There has been a lot of talk recently about lotteries and education. The documentary “Waiting for Superman” was structured around the stories of children whose families had pinned hopes for […]
Energy
Posted inEnvironment, Health Care, Politics, The Download
The Download: Gotcha Nation
Once the purview of shock jocks, 10-year-olds with a phone and time on their hands and MSNBC, prank calls, punks, and set-ups are now becoming the de rigueur method to […]
Posted inEnvironment, Health Care, The Download
The Download: Face time with Larry Summers
Larry Summers gave his first local speech since leaving the White House yesterday. He began his address by joking that Washington, DC, offered a respite from the brutal politics of […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Back Story
Power surge
NStar Corp. quietly filed with state regulators late last week three wind-power contracts that will provide electricity at prices that are both competitive with fossil fuels and significantly cheaper than […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Back Story
Hostage negotiations
Will the Patrick administration hold hostage the proposed merger of NStar Corp. and Northeast Utilities until NStar agrees to buy the rest of Cape Wind’s power output? Regulators have already […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics
The meter is running
the south shore town of Kingston is discovering that going green is not only good for the environment but good for the municipality’s bottom line. Kingston is plunging into the […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Download
The Download: Wind resistance
Cape Wind dominates the debate on wind energy, but the push for onshore wind is a study in contrasts. A Cape Cod Times report explains how wind projects proposed for Dennis, Eastham, Harwich, Orleans Wellfleet, West Barnstable, and Truro have gone by the […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
A look back, and look forward
Thank you for having me here this morning, for what I anticipate will be my last major speaking engagement as Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs. I intend to describe […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Download
The Download: Mass inequality
Massachusetts is leading the way into a new Guilded Age. The Bay State has one of the largest income gaps between the rich and the poor in the country. The […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Download, Transportation
The Download: Michelle Rhee, Inc.
Michelle Rhee has certainly landed on her feet. Rhee stepped down as chancellor of the Washington, DC, public school system in October after the mayor who hired her was tossed […]
Posted inEducation, Environment, Politics, The Download
The Download: Setting up a schoolyard brawl
There was tough talk aplenty in Boston Mayor Thomas Menino’s speech to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. And it was all built on a strange paradox. Menino isn’t asking […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Download
The Download: Obama hits back
When it comes to taxes, presidents can’t get a break and Barack Obama is no exception. Obama is on the defensive after the announcement of a tax deal that includes […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, Environment, Politics, The Download
The Download: House proud
Real estate helped sink the American economy, but real estate can bring it back. However, only if policymakers and developers keep two of the country’s largest demographic groups in mind. […]
Posted inEducation, Environment, Health Care, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
The Download: Dreams deferred
Last week Gov. Deval Patrick said that he wanted to facilitate undocumented immigrants’ access to college and drivers’ licenses in his overall strategy to expand opportunities for legal and illegal immigrants. Yet […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Download
The Download: The People’s Republic
The Cambridge City Council fired up its version of the Wayback Machine last night and transported us all the way back to the dark days of early 2009. At the […]
Posted inEnvironment
DPU: Cape Wind needed to meet goals
Massachusetts regulators today gave their long-expected approval to Cape Wind’s 15-year contract with National Grid, concluding that the contract’s high cost was acceptable given the project’s ability to help the […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Back Story
Sky high solar subsidies
Don’t get Back Story? Click here.Its advocates say solar power has a bright future in Massachusetts, but right now the energy technology needs astronomical ratepayer subsidies to survive.Solar power generators […]
Posted inEducation, Environment, Health Care
Correspondence Fall 2010
MY MRI COST $7,200 Your article, “Overexposed,” in CommonWealth’s summer edition was superb. It revealed so many of the failures and successes of our medical system.I have only one thing to […]
Posted inEnvironment
Net metering windfall in works?
A state program designed to help homeowners and municipalities launch renewable energy projects is getting a makeover on Beacon Hill that could give private wind power developers a financial bonanza. […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Download
Wind subsidy tucked inside spending bill
By Bruce Mohl A special interest wind power subsidy is tucked inside a spending bill that is the focus of a power struggle between Democrats and Republicans on Beacon Hill. […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Back Story
Gordon defends Cape Wind
It’s taken 10 years, but Jim Gordon, the president of Cape Wind, says the 130-turbine offshore wind project is about to clear its final regulatory hurdle. A supremely confident Gordon […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
SJC sides with Cape Wind
The Supreme Judicial Court delivered the coup de grace to Cape Wind opponents in their efforts to halt permitting of the controversial Nantucket Wind farm project. In a 4-2 decision, […]
Posted inEnvironment
A big bet strategy
Read the other candidates’ statements: Treasurer Tim Cahill, Gov. Deval Patrick, Dr. Jill Stein. Let me just start by saying that we live in unprecedented times in Massachusetts. There are […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment
Hurts our economic competitiveness
For the other candidates’ statements, click here: Charlie Baker, Gov. Deval Patrick, Dr. Jill Stein. My feeling is that the Cape Wind project is the perfect example to the wrong […]