LAST WEEK’S WALKOUT by workers at Boston-based Wayfair put a spotlight on the issue of businesses contracting to provide goods to detention facilities on the US-Mexican border. But the online retailer’s sale of $200,000 of bedroom furniture to […]
Economy
Posted inArts and Culture
Western Mass. ‘Hilltowns’ look for a foothold
THE ARRIVAL OF warmer weather means visitors will be flocking to the Berkshires, where a set of towns come to life as summer homes to renowned music and dance enterprises […]
Posted inEconomy
Ed reform turncoat or just a more balanced position?
IN THE GREAT EDUCATION DEBATE that has animated American public life for the last several decades, the players roughly divide into two camps. The so-called “reformers” say education can, in […]
Posted inEconomy
State turns profit on GE HQ sale
MAYBE LESS IS MORE in Fort Point. Since announcing it would move to Boston in 2016, General Electric has scaled down the scope of its business, and on Thursday it […]
Posted inThe Download
State turns profit on GE HQ sale
Maybe less is more in Fort Point. Since announcing it would move to Boston in 2016, General Electric has scaled down the scope of its business, and on Thursday it […]
Posted inPolitics
Fallen firefighter’s story highlights chemical fears
SUE PIPITONE WAS A PIONEER. The Everett Fire Department’s first and only active-duty female firefighter, she was known to drive Engine 1 “like a boss.” She enjoyed being “one of the boys” in the […]
Posted inOpinion
Massachusetts cannot afford an undercount in 2020
TODAY, THE US SUPREME COURT is hearing oral arguments on the addition of a question about citizenship on the 2020 Census. This proposed question compounds the climate of fear and […]
Posted inEconomy
New voices, proposals emerging in Boston’s biz community
WINDS OF CHANGE are starting to blow through Boston’s business community. One clear signal came earlier this month, when close to 20 business organizations said they would heed an appeal […]
Posted inEconomy
Coughlin changes hats at hearing on drug pricing
AT A PACKED STATE HOUSE hearing Thursday on legislation to rein in the cost of pharmaceuticals, MassBIO CEO Robert Coughlin and two of his national colleagues were pitching the same […]
Posted inEconomy
Gender pay gap hits Latina women hard
Equal Pay Day symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what white men earned in the previous year. Today’s marking of that ignoble milestone means women must work an extra […]
Posted inTransportation
Is New York showing up ‘progressive’ Mass.?
START SPREADING THE NEWS: Not only are the Yankees a game and a half in front of the faltering Red Sox, New York has taken a big lead over Boston […]
Posted inEconomy
Women underrepresented at Mass. business groups
A SURVEY OF THE TOP OFFICIALS and board members at 25 prominent business advocacy organizations in Massachusetts indicates women and people of color are under-represented. Women make up 51.5 percent […]
Posted inEconomy
Baker renews call for housing bill
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER doubled down Wednesday on legislation to make it easier for cities and towns to relax zoning restrictions to facilitate the construction of new […]
Posted inEconomy
GE dims its Boston presence
GE MAY BRING good things to life, but they’ll be bringing a lot less to Boston than the company promised to great fanfare just three years ago. The company announced […]
Posted inOpinion
Family homelessness in Mass. is staggering
IT’S TIME TO OPEN OUR EYES, pull our fingers from our ears, and talk about a crisis in our community — family homelessness. Many don’t realize or can’t fathom the […]
Posted inThe Back Story
Car-free development taking root
THE PROPOSAL FOR a five-story, 56-unit residential apartment building on Dorchester Avenue includes a lot of the amenities that are now standard features in new development projects: A ground-floor gym […]
Posted inEconomy
Private management of water systems can pay off
OVER THE PAST few decades, a growing number of municipalities in Massachusetts and across the US have attempted to reduce costs by turning to private companies to operate their water, […]
Posted inEconomy
Lockout finally over at National Grid
THE SIX-MONTH LOCKOUT at National Grid ended on Monday when employees approved a new contract that appears to give the utility what it wanted in two key areas while offering […]
Posted inEconomy
Baker backs more worker benefits if Grid lockout doesn’t end soon
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER acknowledged on Wednesday that extending the unemployment benefits of locked-out National Grid workers would be an “unusual precedent,” but he said he was willing to take that […]
Posted inPolitics
Ash aide moves up to take his job
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE IN THE SECOND SHAKEUP of his Cabinet since Gov. Charlie Baker won reelection in November, the Baker administration announced Tuesday afternoon that Secretary Jay Ash is […]
Posted inPolitics
House, in informal session, passes Grid legislation
THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE, in a sparsely attended informal session on Thursday, approved legislation that would extend unemployment assistance for the 1,250 locked-out workers of National Grid or any other utility […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
National Grid takes pounding on Beacon Hill
NATIONAL GRID took a public relations pounding on Tuesday at a Beacon Hill hearing where steelworkers testified that the utility’s decision to lock them out in June had compromised public […]
Posted inEconomy
Grid, locked-out workers appear far apart
NATIONAL GRID AND THE UNIONS representing 1,250 locked-out steelworkers head back to the bargaining table on Thursday, but it doesn’t appear as if the two sides are close to an […]
Posted inEconomy
Rivera: Columbia Gas should be disbanded
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Federal lawmakers who gathered in Lawrence Monday called for top executives at Columbia Gas and its parent company to leave their jobs in the wake of […]
