The chief executive of Evergreen Solar said today his company decided to close a state-subsidized manufacturing facility in Massachusetts and shift its focus to China because of that country’s overwhelming […]
Energy
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Download
The Download: Redistricting road show or sideshow?
The Legislature’s redistricting road show debuted in Springfield last weekend, and the good people of western Mass. hit ‘em with everything they had. Multiple pols noted that the region’s two […]
Posted inEducation, Environment, Politics, The Download
The Download: On the web, traffic still rules
The recent sale of the Huffington Post to AOL and the New York Times’s implementation look like very different moves by very different media entities. But scratch below the surface […]
Posted inEducation, Environment, Politics, The Download, Transportation
The Download: Sen. Warren? (Elizabeth, that is)
Up until now, the nascent movement to draft Elizabeth Warren to challenge Sen. Scott Brown has had one glaring deficiency – a willing participant. After all, why would Warren willingly […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment, State House News Service, The Download
The Download: Payback
Maybe it’s the defensiveness engendered by the decades-long moniker of Taxachusetts or the relentless hammering by Republicans and corporations about the inhospitable business atmosphere in the state, old perceptions that […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment, Politics, The Download
The Download: Nuclear fear factors
Fears about nuclear power increase with each new, catastrophic development in Japan. In Germany, people took to the streets after last week’s earthquake to protest against nuclear power. Not needing […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Download
The Download: DeLeo’s GIC ultimatum
Two years ago, when House Speaker Robert DeLeo made his first address to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, he distanced himself from his embattled predecessor and burnished his reputation […]
Posted inEducation, Environment, Politics, The Download
The Download: Taking a chance on schools
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 […]
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 […]
