City politics in Boston are still pretty quiet, but there's plenty of bad blood in New Bedford, according to SouthCoastToday's Jack Spillane: Mayor [Scott] Lang recently described the council as existing […]
New Bedford city councilors are not “complementary” potted plants
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, The Download
Prisons making more demands on state governments
Stateline.org reports on states trying to cope with runaway prison costs (the fourth biggest expenditure for state governments, after health care, education, and transportation). In Kentucky, this has meant the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Ka-ching: Delay pads DiMasi’s pension
Perhaps the revelation last week that relatives of House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi had their loans paid off by an indicted associate of the longtime North End pol was the straw that broke the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Saugus reluctant to give up its small-town identity
Saugus may become the latest Bay State community to adopt a city form of government while refusing to call itself a city. (See Franklin, Watertown, and at least nine other […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Housing starts hit “record” low in 2008
Housing construction in the US hit an "all-time low" in December, according to new data from the National Association of Home Builders. (The definition of "all-time" is not clear; there […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
CommonWealth magazine releases Winter 2009 issue
The new issue of CommonWealth magazine is out, with timely and thought-provoking articles on the Democratic Party’s political monopoly in Massachusetts, the mortgage foreclosure crisis hitting some of the state’s […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Worcester wants struggling artists
Despite the bad economy, Worcester is apparently proceeding apace in its bid to become a magnet for the creative class (or, in Michigan lingo, a cool city). The Daily Worcesteria […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Idealism in the age of Obama
Barack Obama's election in November and inauguration on Tuesday present a challenge to the belief system of some of us who were born, like the new president, in the closing […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment, The Download
New Bedford gets shout-out from the New Yorker
If you're not a New Yorker subscriber, you might have missed the use of New Bedford as a backdrop (complete with a cameo by Mayor Scott Lang) in Elizabeth Kolbert's profile of Green […]
Posted inPolitics
Ending the one-party state
As a pistol-packing, SUV-driving conservative in liberal St. Paul, Minnesota, David Carlson knew he was fighting an uphill battle. Still, on the day before the 2008 election, the 27-year-old candidate […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
How much cutting is really going on?
The Legislature and the judiciary balked last week at letting Gov. Deval Patrick unilaterally cut their spending accounts, perhaps because they were concerned he would make real cuts in their budgets. […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, State House News Service
Utahs financial literacy requirement
INTRO TEXT States want to be trendsetters, but not all trends are worth bragging about. That was Utah’s predicament from 2002 through 2004, when the Beehive State ranked No. 1 […]
Posted inHealth Care
Safety blanket
“I would love to do what you’re doing,” a 20-something friend said. “But I need benefits.” She went on to tell me about her dream of starting an interior design […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
The two-party solution
Two-party government is critical to the future of Massachusetts, but if it’s to become a reality, Republicans must do a better job of attracting more voters and viable candidates to […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Pilot program
On a hazy August day in 1983, with about seven miles of visibility, I took my first solo flight in a Piper Cherokee single engine aircraft. I was 20 years […]
Posted inUncategorized
Correspondence
Attorney general still fights for the ‘little guy’ In his Perspective column (“Help Wanted: Massachusetts Consumers Need Champions on Beacon Hill,” CW, Fall ’08), Edgar Dworsky declares that the needs […]
Posted inHealth Care
Back in the game
Primary care doctors are like speed daters. They rush from one patient to another, trying to glean a person’s health status from a brief physical exam and a short chat. […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
Task force targets underground economy
During the 2006 gubernatorial campaign, candidate Deval Patrick wanted to see firsthand how the underground economy worked. Volunteering to be his guide, Mark Erlich, executive secretary-treasurer of the New England […]
Posted inPolitics
Rep Cabral to push public records bill
A key state lawmaker says he plans to push legislation this session addressing weaknesses in the state’s Public Records Law — and there appear to be plenty of them. Rep. […]
Posted inEconomy
Plymouth plots on cash from cremation
Trying to corner the local market on both death and taxes, the town of Plymouth is jumping into the cremation business. Town officials say they expect more and more people […]
Posted inPolitics
Lawmaker targets lobbyists largesse
Would a ban on political contributions by lobbyists clean up Beacon Hill? State Rep. Jennifer Callahan, a Democrat from Sutton, doesn’t think a ban would end corruption, but she feels […]
Posted inPolitics
Four months to get utility bill
Getting to the bottom of a story isn’t always easy. Several sources told CommonWealth that electricity usage at the state-owned Ulin Rink in Milton spiked dramatically for several years before […]
Posted inPolitics
The maverick
Bristol County SheriffThomas Hodgson is in a showdown with the governor. Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson is headed for a high-noon showdown with Gov. Deval Patrick. The Patrick administration is […]