The Download

Warren takes a pounding but keeps on ticking

Fri, 25 May 2012 10:03:00 GMT

Elizabeth Warren continues to take a pounding about her alleged Native American ancestry, but does it matter?

Pilgrim relicensing reaches critical mass

Thu, 24 May 2012 10:50:00 GMT

Nuclear power plants are a lot like baseball umpires: It’s far better for everyone when you don’t hear their names.

Deval Patrick to Cory Booker I got this

Wed, 23 May 2012 11:36:00 GMT

Who ya gonna call when the young’uns can’t get the job done? Gov. Deval Patrick.

Taking on Boston's fun police (and the mayor)

Tue, 22 May 2012 11:26:00 GMT

Skim over most of today’s Herald story on the launch of the Future Boston Alliance, a new non-profit geared toward loosening the city’s regulations and making Boston a more lively, more entrepreneurial, more fun place to live. Blow right past Greg Selkoe, the streetwear kingpin who is funding the effort and tweaking Mayor Tom Menino. The most revealing passage in the Herald piece is the quote from former Boston city councilor and veteran politics sage Larry DiCara. Specifically, DiCara doesn’t reflexively dismiss Selkoe, and he doesn’t dismiss the notion that a block of city residents who don’t normally turn out in municipal elections could coalesce and bring political pressure to bear on City Hall. In fact, DiCara says, Boston’s most famous boss, James Michael Curley, got broomed out of office by John Hynes because Curley was on the wrong end of a youth-driven reform movement.

Mass. energy innovation is heard loud and clear

Mon, 21 May 2012 10:40:00 GMT

Massachusetts is living up to its reputation as a center of clean energy innovation and entrepreneurship, but it’s also showing that in the zeal to go green there’s a danger of getting out a bit over one’s skis, to borrow from the the winter-sport-as-metaphor-user-in-chief.

The Big Lug is in trouble

Fri, 18 May 2012 09:58:00 GMT

FNX signing off

Thu, 17 May 2012 10:47:00 GMT

No, wise guy, WFNX has not already been off the air for a couple years. But the alternative rock icon will be signing off after Phoenix publisher Stephen Mindich sold his baby to radio behemoth Clear Channel and all but four of the station’s employees have been given their walking papers. The sale is pending FCC approval and the skeleton crew will keep the music going and events that are already planned will still take place until then.

How Rahm Emanuel could save the Sagamore Bridge

Wed, 16 May 2012 11:37:00 GMT

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 soul-crushing traffic jams, including mammoth Mother’s Day weekend backups, thanks to 24/7 lane restrictions on the Sagamore Bridge due to steel work to shore up the nearly 80-year-old bridge.

Return of the King of Bain

Tue, 15 May 2012 11:11:00 GMT

Back in January, Newt Gingrich did something so craven and bloodless, it sent shockwaves across the already craven, bloodless world of presidential politics: He cribbed a line of attack from liberal lion Ted Kennedy.

College debt daze

Mon, 14 May 2012 10:24:00 GMT

It’s tough to make the math work on a social worker’s starting salary and $80,000 in student loans. But that’s what 23-year-old Jillian Potter, a recent graduate of Anderson University in Indiana, is now up against. Hers is one of the millions of stories that now add up to almost $1 trillion in student debt being carried by Americans, a weighty burden that was the focus of a 4,600-word front-page story in yesterday’s New York Times.

Sex offender faces probation hearing for saying hi

Fri, 11 May 2012 09:37:00 GMT

A Level 3 sex offender in Andover is scheduled for a probation violation hearing after police discovered he helped a 10-year-old boy recover a lost hockey puck and said hello to another child on a public street.

You say you want an evolution

Thu, 10 May 2012 10:27:00 GMT

President Obama’s pronouncement that he supports gay marriage is a seismic shift in the presidential campaign, though it’s little more than a talking point here in Massachusetts, the first state to legalize it.

Mass. bake sale ban falling flat

Wed, 09 May 2012 11:16:00 GMT

What do Rush Limbaugh and Anderson Cooper have in common? They both think that the new ban on school bake sales in Massachusetts is nuts.

More charter schools on the way

Tue, 08 May 2012 11:06:00 GMT

The news that the state will lift the temporary moratorium it had imposed on new charter schools in several Massachusetts cities was greeted with the expected applause from charter school operators and advocates. “City on a Hill is thrilled, over the moon, and excited about the opportunity to offer high-quality college preparatory high school seats to more students in Boston,” Erica Brown, executive director of City on Hill charter school in Roxbury, which wants to open a second school, told the Globe.

