Correction: The story says a second budget amendment proposed by Sen. James Timilty would require the Division of Capital Asset Management to clean up the former hospital site so it […]
Municipal Government
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Rumble in the park
Richard Davey, the state secretary of transportation, wants to wean the Greenway off public funds. state transportation secretary Richard Davey darts across Atlantic Avenue, lays down his umbrella, and settles under […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Turner vindicated by SJC ruling
To many of the constituents he once represented, vindication came as a sweet balm late last week when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that convicted former Boston City Councillor […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Storrow Drive garage, park proposed
Clarification: Mass Eye and Ear says the profit on the existing Storrow Drive parking lot it leases from the state is less than $500,000 a year. CommonWealth reported it was […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Cursing up a storm in Middleborough
If George Carlin could speak from the other side, he’d probably have some choice words for the good citizens of Middleborough, Massachusetts. Middleborough town meeting recently voted to levy a […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, State House News Service
State officials announce Lawrence school turnaround plan
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Lawrence public school students will be expected to spend more time in the classroom under a plan state education leaders plan to announce Wednesday to reverse […]
Posted inEducation, Politics
Lawrence sets bold turnaround plan
If states are the laboratories for democracy, the Lawrence schools are now the laboratory for overhauling a failing urban school district. State and local officials gathered in the Merrimack Valley […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Assets, not need, should define Gateway Cities
Recent efforts on Beacon Hill to expand the Gateway Cities definition to include more communities are understandable and even expected. The Legislature is a collection of communities all with different […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Back Story
Newton’s green gambit
Newton received a lot of favorable publicity earlier this month when it announced that the city would be the first in the state to purchase all of its electricity from […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
The latest trend: Being a Gateway City
Just as wearing a bright day dress is the latest fashion statement, being called a Gateway City is apparently the latest hot trend among the state’s cities. State legislators were […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download, Transportation
How Rahm Emanuel could save the Sagamore Bridge
The Sagamore flyover, Mitt Romney’s Cape Cod legacy, is the gift that’s stopped giving. The summer driving season is just days away, but drivers have already been experiencing weeks of […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
When will it end in Lawrence?
Lawrence may be the longest-running soap opera in Massachusetts politics. The plot line is pretty depressing. The city’s schools have been taken over by the state. The former school superintendent […]
Posted inPolitics
Stories on area hockey haters deliver cheap-shot hit on the city
The headlines all have a familiar ring to them. So familiar, in fact, that the New York Times incorporates that déjà vu feeling into the headline atop its story: “Hockey […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Get used to it: casino sparks are flying
The fight over casinos in Massachusetts is becoming less of a metaphor every day. Today’s Sun Chronicle reports on a dust-up between the Plainridge Racecourse, a harness racing track pursuing […]
Posted inPolitics
City tweaks contract with Swan Boats
It’s that time of year again in Boston as the city makes way for the ducklings and for another unusual deal for the operator of the swan boats in the […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Politics
For Gateway City leaders, time to get creative
Worcester City Manager Michael O’Brien, Fitchburg Mayor Lisa Wong, Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse, and New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell. Building a vibrant arts sector has become a popular idea […]
Posted inPolitics
Boston City Council Oks wedding restrictions
UPDATE: The Boston City Council approved the new marriage ordinance on Wednesday. The Boston City Council is preparing to restrict when the city clerk can marry people during work hours […]
Posted inPolitics
Lowell teens lobby for the 17-year-old vote
When it comes to ranking the interests of teenagers, political activism would presumably come low on the list, somewhere between heeding good advice and doing the laundry. But teens in […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Brimfield casino site not worth the stakes
Can’t get there from here. MGM Resorts International finally threw in its hand and decided to walk away from a $600 million project to build a hilltop gambling mecca in […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, The Download
The Thin Blue Line’s thinner wallets
Cities and towns were just handed some fiscal relief by the state Supreme Judicial Court but don’t expect a lot of high-fiving among local officials to follow. If past is […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Election laws need overhaul
The Massachusetts Legislature recently accomplished what few believed was possible. With a singular commitment to broadening democracy in the state, it adopted a fair and comprehensive redistricting plan. For this […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Lawrence mayor, paper call temporary truce
mayor william lantigua’s successful appeal for the state to run the Lawrence Public Schools brought about another big development: the mayor sat down to talk with an Eagle-Tribune reporter who […]
Posted inPolitics
Holyoke hope
THE BIGGEST DOUBTS Alex Morse, the newly-elected mayor of Holyoke, had to overcome were whether voters would think someone who was barely out of college could possibly be ready to […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
With casinos, all politics is political
If, as Barney Frank says, “Government is the name we give to things we choose to do together,” politics must be the name we give to things that advance our […]