government often uses task forces and special commissions in a somewhat dubious fashion — either as a graveyard for an initiative by burying it in endless analysis, or as a […]
State Government
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Not everyone on the South Coast is getting into training
INTRO TEXT South Coast rail, the plan to extend passenger train service from Boston to New Bedford and Fall River, promises to stir up more grass-roots activism than the Patrick […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Point of reckoning
the massachusetts state budget has reached a point of reckoning. First and foremost, a stubborn — and insufficiently appreciated — structural imbalance approaching $1 billion threatens the state’s ability to […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Patrick finds his footing in his second year on the Hill
INTRO TEXT Assessments of Gov. Deval Patrick’s first year in office were all pretty similar: He was, by his own admission, a political “amateur,” and one taking his bumps and […]
Posted inPolitics
State worker, 82, finally calls it quits
INTRO TEXT Donald Falvey, who is 82, retired from his $97,000-a-year job as deputy director of the Division of Standards at the end of January. Falvey worked in state and […]
Posted inPolitics
Needs improvement
Here’s one report card that Massachusetts might want to hide: Governing magazine and the Pew Center on the States gave the state a “C” in their Grading the States report, […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
In unemployment insurance showdown, labor still has muscle
INTRO TEXT organized labor may represent just over 14 percent of the Massachusetts workforce, but unions showed last year that they still have plenty of juice on Beacon Hill. Despite […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Legislators’ per diems may get a DC boost
INTRO TEXT Per diem payments for mileage, meals, and lodging for Bay State legislators have long been fodder for critics who see no justification for politicians dining out on the […]
Posted inPolitics
Reality sets in
As a candidate, Deval Patrick was highlysuccessful without “listening to the experts.”AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki.On a Friday afternoon in early November 2006, I went to the office of Michael Dukakis, deep […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Going global
you would think that Massachusetts, a leader in many cutting-edge economic sectors, would have a comprehensive overall strategy to ensure that it has a competitive edge in the global economy. […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Playing the numbers
as a candidate for governor, Deval Patrick sounded a cautionary note about the perennial calls to bring casino gambling to Massachusetts. While not morally opposed to slot machines or blackjack […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion, Politics
Ed reform’ missing piece
when massachusetts passed its education reform law in 1993, everyone expected that the combination of greatly increased funding and high-stakes testing would produce dramatic gains in student achievement. Since then, […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
Cost unconscious
On a Wednesday afternoon in late April, I went to the John W. McCormack state office building, a pillar of bureaucracy a half-block east of the State House, and found […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
The public payroll
though state finances are back at a point where almost everyone agrees that spending must be brought “under control,” Massachusetts already has fewer government employees, when taking into account our […]
Posted inPolitics
Statistically Significant
Illustrations by Travis Foster big employers still hold sway in bay state Politicians in Massachusetts often refer to the economic importance of smaller employers (for instance, in her speech on […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, State House News Service
Flirting with Disaster
Route 1, in Saugus, took a dipduring this May’s floods.Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Heraldwhen disaster strikes, the planning that happened ahead of time means everything. With that in mind, shortly […]
Posted inPolitics, Transportation
Second-Guesswork
> technically, there was a Big Dig before Fred Salvucci. The idea of putting the elevated Central Artery underground first surfaced, as it were, in the Boston Transportation Planning Review—Gov. […]
Posted inPolitics, Transportation
Learning from the Big Dig
Photograph by David L. Ryan,The Boston Globemore than three months after a ceiling panel collapse took a life and further besmirched the new roadways’ already tarnished image, traffic should be […]
Posted inPolitics
Statistically Significant
Illustrations By Travis Foster GLOBAL SOUL MATESWe usually compare Massachusetts with other states, but there’s a whole world out there to search for possible doppelgangers. According to the 2006 World […]
Posted inPolitics
A Toast to the General Court
Illustration By Nick Galifianakis We don’t know for certain that the Massachusetts Legislature was the state’s most exclusive speakeasy during Prohibition. True, contraband liquor was stored in the basement of […]
Posted inPolitics
State House plagued by leaks of the most literal kind
INTRO TEXT Plaster damage in the House chamber (left) and a makeshift water collection system. Water leaking, material falling from the ceiling. The Big Dig? No, the Massachusetts State House. […]
Posted inPolitics
Hitting the Jackpot
IT’S A SAFE BET that Al Rezendes isn’t giving a lot of thought to the Belchertown fire truck he helped buy, or to the new police cruiser protecting the residents […]
Posted inPolitics
Democrats and Republicans try to set the bar for this fall’s legislative elections
INTRO TEXT It has been billed as the biggest challenge to Democratic dominance on Beacon Hill in more than a decade. But after rolling out a field of 131 Republican […]