John Kerry's ambitious dilemma

Mon, 07 May 2012 11:09:00 GMT

Today’s Boston Herald bats around the case of John Kerry, who is a politician from Massachusetts. Specifically, the paper adds to a mountain of news clips speculating about Kerry’s desire to be something other than a politician from Massachusetts. But this time, there’s a hook -- according to the Herald’s Kimberly Atkins, Kerry might block his own exit and turn down a potential appointment to the Obama cabinet.

When will it end in Lawrence?

Fri, 04 May 2012 10:04:00 GMT

Lawrence may be the longest-running soap opera in Massachusetts politics.

Death of a gladiator

Thu, 03 May 2012 10:38:00 GMT

As the tributes pour in for former New England Patriots linebacker Tiana Baul “Junior” Seau, the questions are mounting about what was going on inside the head of the outwardly happy-go-lucky surfer-restaurateur-philanthropist that would cause him to put a gun to his chest and pull the trigger.

Mitt Romney's faulty gaydar

Wed, 02 May 2012 11:18:00 GMT

Occupy turns left

Tue, 01 May 2012 11:12:00 GMT

Liberals have had lots of fun mocking Tea Party activists who decry federal spending and government overreach while fiercely defending their access to Social Security and Medicare. Today, the left submits its own entrant into this exercise in political gymnastics, as Occupy Wall Street stakes its comeback bid on a general strike against capitalism.

No bend in raging Rivers

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:13:00 GMT

Gene Rivers has always been the skunk at the garden party, the guy who interrupts the echo chamber of chatter among the politically correct to offer an impolitic pronouncement that is often so jarring because it carries an uncomfortable truth.

Bonin book stirs the pot

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 09:51:00 GMT

The Holy Grail of health care savings

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:32:00 GMT

Death by a thousand transportation studies

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:10:00 GMT

When in doubt, study is the default strategy of Massachusetts lawmakers when it comes to dealing with prickly issues like transportation finance.

Get used to it: casino sparks are flying

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:34:00 GMT

The fight over casinos in Massachusetts is becoming less of a metaphor every day

Bipartisan blues

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:39:00 GMT

The right-wing remaking of the Republican Party continues apace, and Indiana is the next battlefront in this internecine GOP war. That’s where veteran Republican US senator Richard Lugar faces a strong challenge in the May 8 primary from the state’s treasurer, Richard Mourdock, whom Tea Party types are rallying behind.

The income (inequality) wars

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 09:51:00 GMT

We began this week talking about the Buffett Rule, an attempt to make millionaires pay a tax rate of at least 30 percent. President Obama and Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren were for it; US Sen. Scott Brown was opposed, calling it a political stunt that would hurt small businesses and make the economy worse.

Whither - or wither - Southie?

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 11:10:00 GMT

Once a center of political power with a reach that extended well beyond its own boundaries, with clout at the city, state, and national scenes as well, South Boston’s outsized influence, identity, even its footprint, are waning.

Warren, Brown and the optics of income tax returns

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 11:24:00 GMT

A new tack in tax wars

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:08:00 GMT

In 2009, Tea Party activists used the federal tax filing deadline to stage a series of rallies that catapulted the protest movement into national prominence. Tax day started a wave that crested in conservatives’ 2010 midterm shellacking of congressional Democrats. A routine event -- collecting income taxes that fund the federal government -- became a political metaphor, and created electoral opportunity.

"A constitutional crisis"

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 09:30:00 GMT

Seven of the state’s top jurists say a constitutional crisis is brewing in Massachusetts, with legislatively-imposed budget cuts creating a court system that is undermanned, overwhelmed, and increasingly unsafe.

A remote chance of seeing TV political spending records

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 10:08:00 GMT

Keep the clicker ready. Now that the final showdown between President Obama and Mitt Romney is all but set in stone, both sides and their surrogates are gearing up for an onslaught of television advertising that is about to assault your senses and make television station owners very rich.

Jim Belushi steps into the Mass. medical marijuana debate

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:18:00 GMT

Money can't buy Warren love

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:59:00 GMT

Elizabeth Warren has been battling months of grumbling from Bay State Democrats. One would think that a $7 million quarterly fundraising haul -- a total that blows away rival Sen. Scott Brown, whose bankroll had bested pretty much everyone else in the country -- would silence the whispers about Warren’s allegedly wayward campaign. Instead, the Warren campaign’s proficiency at collecting large sums of money is sharpening the focus on the campaign’s alleged organizational shortcomings.

