Some interesting nuts-and-bolts ideas surfaced at today's public hearing of the governor's task force on public integrity, but no radical measures were proposed to change the way business is done on Beacon Hill. […]
Ethics task force hears nuts-and-bolts ideas
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Older cars hurting municipal revenues
The soft market for automobiles is hurting state treasuries, as I noted earlier this week, but municipal governments are also feeling the pinch. The Patriot Ledger reported in May that local revenue from […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Hub firefighters seek bonus for physical fitness
Hub firefighters are seeking bonuses for keeping fit, following the lead of the State Police, according to today's Boston Herald: The union brass is pushing for an undisclosed sum for firefighters […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Border war between Connecticut and Massachusetts?
The state of Massachusetts wants to impose fees on Connecticut residents who live on Congamond Lake, according to the Hartford Courant's Shawn Beals. Apparently, their houses are in the Nutmeg State but their […]
Posted inHealth Care, The Download
Massachusetts: healthy but hard-drinking
Massachusetts is the nation's 6th healthiest state, up from 9th a year ago, according to the United Health Foundation's latest America's Health Rankings, released today. (Get a PDF of Massachusetts […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
The 401(k) blues are louder in Massachusetts
Massachusetts has a disproportionate number of workers nervously checking their 401(k) numbers this fall, according to new data from the Employee Benefit Research Institute. The state ranks 13th in the […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
Think big on education, says former IBM chief
Gov. Deval Patrick, who has gingerly raised the idea of consolidating some of Massachusetts' 327 school districts, looks like a downright piker next to Lou Gerstner. The former CEO of IBM […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Keep your old car and starve your state’s treasury
Another thing for state governments to worry about: people not buying cars. According to the Los Angeles Times: As the U.S. auto market marches toward its worst year in decades […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Lawrence is up, Cape Cod is down in voter turnout
Cape Cod and the Berkshires seem to have lost electoral clout over the past four years, according to preliminary town-by-town voter turnout in this month's presidential election. The map below […]
Posted inHealth Care, The Download
The “Partners Effect”: Health care hardball comes under a Spotlight
Notwithstanding the recent 4,700-word Spotlight report in the Boston Globe, the idea that Partners HealthCare has played a dominant role in setting health care prices in the Boston area and […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Wilkerson informant not so informative
In today's interview with the Globe's Adrian Walker, businessman Ron Wilburn publicly admits for the first time that he is the FBI informant seen handing cash to former state senator […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Black leadership in Boston: Is change on its way?
On Saturday, the Boston Globe's Michael Levenson suggested that the corruption scandal that has taken down former state senator Dianne Wilkerson and now led to the arrest of City Councilor Chuck Turner was prompting […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Download, Transportation
Patrick’s chance to lead on the gas tax
Hub Blog thinks that Gov. Deval Patrick should stop "pouting" and instead position himself to take credit for the "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to eliminate highway tolls, abolish the Turnpike Authority, and […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Bridgewater mulls an end to open town meetings
Friday, November 21, 2008 Bridgewater may switch to a representative form of government, according to the Bridgewater Independent's Rebecca Hyman. The issue was raised at an open town meeting attended […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Patrick losing control of transportation debate
Gov. Deval Patrick is quickly losing control of the debate over state transportation funding and management. The governor's vague proposal (spelled out in a Nov. 13 op-ed column) to abolish the Massachusetts […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
CommonWealth takes award for “Municipal Meltdown” article
CommonWealth magazine staff writer Gabrielle Gurley has won a Capitolbeat Best of Statehouse Reporting award in the magazine category for "Municipal Meltdown," her comprehensive look at the fiscal woes bedeviling […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Patrick planning at least $1 billion in cuts
A veteran budget analyst says the Patrick administration’s plan to cut the 2010 budgets of executive branch agencies by 8 percent makes sense and would result in a spending reduction […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Raising the gas tax is the tip of the iceberg
Rep. David Linsky’s (D-Natick) proposal to raise the gas tax by 6 cents looked like a profile in courage right up until Yvonne Abraham demolished it in a spirited column […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The majority rules on dog-racing ban
Over at Blue Mass. Group, Carey Theil rebuts pundits who say that people didn't really know what they were doing when they voted to ban dog racing. (See my geographic […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Privatize the Mass Pike?
In today’s Wall Street Journal, the Manhattan Institute’s Steve Malanga argues that the federal government shouldn’t bail out states during the "cold-shower time" of shrinking tax revenues, since a rescue […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
US mayors ask for a jump-start from Congress
The US Conference of Mayors is asking for $24.4 billion from Congress to fund "ready-to-go" infrastructure projects — meaning projects that, theoretically, can be started and completed within calendar year […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
A foreclosure milestone on the West Coast
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 If you bought a house in Southern California last month, the previous owners probably didn’t leave willingly.
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Transportation topics in CommonWealth magazine
Photo by Mark Ostow; gas pump illustration by James Yang. Pump it up: The Bay State’s transportation networks are literally falling apart. New gas tax revenues may be […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Download, Transportation
Transportation topics from the gas tax to the state of the MBTA
Thanks to the furor over proposed increases to highway tolls, transportation issues are again front and center in Massachusetts. For context, visit our archived transportation stories from CommonWealth magazine. Of […]