Seat belts were used in a record 83 percent of car trips last year, according to estimates by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. But seat-belt use actually declined in […]
Massachusetts is dead last in seat-belt use
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Is someone talking about transportation reform?
Rep. Joseph Wagner, the House transportation committee chairman, competed with chattering colleagues as work began on the transportation reform bill in the House chamber Tuesday afternoon. Wagner opened the session […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Newest brainstorm: A public market atop Filene’s ex-Basement
Will there be automatic markdowns on dented apples and not-so-fresh lettuce? Hair-pulling fights over heirloom tomatoes? Boston mayoral candidate Michael Flaherty suggests that the huge pit in the middle of Downtown Crossing […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Hands off Massport, says its board chairman
EDITOR'S NOTE: Massport, the quasi-public agency that runs Logan Airport and the Tobin Bridge, has received some bad press lately — just like every other organization that has anything to do […]
Posted inEducation
Spending spiral
INTRO TEXT EDITOR’S NOTE: Since the publication of this story, CommonWealth has learned that some of the information it presented was incomplete. For clarification, please go here. ONLINE FORUM: To […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Would Massachusetts become more conservative without the Globe?
The New York Times Co. is threatening to shut down the Boston Globe if it doesn't get concessions from the newspaper's unions – which is causing media observers to speculate anew […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Figuring out how to save the Boston Globe
Media Nation's Dan Kennedy (a regular contributor to CommonWealth) has a typically thoughtful post describing five ways to save the "shrinking" Boston Globe. For example, he suggests a better integration […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Going, Going…Still Here
How's this for a sign of dire economic times? At the Park Plaza last night, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino ran a charity auction during a Whittier Street Health Center fundraiser […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The difference between being governor and being mayor of a second-tier city
If you're Gov. Patrick, you spend a lot of your time trying to defend (or back-tracking from) actions that lead to bigger bankrolls for political allies. You may even lose […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Fast track to fast Internet service?
While most government entities are bracing for budget cuts, the Massachusetts Broadband Institute is crossing its fingers for a windfall of cash. The MBI, whose full board met for the first […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Wiffing on “reform before revenue”
If MBTA benefits aren't really in play in the great state transportation bureaucracy overhaul, where does that leave reform before revenue? This week, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation published a study […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Tax credits on chopping block?
House Speaker Robert DeLeo says the fiscal situation is so dire that, even with $1.5 billion in federal stimulus money flowing to the state, billions of dollars in spending cuts will be needed to […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Hub of politics no more
In my final column yesterday for the final edition of the Globe's City Weekly section, I ponder Boston's increasingly anemic political scene. One area I don't explore there is the impact of the media itself. […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Faring no better in New York
The MBTA isn’t the only cash-strapped transit agency looking for relief — and getting zilch — from state lawmakers. New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority board voted overwhelmingly last week […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Billions of billboards?
The MBTA failed to win friends or influence people with its plan to auction off billboard advertising rights in 60 locations in eastern Massachusetts. Predictably, some affected communities are seething. […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Patrick’s low ratings part of national trend
Before anyone writes Deval Patrick's political obituary over the 7News/Suffolk University poll released yesterday, it's worth noting that Patrick has plenty of bad-ratings company among his fellow governors. Judging by the range […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, Politics, The Download
MCAS 2009 – brought to you by Nestle?
After Boston school superintendent Carol Johnson yesterday announced a budget that would cut 134 teaching positions, pressure is on the Boston Teachers' Union to agree to a wage freeze and […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
On Filene’s hole in the ground, mayor doth protest too much
There's a huge hole in the ground in Downtown Crossing where Filene's once stood and a $700 million redevelopment project isn't getting built, and Mayor Tom Menino isn't happy about […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
Data matters, and not just in math class
At Community Day Charter School in Lawrence, data rules. Founded in 1995, the K-8 school boasts that it has closed the achievement gap between Hispanic students and white students — […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Walshing to and fro
Wednesday, March 25, 2009 It seems citizens are now supposed to be about one-third less disgusted by the patronage appointment of state Sen. Marian Walsh to a high-paying post that […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Dead cat bounce: Heidi Erickson faces new animal cruelty charges in Plymouth
When last we saw Heidi Erickson back in 2003, the infamous former resident of Beacon Hill had been evicted from her Charles Street apartment after Boston city officials found 60 […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
How long will a bleed lede?
It may be an oxymoron to say newspapers could become nonprofits, since so many of them already are – in the sense of not having any profits, that is. For some […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Download
The spill, twenty years later
The state Department of Environmental Protection today invited applications for a new round of grants to educate the public about hazardous waste clean-up in the Commonwealth. It's apt (if coincidental) […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Pension reform questions for Patrick and Cahill
Some straightforward questions for Gov. Deval Patrick, as well as for Treasurer Tim Cahill, in light of the governor's unusual Sunday press conference at the State House to announce his support for […]