,” as seen in CW magazine
The Boston Globe has named Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren "Bostonian of the Year" for bringing a "sense of sanity to the economic crisis." In 2003, long before the economic crash, […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Each registered voter costs Oregon $4.51 in paperwork
That's according to a new report from the Pew Center for the States, which treats Oregon as a case study to see how much state governments spend on maintaining their […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Northeast Corridor shut out of high-speed rail funds
By Daniel Grabauskas The news today that the Northeast Corridor (think your Amtrak trip from Boston to New York to Washington DC) would be shut out of the first round […]
Posted inUncategorized
Northeast Corridor shut out of high speed rail funds
The news today that the Northeast Corridor (think your Amtrak trip from Boston to New York to Washington DC) would be shut out of the first round of high-speed rail […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
More good strategy from Coakley?
Monday, December 14, 2009 Dan Kennedy wonders whether Democratic US Senate nominee Martha Coakley is insisting that Libertarian nominee Joe Kennedy be included in debates to ensure that people are […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Martha Coakley and the myth that women can’t get elected in Massachusetts
I’ve never really bought the idea that Massachusetts is particularly hostile toward women as political candidates. (See this weekend's story in the Boston Globe, as well as a different take […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Property bill story makes for a taxing read
Boston homeowners are probably in a bad enough mood after learning they will absorb an increase in their property tax bill next year. They might just be pulling their hair […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Download
Mass. had steepest drop in imprisonment rate in 2008
According to new data from the Department of Justice, the number of people "under correctional supervision" in the US hit 7.3 million at the end of 2008, an increase of […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Bay State’s bridge to nowhere
Tuesday, December 8, 2009 On the state's sudden reversal and decision not to spend $9 million in federal stimulus money for a footbridge over Route 1 that would connect an […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Report finds state’s “quality of life” is key IT industry driver
The UMass Donahue Institute released a comprehensive report yesterday profiling the state’s IT industry. Gov. Deval Patrick gathered with Massachusetts IT leaders for a presentation by the study’s lead author, […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Remembering the woman behind “Charlie on the MTA” — and the CharlieCard
By Daniel Grabauskas Folklorist Bess Lomax Hawes passed away last week. I offer a personal remembrance. I never met Ms. Hawes, but I feel a connection to her. She co-authored […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Uncategorized
Lawrence: The next Springfield?
Two years ago, CommonWealth found civic leaders in Lawrence "Thinking Big" about the city's future. Not anymore. On Wednesday, Gov. Deval Patrick travels north for a closed door meeting with […]
Posted inUncategorized
Remembering the woman behind “Charlie on the MTA” — and the Charlie Card
Folklorist Bess Lomax Hawes passed away last week. I offer a personal remembrance. I never met Ms. Hawes, but I feel a connection to her. She co-authored the folk song, […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, The Download
Fact-checking the Senate debate: Subjectivity reigns
Many of the answers in last night's Democratic Senate debate defy fact-checking — not because the candidates ducked questions, but because the questions themselves invited subjective replies. Candidates were asked […]