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 […]
Municipal Government
Posted inEducation, Politics
Not all districts “Race to the Top”
State officials and school district leaders across Massachusetts are eagerly anticipating an infusion of $250 million in education funding over the next four years from the federal Race to the […]
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 inEconomy, Politics, The Download, Transportation
The Download: Teacher lessons
Another Monday, another impressive spread on the Boston Globe op-ed page devoted to the thoughts of retired Boston high school teacher Junia Yearwood. More accurately, we should say another spread […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
Menino plans to file health care petition
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, frustrated by the Legislature’s refusal to let cities and towns join the state’s Group Insurance Commission without union approval, announced today he will file a […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
Mayors want Beacon Hill to get tough on health care, unions
By Gabrielle Gurley Massachusetts does not have the financial wherewithal to fully address the looming fiscal problems facing cities and towns. But municipal officials’ pleas that state lawmakers look at […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Saving the money machine
Don’t get Back Story? Sign up here. The Boston Redevelopment Authority is asking a federal housing agency not to throw a wrench in its never-ending money machine. When the BRA […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Tribes lobby for reservation land
The demise of state gambling legislation this summer was a blow to Gov. Deval Patrick and many legislators, but no one was more disappointed when the deal fell apart than […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Economy, Politics, State House News Service
Police scramble on Quinn pay
Police unions and individual officers are trying hard to save what’s left of the 40-year-old Quinn Bill with mixed success. Budget woes forced lawmakers to cut what was once a […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
Turnaround artist
Lisa Wong became a rising superstar in Massachusetts politics the moment she trounced a veteran Fitchburg city councilor and catapulted into the mayor’s office at age 28. The wonky daughter […]
Posted inPolitics
Milford split on driver’s licenses
Milford Police Chief Thomas O’Loughlin has voiced support for issuing driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants, but CommonWealth magazine’s Bellwether project indicates residents of his own town are split on the […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
North Andover sets Hollywood straight
By Gabrielle Gurley About two years ago, a Hollywood movie production company sought permission from North Andover Town Manager Mark Rees to film at a private home in a residential […]
Posted inPolitics
Parks commissioner says golf courses doing well
The Back Story article pertaining to the City of Boston’s two golf courses does not give an accurate picture of the city’s decision to operate the courses itself or the […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics
Attitude adjustment
After his family moved from Massachusetts to San Francisco in 2008, Will Anastas noticed a big change in his trash. The family of four went from producing five bags of […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics
Mystery solved
Tucked deep inside an April report by Boston’s Climate Action Leadership Committee is a photo of a wharf seemingly under water. There is no explanation with the photo—indeed, no mention […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics
Cheap, clean energy stirring interest in Holyoke
Cheap, clean electricity is putting the city of Holyoke on the map.Holyoke, one of the poorest cities in Massachusetts, hasn’t attracted any significant business development in a long time. But […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Just plain ugly
Bill Pedersen is a principal at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates in New York, a powerhouse architectural firm known for designing tall towers across the globe. He personally oversaw the design […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, State House News Service
41 munis, but no new ones since the 1920s
There are 41 municipal electric companies scattered across Massachusetts that charge, on average, 21 percent less for their power than the four investor-owned utilities that serve the rest of the […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
Salem mayor says health care impasse may require ballot solution
By Gabrielle Gurley Unless more immediate steps are taken to rein in accelerating health care and pension costs, municipal officials will continue to triage community services to pay for employee […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Chiofaro: A latter-day Leventhal?
Developer Don Chiofaro says his escalating battle with City Hall is not about his proposed waterfront towers, but about the future of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. At a press […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Chiofaro to crank it up
By Bruce Mohl The sparks are about to start flying between developer Don Chiofaro and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. Chiofaro wants to build a pair of 625-foot towers on the […]
Posted inPolitics
Free speech dust-up in Southborough
UPDATE: In the story below, I incorrectly wrote the Southborough Board of Selectmen sent a third letter to Susan Fitzgerald demanding she reveal the identity of one of the posters […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion, Politics
Menino’s fifth-term agenda
Fifty-nine days into a new term, we enter the most challenging of seasons. It’s budget time in Boston. Typically, the decisions we make in the next few months set us […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Are two jobs in Lawrence better than one?
By Gabrielle Gurley Rep. William Lantigua thinks so. Elected mayor of Lawrence last fall, the Democrat is hanging on to his House seat for dear life. And no one — […]