Illustrations by Anthony Freda THE HEADLINES KEEP COMING. “Mayor Walsh is drawn into federal labor probe”…“Prosecutors investigate fees collected by Joyce on Randolph projects”…“Joyce’s role in solar project probed”…”Everett mayor […]
Massachusetts politics
Posted inPolitics
To caucus or not to caucus
CAUCUSES ARE NOT clandestine cabals requiring a secret handshake and special door knock to get into the room, except perhaps for the Democratic and Republican legislative caucuses. In Massachusetts, in […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, The Back Story
Weld’s views ‘developing’ on criminal justice reform
WHEN HE RAN for governor in Massachusetts 26 years ago, Republican Bill Weld cut a more moderate profile on many social issues than his Democratic opponent, John Silber – a […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
A Trumped-up convention
So how, in a year in which there is no statewide election, with a Republican governor sailing along with near-historic approval ratings, does a Massachusetts Democratic convention get attention? Trump. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion
Why Boston drove Ali fight out of town
HE CALLED HIMSELF Muhammad Ali because his given name, he said, was “a slave’s name, and I’m no longer a slave.” In 1965 he was still called Cassius Clay, his father’s […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion, Politics
Could breakup of Partners be way to go?
WITH GOV. CHARLIE BAKER now having signed off on the legislative deal to avoid the SEIU ballot initiative which would have drastically taken commercial insurance monies away from Partners HealthCare, […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Why I’m joining the United Independent Party (for now)
“DEMOCRACY IS NOT a spectator sport,” said my hero, John Gardner, from my days as CEO of Common Cause. He meant that it is our job as citizens to remind […]
Posted inBallot Questions, Politics
Medical pot dispensaries can cash in with ballot question
THE MEDICAL MARIJUANA INDUSTRY in Massachusetts, which has been struggling to get off the ground, could hit the jackpot if voters this fall approve a ballot question legalizing the commercial […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
South Shore Senate race decided — for now
Patrick O’Connor will be the new state Republican state senator from the Plymouth and Norfolk District, but the 31-year-old Weymouth town council president may want to hold off on new […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Selective House briefings
When House Ways and Means chairman Brian Dempsey opened the floor to questions from reporters at a Wednesday afternoon press briefing on the just-released House budget for 2017, he was […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Pssst: Baker won’t veto a transgender rights bill
Business leaders in Massachusetts are turning up the heat on the Legislature to pass a transgender rights bill. The Globe’s Shirley Leung reports this morning that more than 40 companies […]
Posted inPolitics
Pols have carte blanche with campaign cash
FOR MASSACHUSETTS POLITICIANS, campaign accounts are the gifts that keep on giving. In or out of office, living or dead, there’s a lot of leeway in how elected officials spend […]
Posted inPolitics
Why whites control Lowell city government
Photographs by Meghan Moore LOWELL IS MOST commonly associated with block upon block of old mill buildings; immigrants from Asia and the world over; and tough streets, the kind that […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
A Marblehead housewife
“Darn, I knew this was going to happen someday. If you’re reading this, I’m dead.” So begins Barbara Anderson’s final column in today’s Salem News. Anderson died Friday at the […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Race to the bottom
Straphangers the world over think their transit system is the worst and in Boston, we take a backseat to no one in holding out examples about why we’re number 1 […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The politics of the millionaire’s tax
General Electric’s Jeffrey Immelt, trying very hard to fit in as the new neighbor, said on Monday that he wouldn’t mind if Massachusetts voters approved a constitutional amendment implementing a […]
Posted inThe Download
Time running short on solar
With time starting to run short on Beacon Hill, solar power advocates are mounting an inside-outside campaign to convince a six-member legislative conference committee to lift the cap on net […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
“Dark money” on the right
First came the news last month that Gov. Charlie Baker was raising big bucks from Republican honchos — some $300,000 in all — to win seats for his allies on […]
Posted inThe Download
Capital concerns at the Globe
For those of us in the news business, the Boston Globe’s shrinking Capital section is an alarming sight. The nation is in the midst of one of the most interesting […]
Posted inUncategorized
Galvin upholds Jones decision on privacy grounds
SECRETARY OF STATE WILLIAM GALVIN’S OFFICE has ruled that the Foxborough Police Department acted properly in denying on privacy grounds a public records request for a surveillance video of New […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
What’s the endgame for Brian Joyce?
It’s one thing when the local paper runs a series of stories that raise questions about your ethics and actions as a state senator. And maybe there’s a little more heat […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Cordy to retire from SJC
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT Justice Robert Cordy plans to retire in August, the court announced Wednesday, creating the first opportunity for Gov. Charlie Baker to make an […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker administration making public records progress
A clarification has been added to this story. THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION is making significant progress in fulfilling the governor’s pledge to make it easier and cheaper for the public to […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker diverts $150m from rainy day fund
THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION said on Wednesday that it is steadily reducing the state’s reliance on one-time revenue solutions, but nevertheless wants to balance the fiscal 2017 budget using $150 million […]