IN A COUP THAT WAS three years in the making, Worcester officials were able to woo the owners of the AAA Pawtucket Red Sox to move the team into a […]
Gateway Cities
Posted inEconomy
Gateway Cities discover the power of food
PHOTOGRAPHS BY KEN RICHARDSON FOOD HAS ALWAYS LOOMED LARGE in the life of Dimple Rana. While growing up in Revere, she helped her parents, immigrants from India, work in Indian […]
Posted inTransportation
Aloisi wrong on South Coast Rail
NEARLY A DECADE AGO, former transportation secretary James Aloisi assured the residents of the South Coast region that South Coast Rail would become a reality. “This is not just a […]
Posted inEconomy
How does New Bedford compete against Boston?
What follows is an excerpt from New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell’s prepared remarks for his state of the city address on Thursday. OUR SUCCESS WILL DEPEND on our ability to think […]
Posted inEconomy
Economic development, co-op style
WELLSPRING COOPERATIVE IS PREPARING to launch its third business in Springfield, a greenhouse that will grow fresh greens and herbs and sell them to supermarkets and institutions in the area. […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: Gateway Cities come of age
It was 10 years ago that MassINC launched its Gateway Cities initiative with a report documenting the challenges — and huge opportunities — in the state’s once vibrant industrial cities. […]
Posted inThe Download
Courting the PawSox
Two suitors are still wooing the Pawtucket Red Sox, and the style of courtship couldn’t be any different. Rhode Island’s approach is loud and raucous. The state’s Senate Finance Committee […]
Posted inThe Download
Grateful for the generals
A hallmark of American democracy has always been that a civilian, the president, is the ultimate commander in chief of the armed forces. It is perhaps the strongest signal we […]
Posted inThe Download
Trump’s disruptive power
Donald Trump signed 42 executive orders in his first 200 days as president. By comparison, Barack Obama, who Trump criticized for signing too many, averaged 35 executive orders a year […]
Posted inThe Download
Here’s the Diehl
Geoff Diehl made it official last night by formally announcing his Republican run against US Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Somebody pass Charlie Baker the antacids. The Whitman state rep mixed his […]
Posted inThe Download
On to the next ballot questions
Now that last year’s final ballot-approved law is in place (Gov. Charlie Baker signed the legislatively amended marijuana bill into law on Friday), Beacon Hill is gearing up for the […]
Posted inPolitics
Lawrence’s Rivera facing tough reelection fight
Photographs by Meghan Moore THE MARCHERS PLOD ALONG, wearing matching maroon shirts and holding campaign signs, fronted by the candidate himself, Mayor Daniel Rivera, who waves to onlookers, his gut […]
Posted inEducation, Politics
Why Lowell is torn over new high school
MEETINGS OF THE LOWELL CITY COUNCIL are typically sparsely attended affairs, characterized by amicable discussions among councilors and unanimous votes. This has all changed in recent weeks, as the city […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service, Transportation
Where the food deserts are
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE CHELSEA, SPRINGFIELD, AND TAUNTON top a new list of cities with the highest percentage of low-income residents lacking access to grocery stores, a problem with nutrition […]
Posted inEconomy
Holyoke’s mayor isn’t afraid of pot
Photographs by Mark Morelli OUTSIDE HOLYOKE CITY HALL is a stone fountain that once gurgled with water, offering a more wholesome substitute for alcohol to “a thirsty humanity,” as the […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
A better way to address regional inequality
IN THEIR RECENT PIECE “Bridging the urban-rural divide in Mass.,” Lawrence S. DiCara and Matt Waskiewicz address the issue of regional inequality. They explain how the erosion of manufacturing jobs has caused […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion, Politics
Bridging the urban-rural divide in Mass.
EVAN HOROWITZ AND JAMES PINDELL of the Boston Globe remarked in a November 14 article that “the Trump effect” occurred in Massachusetts as well: while Greater Boston voted more Democratic […]
Posted inPolitics
In Lowell, higher salaries for a higher purpose
THE LOWELL CITY COUNCIL is giving itself and the city school board raises on the order of 67 to 100 percent, purportedly as a way to attract a more diverse […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Turning around New Bedford
Photographs by Frank Curran JON MITCHELL WALKS a fine line as the mayor of New Bedford. On the one hand, he is the self-professed squeaky wheel, constantly pressing state and […]
Posted inEconomy
A Springfield revival?
Photographs by Mark Morelli SPRINGFIELD MAYOR DOMENIC SARNO remembers the day after Thanksgiving in 2012. The sky was clear and the temperature unseasonably warm. The mayor was at the city’s […]
Posted inEducation
Musical chairs
Photographs by Michael Manning STATE EDUCATION OFFICIALS placed the Southbridge schools into receivership earlier this year, citing continual underperformance in all testing areas, high suspensions and disciplinary problems, and unacceptable […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, Opinion
The income-growth challenge in Gateway Cities
IT’S POSSIBLE FOR an economy to grow in ways that expand opportunity and promote broadly shared prosperity. We know that’s possible because it’s exactly what happened in the United States […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Rivera: Lawrence is strong, people are talking about city
The following is a slightly edited version of the State of the City speech of Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera, which was delivered on Tuesday. I STAND BEFORE YOU TONIGHT to […]
Posted inGambling, The Download
Gaming Commission faces its toughest decision
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission, facing perhaps its toughest decision ever, is being urged by two newspapers to give deference to the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe as the agency decides whether to […]
