MASSACHUSETTS HAS MADE great strides in reducing electric and gas usage through state policies and our nationally recognized energy efficiency programs. These programs have provided billions of dollars in rebates […]
Cost of Living and Consumer Affairs
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: Subsidizing congestion
Everyone knows about traffic congestion in Boston. It’s why we’re often late for meetings. It’s why sightseeing firms are paring back their tours because the tourists are spending too much […]
Posted inThe Download
The bidding war for Amazon
Massachusetts chose not to specify what tax breaks it would offer Amazon if the tech giant located its second headquarters here, but other states and cities appear to be raising […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: Buying booze the modern way
Since the end of Prohibition in 1933, the alcohol industry has been regulated by states, some with a heavy hand, others with a light touch. Over the years, as social […]
Posted inThe Download
For Mass., high stakes in health debate
Efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act gained some momentum this week as Republicans put forward legislation that would put the brakes on federal health care spending in a way […]
Posted inThe Back Story
MBTA rolls out new transit ambassadors
THE MBTA IS STARTING to ramp up its new transit ambassador program, its latest bid to improve service using private contractors. Transit ambassadors, wearing bright red shirts emblazoned with […]
Posted inThe Download
What’s Amazon up to?
Amazon slashed the prices of a handful of items at its just-acquired Whole Foods chain, a move that garnered loads of publicity but shed little light on the online retailing […]
Posted inThe Download
NYC subway system looks to Boston
In case you missed it, the New York City subway system is in crisis mode, and officials in the Big Apple are looking to Boston for some answers. At the […]
Posted inThe Download
4 takeaways from sales tax moves
You could actually see an industry in transition on Wednesday. Amazon held a giant job fair at nearly a dozen of its US warehouses, including the one in Fall River, […]
Posted inThe Download
MassHealth votes represent major shift
The Legislature’s rejection of Gov. Charlie Baker’s MassHealth savings initiatives represents a big political shift on Beacon Hill. In the past, Democratic lawmakers have largely ceded the nitty gritty of […]
Posted inThe Download
Baker facing resistance to MassHealth cuts
In Washington, the fight over the nation’s health care future is full of drama. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who is dealing with brain cancer, vowed to return to Capitol […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: Trash talk
CommonWealth ran a cover story in January 2015 that featured a photo of a dump truck unloading trash at a massive landfill in New Bedford. The headline, drifting in the […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Home loan segregation
A study of home mortgage lending in Massachusetts provides yet another window on racial segregation in Massachusetts. The study, by the Massachusetts Community & Banking Council, found blacks in 2015 […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Eversource seeks higher fees on customers with solar
Eversource is proposing special charges for customers with solar installations to make sure they pay their share of the cost of operating the power grid. The proposed charges are contained […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
A protectionist whine
In January, the state’s Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission suspended the licenses for several days of Total Wine in Everett and Natick, outlets run by the country’s largest alcohol retailer, Total […]
Posted inEconomy
Home wreckers
Photographs by Mark Morelli FOR MOST HOMEOWNERS, their house is their past, present, and future, the hard shell around their nest egg. That shell requires regular attention and occasional investment, […]
Posted inHealth Care
Out-of-network billing surprises
MARYLOU SUDDERS, the state’s secretary of health and human services, was going through some paperwork for her late sister when she came across a bill from a doctor for thousands […]
Posted inEnvironment, Transportation
Kinder Morgan’s pipe dream is economic nightmare
THE JANUARY 22 opinion piece (“CLF’s contradictory philosophies”) by Anthony Buxton, an attorney for the energy company Kinder Morgan, argues that the Conservation Law Foundation’s (CLF) policy positions on MBTA […]
Posted inThe Download
On housing supply, the more things change…
To understand what holds back the state’s economy, and what causes young families who are otherwise drawn to Massachusetts life to flee for greener pastures, check out this piece by […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Social Security recipients deserve more
What follows is a slightly edited version of a message Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent out on Thursday to supporters via email. Three weeks ago, the Social Security Administration made a […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Download
Carrying the Bay State’s water
Although Massachusetts is currently experiencing a moderate drought, the Bay State is unlikely to experience water problems of California-sized proportions. But the Bay State does have a major water problem, it’s […]
Posted inHealth Care, The Download
The hidden cost of having health insurance
U.S. News & World Report is out with its annual index on health insurance and its impact on the economy. To the surprise of few, many of the costs are declining […]
Posted inEconomy
Boston wages outpace rest of nation
Private sector workers in the Greater Boston area saw their wages and salaries increase 3.9 percent over the last year, the highest increase among the nation’s 15 largest metropolitan area […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
What do Hillary Clinton, the Globe’s Pulitzer, and Demi Moore have in common?
Income inequality seems to be a recurring theme in the news today in everything from presidential politics to Pulitzer Prizes to the for-sale sign on Demi Moore’s New York co-op. […]