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. […]
The Hub of politics no more
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 […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Just words
Deval Patrick famously dressed down a group of Massachusetts newspaper publishers in a speech delivered days after his election, telling the news honchos that many of their reporters just didn't get […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Gridlock loosens grip on Boston in 2008
Like the rest of the US, metropolitan Boston experienced a "startling" decrease in traffic congestion last year, but we still have more than our share of traffic bottlenecks, according to new […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
Bottom Line: Getting from access to success
Going to college is one thing. Graduating from it is another. Of the Boston Public Schools alumni who started college in 2000, just 35 percent had earned degrees by 2007, […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Yes to regional equity, no to privatization: The transportation reform debate continues
Secretary of Transportation James Aloisi, who's engaged in a high-profile tussle with Senate President Therese Murray over the contours of transportation reform, shifted gears by giving a shout out to […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Watch the video of MassINC’s “No Contest” forum on the shortage of candidates in Mass.
The Bay State's longtime shortage of candidates for public office was the topic of "No Contest: Why So Few People Run for Office in Massachusetts – and What to Do About […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
An increasingly ordinary leader
From "No Ordinary Leader" to "Business as Usual." It's hard not to see that as the trajectory Gov. Deval Patrick is on after the latest slap in the face to those expecting […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Yoon to visit Southie’s St. Patrick’s parade without preconditions
Ethan Jacobs of Bay Windows reports that two Boston mayoral candidates, Sam Yoon and Michael Flaherty, will march in South Boston's St. Patrick's parade this Sunday, despite the fact that […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Alison Lobron: Web-exclusive columns
August 10, 2009 Standardizing pre-school May 27, 2009Where the boys (and girls) are May 20, 2009Life after newspapers May 6, 2009The Commonwealth of Tweet April 29, 2009Innovation at 10 April […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Student diversity rises fastest north and west of Boston
Classrooms are getting much more diverse in every Massachusetts county except Suffolk (Boston), and the Bay State is an outlier in several immigration trends — particularly in our paucity of […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Dr. Seuss and the Biggering Carbon Footprint
Harvard's Ed Glaeser kicks two Massachusetts icons today in the New York Times. First he says that Springfield native Dr. Seuss had things completely backward in "The Lorax," which so […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Progressive grows quickly, so does grumbling
Progressive Insurance, which began selling auto insurance policies in Massachusetts less than a year ago, is on the verge of breaking into the ranks of the state's top 10 sellers. Progressive does […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
The Boston Globe massacres statistical science
Crime in Massachusetts may possibly be going up, and if it is, the "swooning economy" could be an explanation, the Boston Globe reports today. The evidence: "Police departments say they have noticed […]