The NCAA men’s basketball tournament carries the right nickname, but not because of the excitement it generates. The madness is the big-money pursuit of top basketball talent by colleges and […]
Massachusetts Legislature
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Download
The Download: An early toast
Who could have guessed the third week in March would be a bad one for alcohol sales in Boston? In a city effort to keep things family friendly for the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Download: No defense
President Obama has turned the favored sports axiom on its ear by showing the best offense is not a good defense but actually no defense. In ordering his Justice Department […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, The Download
The Download: The sprawling health care story
Now that nearly everyone in Massachusetts has health insurance, Gov. Deval Patrick is filing legislation to rein in its cost. It’s one of those big, complicated policy stories that few […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download, Transportation
The Download: Mass. rail projects to cash in again?
Florida Gov. Rick Scott decided on Wednesday that he couldn’t be bothered to use the $2.4 billion in federal high-speed rail stimulus funds to build a link from Orlando to […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download, Transportation
The Download: Green Line delays
Right-wing budget hawks in Congress could hold the planned Green Line extension hostage. That’s the terrifying vision state transportation secretary Jeff Mullan raised yesterday. Amid a day filled with talk […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, The Download
The Download: The politics of snow removal
With four major storms under the region’s collective belt and area snowfall totals poised to break the Shaq-o-meter, state lawmakers and municipal officials are bringing increased attention to snow removal […]
Posted inEconomy, Health Care, Politics, The Download
The Download: Killer bees, space aliens, and the invasion of the bankrupt states
The national news media has finally discovered that most states are bleeding a lot of red ink. Washington has so far rebuffed calls for bailouts. But California state treasurer Bill […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, The Download
The Download: Whose Constitution?
It couldn’t be termed a constitutional crisis but the decision by the new Republican-controlled House to read the Constitution into the Congressional Record was as much hysterical as historical. In […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, The Download
Lawmakers call for parole moratorium
By Bruce Mohl A bipartisan group of state lawmakers today called on the Parole Board to put off any more hearings until a report is completed on the parole of […]
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 inEducation, Politics, The Download
The Download: Senator Zelig
Another week, another round of head-scratching and hand-wringing over just who Scott Brown (Wrentham resident, truck owner, and current occupant of the People’s Seat in the US Senate) really is. […]
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 inPolitics, The Download
Galluccio road show growing tired
So now we have what passes for an explanation from Anthony Galluccio for what happened late Sunday afternoon at a Cambridge intersection. Let's just say it doesn't pass the smell […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Galluccio hits the road again
Perhaps by the end of the day Cambridge state Sen. Anthony Galluccio, who dodged all queries yesterday, will have come forward to attempt to explain this. I cannot imagine what he […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Competing non-competes
Tomorrow the Legislature's Committee on Labor and Workforce Development holds a hearing on two bills that, depending on whom you ask, could either invigorate or eviscerate the state's high-tech industry. […]
