INTRO TEXT More than a few heads turned this spring when two different state representatives floated the idea of doing away with or amending Proposition 2 1/2, the state’s landmark […]
Prop 2 12 at 20
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GOP cyberkibitzer
INTRO TEXT Last fall, lots of Bay State Republicans were quietly fretting over acting Gov. Jane Swift’s sinking poll numbers, but only one posted his impolitic assessment of his party’s […]
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Crime labs morbid state
INTRO TEXT There is a rapist on the loose somewhere on the Cape, and Michael O’Keefe, first assistant district attorney for Cape Cod and the islands, says he’s pretty sure […]
Posted inPolitics
Mapping Massachusetts Politics
Just as the candidates will tell you, there’s a clear choice to be made in this year’s gubernatorial election, but it’s not about them. Mitt Romney and the Democratic nominee […]
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Converting to Modernity
The series of events that began with the conviction of John Geoghan in Boston on charges of sexual abuse–along with the revelations that the Boston archdiocese had known about his […]
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Does job training work
The Job Training CharadeBy Gordon LaferCornell University Press, Ithaca, 320 pages Even after a long economic boom, the United States continues to have many adults trapped in an unacceptably large […]
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Plymouth rejects cityhood but still debates governance
In its place of origin, town meetinglives to fight another day PLYMOUTH–When the town of Plymouth voted in May to preserve its town-meeting form of government, it was a victory […]
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Campaign Contributions
Already the most reliably Democratic state in national politics, Massachusetts puts its money where its mouth is. The Commonwealth is a cash cow for the national Democratic Party, but it’s […]
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Uncovering thirdparty candidates
Carla Howell has been avoiding me. For the past several weeks I’ve been trying to interview her, only to be told by her staff that she was too busy to […]
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Whats the big idea
By any measure, the gubernatorial race of 2002 is shaping up as a watershed election. It could mark the end of the Weld-Cellucci-Swift era, a remarkable 12-year reign for the […]
Posted inPolitics
Tales of Massachusetts politics
Massachusetts Politics and Public Policy: Studies in Power and LeadershipBy Richard A. HogartyUniversity of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, 356 pages In Massachusetts Politics and Public Policy: Studies in Power and Leadership, […]
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North Adamss romance with the wrecking ball
“Tear it down, and they will come.” That could have been the rallying cry for the urban-renewal program that bulldozed 12 acres of the city of North Adams starting in […]
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Keeping the faithful
If there ever was a separation of church and state in the newsroom–a certain kid-gloves treatment of churchly foibles–the raging controversy over clergy sexual abuse in the Boston Archdiocese has […]
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Stephen Goldsmith talks about government innovation and fiscal crisis
According to the old adage, necessity is the mother of invention. But you’d never know it, looking at the way state governments, including our own, are reacting to their current […]
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Public authorities have always been torn between loyalty and autonomy
On September 11, two airplanes that took off from Logan Airport brought down the World Trade Center and our nation’s sense of security. In Massachusetts, the events of that day […]
Posted inOpinion
Counterpoint
Rep. Thomas O’Brien claims his charter school bill is being put forward primarily for fiscal reasons, in the belief that a moratorium on the granting of new charters will somehow […]
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Argument
I would like to believe that someone who just lost his job would not build a new house or buy a new car. It seems like common sense. Why undertake […]
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The states real pension liabilities a iCommonWealthi investigation
INTRO TEXT Cases involving several top state officials who recently tapped an obscure state law to gain generous early retirement packages by claiming to have been fired turn out to […]
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How the iEaglei editor flew the coop
INTRO TEXT When Steve Lambert swooped into Lawrence as editor of The Eagle-Tribune, the mild-mannered newsman made some big moves to change the tenor and focus of the scrappy daily, […]
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On the Hook
Regulators are trying to renew fish stocks. But are they throwing fishermen overboard? Photographs by Farnsworth/Blalock Stephen Smith, a 36-year-old fisherman from Ipswich, steers the Scotia Boat Too, a 42-foot […]
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In Need of Guidance
High school counselors are playing pal, shrink, and surrogate parent for stressed-out kids. So who’s planning students’ academic future? Photographs by Mark Morelli It was 25 years ago that Brockton […]
Posted inEconomy
Anti-family values
Photographs by Flint Born TRACEY AND SEAN FRANCIS used to look forward to Fridays, but not for the usual reasons. That’s the day The Patriot Ledger newspaper carries its big […]
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Walpole chats up the web
Walpole seems to be a place that won’t take no or yes for an answer. The town has had three elections in less than a year, all of them related […]
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Battling the cable guys in Lakeville
LAKEVILLE– When there’s a problem with their cable-television service, Lakeville residents call AT&T– whose nearest customer center is in New Bedford, almost 20 miles away. Just a few years ago, […]