It’s been something of a parlor game in policy and political circles these last weeks. Can the group commissioned by the no-new-taxes Baker administration to review the troubled MBTA possibly […]
Charlie Baker
Posted inEconomy, Opinion, Politics
Baker misses budget opportunity
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER missed an opportunity on Wednesday to play the role of an educator and explain how and why he is trying to rein in state spending. His press […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Baker proposes T funding hike
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE TAXPAYERS WILL further subsidize the struggling MBTA under Gov. Charlie Baker’s budget proposal, which calls for a $64.5 million increase in funding for the agency, […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Baker’s movie play
Gov. Charlie Baker is demonstrating that he can roll out a budget very skillfully. Using the Boston Globe as his message delivery system, the governor this week has unveiled a […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics
Baker pushes regional energy approach
THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION said on Wednesday it plans to work with utilities in Massachusetts and neighboring states to purchase renewable energy and expand the region’s natural gas pipeline infrastructure. In […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service
Lottery cuts will decrease local aid
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE LOTTERY OFFICIALS say budget cuts ordered by Gov. Charlie Baker and the Legislature to close a mid-year budget shortfall will cut gambling profits by $35 […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Baker creates MBTA commission
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER moved to put his administration’s stamp on the MBTA by appointing a special commission to investigate how past finance, maintenance, and management practices led to the wintertime […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker to cut another $1b
THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION, which just cobbled together enough money to close a $765 million shortfall in this year’s budget, is now preparing to pare back spending by another $1 billion […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Baker calls snow unprecedented
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE RECORD-BREAKING SNOWFALL totals are stressing roofs across Massachusetts, hurting retailers, and eating into time Gov. Charlie Baker expected would be spent on his first state budget […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Baker’s Trojan horse?
Gov. Charlie Baker has made no secret of his disdain for the way the state’s health connector has been run, both on the campaign trail last year and since the […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, Transportation
Baker: No rush to hit T revenue button
THE BEST LINE of the morning at Gov. Charlie Baker’s breakfast speech on Thursday to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce didn’t come from the governor, but from Paul Guzzi, […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
Baker seeks to slash MassHealth
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER unveiled his plan to bridge the $768 million budget deficit with nearly one-third of the spending cuts coming from MassHealth, the primary funding vehicle for the state’s […]
Posted inPolitics
Big Three back tax diversion
THE BIG THREE on Beacon Hill are in agreement that about $200 million in capital gains tax revenue slated for deposit in the state’s rainy day fund should instead be […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, State House News Service
Baker taps Worcester prosecutor as public safety secretary
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Wednesday called his pick for state public safety chief a “proven manager” as top House lawmakers welcomed the choice of a Worcester […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Baker’s surprise transportation pick
STEPHANIE POLLACK MAY know more about the MBTA than anyone alive. She’s been a dogged advocate for transit expansion. She opposed the repeal of gas tax indexing, believing the state needs […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Pollack is solid and stunning choice
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER’S choice of Stephanie Pollack as his new Transportation Secretary is a solid and stunning choice. Solid because everyone who knows Stephanie knows that she is smart, forward-looking, […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Baker’s health care moment
THOUGH THE 2014 gubernatorial campaign lacked any real discussion of health care policy, this will soon be forgotten because Massachusetts has never had a new chief executive as steeped in […]
Posted inPolitics
Naming rites: Pols as pals
CHARLIE BAKER AND MARTY WALSH don’t have a lot in common. One is a Harvard-educated Republican with blue-blooded ancestry here dating back to colonial days. The other is a Democratic […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
A chance to lead on early education
“SUDDENLY, THE WORLD is waking up [to the fact] that it matters what you do with young children,” Abigail Adams Eliot told the Boston Globe in 1965. A Boston native […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Baker feels his way
HE GREETED MARTY WALSH with a big hug. He spoke from the heart as a fellow parent when he addressed the scourge of opiate addiction that took the life of […]
Posted inPolitics
Threading the needle
From the archives This article first appeared in CommonWealth’s Spring 2014 issue. Click here view more issues. CHARLIE BAKER BOUNDS into the Charlestown Knights of Columbus, where the once and […]