Like those running any gambling enterprise, officials at the Massachusetts State Lottery don’t like anyone muscling in on their turf. And when they think someone is, they can lower the […]
Municipal Government
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Fall River gambler
in upending a planned 300-acre biotech park, Fall River Mayor William Flanagan picked a fight with the governor, angered the state university, junked a decade’s worth of planning, and endangered […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
Lawrence on the mat
lawrence, with an anemic tax base and the state’s highest poverty rate, is no stranger to the usual litany of urban woes facing struggling cities. But Lawrence’s problems suddenly became […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Public sector pay: reasonable or excessive?
gov. scott walker’s victory in curbing collective bargaining rights of Wisconsin public sector workers casts a spotlight on the issue of disparities between public and private sector compensation. The same […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Download: Cracking down on gambling
As everyone knows, slot machines and casino gambling haven’t been approved by the Massachusetts Legislature. But what most people don’t know is that devices that closely resemble slot machines have […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Download
The Download: Talking the talk
It’s never too early to speculate. Has conservatism run its course? Is the middle the new “silent majority?” Will the left start gaining some traction? And who will take over […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Environment, Politics, The Download
Download: Driscoll goes down but not out
Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll is the first of the Democratic water-testers to wisely pass on taking on US Sen. Scott Brown. By way of explanation, Driscoll pledged her fealty to […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Download: Brown tome wrecker
The Boston Globe, in its review of US Sen. Scott Brown’s new book, Against All Odds, described it as “an incredible life story, told in the safest and most surface-level […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Download: What Times is it?
Information may want to be free, but journalists and publishers want to get paid. Since the Internet destroyed the advertising model that fueled newspaper profits, finding a new online profit […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Download
The Download: Veterans’ services quagmire
Veterans deserve our gratitude and all the benefits to which they are entitled. They do not deserve duplicative, unaccountable bureaucracies that dole our services with no oversight. But that appears […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Download: Killing them softly
It hasn’t appeared on the Federal Election Commission filings yet, but it can’t be long before President Obama and his aides send campaign contributions to Mitt Romney. It would only […]
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 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: The solar advantage
Over time, solar will trump wind. So says James Rogers, the CEO of Duke Energy, one of the country’s largest electric power utilities. During a question-and-answer session after his keynote […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
The Download: Breaking news—important people consort and talk to each other
“No matter how cynical you get, it’s impossible to keep up,” Lily Tomlin famously said. That’s especially so if your news consumption consists of a steady diet of Boston Herald […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, The Download
The Download: Setti for Senate
What makes Newton Mayor Setti Warren think he can beat US Sen. Scott Brown? Evidently, the same supreme confidence that made Brown think he could take on Martha Coakley. Ever […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Download, Transportation
The Download: Rank this
If this has been the winter of our discontent, we are now entering the slush season of high anxiety for high school seniors, who will soon learn which colleges have […]
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 inHealth Care, Politics, The Download, Transportation
The Download: IOU health care
There is no end to the constant drumbeat of health care as a public policy issue and a private dilemma. Yesterday, the well-respected Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation released a first-of-its-kind report […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, The Download, Transportation
The Download: Tier drops
Today’s Boston Globe and WBUR’s Martha Bebinger report on cost-conscious employers queuing up to purchase health plans that have tiered or limited networks that require subscribers to seek care from […]
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 […]