Pay hike for prosecutors

The Legislature may have granted the wish of the Commonwealth’s assistant district attorneys for more pay, but in doing so law makers have opened a budgetary Pandora’s box for their […]

The signs posted all over town proclaimed, “Water Ban in Effect.” But it was hard to take them seriously. July in Massachusetts was unusually cool and wet, and Franklin, an […]

AMHERST — This is a town that prides itself on the elevated nature of much of its civic discourse. Amherst town meeting regularly takes stands on issues of high philosophical, […]

RANDOLPH-The state’s conflict-of-interest law provides little wiggle room for volunteer members of town boards, as two Randolph officials found out this year–the hard way. In June, Philip Nelson, a landscaper […]

The furor over Superior Court Judge Maria Lopez’s sentence of Charles Horton to home confinement and probation for abducting a child and sexually assaulting him at the point of a […]

A little time off at birth doesn’t solve the working-parent dilemma So Tony Blair is back at the office, his parental leave fading into memory. The arrival of little Leo […]

IF ANYONE HAS ever put to the test Andy Warhol’s famous thesis that everyone is accorded 15 minutes of fame, it is Robert D. Putnam. A former dean of the […]

There are two separate components to our current housing problem–the need for “affordable housing” and the equally important need for housing that can be made affordable. The distinction might be […]

During a two-week period this spring, 27,000 low-income households in Massachusetts applied for federal housing vouchers to help pay their rent. They joined at least 60,000 families already waiting for […]

When state leaders approved a $2.4 billion Big Dig bailout this spring, they said their plan was responsible. And they said it was fair to taxpayers. What they didn’t say […]

Native American wearing moccasins, a disembodied arm holding a sword, and some words in Latin that hardly anyone can understand. How did Massachusetts end up with this conglomeration of images […]

Gov. Paul Cellucci and other state officials have caught flak over the years for their frequent trips and trade missions to foreign countries. But some state workers who promote Massachusetts […]

The crowd assembled inside the State House to lobby for more legal aid for the needy didn’t exactly fit the stereotype of poor people’s advocates. These were no law students […]

There’s nothing like providing a job benefit one worker at a time. But that’s the way it is when it comes to supporting some government employees during an extended illness. […]

It’s the kind of steaming-hot day that can make even the most good-natured person cranky, but Rosie Mavrogeorge graciously invites a stranger inside her drab, wood-frame apartment building when asked […]

When it comes to drug cases, Judge Sydney Hanlon knows what she’s looking at. As presiding justice of Dorchester District Court, she runs Boston’s busiest community court, with 8,636 criminal […]

Evan Dobelle knew that Trinity College had an image problem when he took over as president in 1995—that’s why he was hired. But the perspective of a hotel doorman helped […]

Here he is at the State House, it’s that time of year, and he just can’t help himself. After quoting the Roman statesman Seneca-“Loyalty is the holiest good in the […]