the massachusetts state budget has reached a point of reckoning. First and foremost, a stubborn — and insufficiently appreciated — structural imbalance approaching $1 billion threatens the state’s ability to […]
Point of reckoning
Posted inPolitics
Red Sox call their own play to control ticket scalping
INTRO TEXT The state’s antiscalping law is in tatters. No one enforces it, resellers ignore it, and now the Boston Red Sox are giving up on it. The Red Sox […]
Posted inPolitics
Murray uses IG as ombudsman for Phoenix story
INTRO TEXT When the Boston Phoenix reported last year that state Sen. Therese Murray steered $11 million in state money to a crony who failed to deliver on his assignment […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Not everyone on the South Coast is getting into training
INTRO TEXT South Coast rail, the plan to extend passenger train service from Boston to New Bedford and Fall River, promises to stir up more grass-roots activism than the Patrick […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Patrick finds his footing in his second year on the Hill
INTRO TEXT Assessments of Gov. Deval Patrick’s first year in office were all pretty similar: He was, by his own admission, a political “amateur,” and one taking his bumps and […]
Posted inPolitics
State worker, 82, finally calls it quits
INTRO TEXT Donald Falvey, who is 82, retired from his $97,000-a-year job as deputy director of the Division of Standards at the end of January. Falvey worked in state and […]
Posted inEconomy
Subsidizing the stars
UPDATE: Since the spring issue of CommonWealth went to press, the Massachusetts Revenue Department released a report indicating the financial impact of the state’s film tax credit could be substantial. […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
News from a new generation
Walter Robinson, who won a Pulitzer Prizeat the Globe, heads the investigativereporting program at Northeastern University.A decade is a long time. But advocates for senior citizens have been trying to […]
Posted inPolitics
Betting on the House
If Gov. Deval Patrick represents the new face of liberalism in the Massachusetts Democratic Party, 14-term Congressman Barney Frank is the unabashed older version. But both men believe that government […]
Posted inTransportation
Statistically Significant
BUSES TAKE A HEAVY TOLL ON THE T Passenger fares accounted for only 29 percent of operating expenses on the MBTA during 2006, according to new data from the Federal […]
Posted inPolitics
Needs improvement
Here’s one report card that Massachusetts might want to hide: Governing magazine and the Pew Center on the States gave the state a “C” in their Grading the States report, […]
Posted inPolitics
Your blog of blogs
Illustration by Nick Galifianakis HERE’S WHAT Adam Gaffin finds frustrating. He’s in his car, heading for a meeting in Framingham, where he works in tech publishing. He’s got the radio […]
Posted inEconomy
Job seekers
UPDATE: The Bay State’s unemployment rate over the 2009 calendar year was 8.4 percent, far above the 4.5 percent that we found worrying in 2007. See the map below for […]
Posted inUncategorized
Editors Note
Sometimes you get lucky. I bumped into photographer Bill Brett walking through Downtown Crossing in January. He told me about his latest book project, which led to an interesting conversation […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Politics, State House News Service
A shot seen round the world
every era has its touchstone photograph. The Marines hoisting the American flag on Iwo Jima telegraphs the hard-fought triumphs of World War II. The New York City firemen raising the […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Uncategorized
Easy street
zero tolerance is always a favorite concept in American politics, and publicity-hungry politicians are still finding plenty of things they want to ban: transfats, people without health insurance, violent video […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Don’t make these voters angry
I’m working on some charts and maps showing which counties have a consistent bias for or against the incumbent party in presidential elections, which may take a little while. As […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Does it even matter who the Democrats nominate?
John Judis has a New Republic piece warning that Barack Obama will have a very tough time winning the "white working class vote" in November:Obama comes from a modest background […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
No more gambling with second-hand smoke
Monday, April 14, 2008 No more smoking in the public areas of Atlantic City casinos, thanks to a new law by the city council. The state government may have mixed […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
No complaints must mean no problems!
It’s become an institution in New York City and Somerville, but Boston has no plans to add a 311 hotline to handle residents’ non-emergency complaints and questions. The Boston Globe’s […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Sen. Clinton, Massachusetts has already voted
"Why is Barack Obama smiling?" I wondered. But I quickly realized that the 8-1/2 inch x 12 glossy in my mailbox wasn’t from the Illinois senator. It was a stinging […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Sal DiMasi and the chicken-or-egg question
In the current Boston Phoenix, David Bernstein writes about the lack of dissent (and dissenting votes) in the state House of Representatives as ruled by Speaker Sal DiMasi — who, […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The lay of the land in Florida’s Gold Coast
After looking at the map of the 10 States of American Politics, Brian wrote:A friend suggested Broward County (FL) be included with Northeast Corridor, just as Miami-Dade was put with […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
No welfare for people with too many cable channels?
MassINC is now hosting a reader’s forum on the state budget in Massachusetts and the "point of reckoning" caused by an economic downturn and soaring health care costs. Daniel Winslow, […]