College exams

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 09:31:00 GMT

Two decades after the start of the standards and testing era in education, which vowed to hold public schools accountable for firm measures of student achievement, efforts are underway to hold higher education institutions to the same standard. It’s not an idea that everyone in the ivory tower is rushing to embrace.

Health care diet

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 10:10:00 GMT

State lawmakers are putting the finishing touches on legislation to rein in the cost of health care, but the private sector isn’t waiting. Hospitals, insurers, and care providers are already revamping the way they do business, and the impact is already being felt.

On the MBTA board, one is the loneliest number

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 10:10:00 GMT

Doctors groups: "First, do no waste."

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:43:00 GMT

Have you heard there are issues with health care costs?

From the debate about how to ensure everyone is insured to the tango over how to rein in the out-of-control overall costs, health care is on everyone’s mind. But while much of the dialogue is focused on what government can and can’t, should and shouldn’t do, scant attention is being paid to those who can most control the costs – doctors and their patients.

Tim-ber

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 10:20:00 GMT

This is the way the Legislature wanted it.

If Tim Cahill had launched a quixotic gubernatorial run in 2006, and in the middle of this quixotic run, had he unleashed a $1.5 million television ad campaign, he would not be in the position he’s in right now, which is facing hard jail time and tens of thousands of dollars in criminal fines. Back in 2006, anyone accused of overstepping state ethics laws faced civil sanctions; by 2010, ethics violations were criminal offenses.

Polling for dollars

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 11:08:00 GMT

It’s hardly a groundswell of support, but based on the expectation of paltry support for an infusion of state money to bail out the beleaguered MBTA, a new Boston Globe poll showing 40 percent of voters statewide support a state bailout was taken as encouraging news by some T boosters.

The underbelly of land use politics

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:58:00 GMT

You don’t have to be a Saint to oppose development, according to a federal court ruling earlier this week. In fact, the judge says, you can be “sneaky” and “underhanded” about your opposition because it is protected by the First Amendment.

Up, down, up

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:02:00 GMT

Earlier this month, Massachusetts Democrats were in panic mode after a handful of polls indicated US Sen. Scott Brown had overtaken and pulled away from Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren.

Brimfield casino site not worth the stakes

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 11:16:00 GMT

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 the small western Massachusetts town of Brimfield. The prospect of 3,000 jobs, a figure almost equal to the population of Brimfield itself, also vanished.

Two cheers for Obamacare

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:36:00 GMT

Yesterday, Rick Santorum stood on the steps of the Supreme Court and said November’s presidential election will hinge on health care. John Kerry agreed. He told the Herald he’s daring the GOP to run against health care in November. The back and forth makes for good copy, especially with the three-day marathon Supreme Court arguments in the background. But two recent national polls indicate that health care won’t be the blockbuster wedge issue the GOP expects it to be.

Opening Day (at the Supreme Court)

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 09:39:00 GMT

The baseball season doesn’t start until next week, but Washington hosts a different opening day, as three days of oral arguments begin before the US Supreme Court in the challenge to the Affordable Care Act, the 2009 federal health care law. The case being heard by the court’s starting nine carries all the anticipation and build-up of next week’s first pitch -- with much more at stake than avenging a historic September slide.

All the news that's fit to post

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 10:26:00 GMT

How are you reading this? On your smartphone? Your tablet? If so, you are part of the exploding audience that gets its news from traditional sources but through changing delivery platforms – and furthering the demise of print as a medium.

Tax breaks add up to big money

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 11:25:00 GMT

“Too complicated, too big.”

Those were the words the Tax Expenditure Commission used to describe the tangle of tax breaks that amount to over $26 billion, or more in foregone tax revenue than the state takes in each year, according to the State House News Service. The commission was convened to study the financial impact of the credits and exemptions, and is expected to release a final report next month.

"C" on integrity report nothing to write home about

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 11:43:00 GMT

When everyone around you is getting Ds and Fs, a C can feel pretty good. Beacon Hill insiders probably breathed a sigh of relief at the Bay State’s fair-to-middling ranking in the Center for Public Integrity’s State Integrity Investigation released Monday.

Boston-Cambridge Google wars

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 12:14:00 GMT

“It’s too bad.” That’s how the president of the Boston City Council greeted last night’s news that Google had won approvals to expand its Cambridge headquarters. Google ran into a surprisingly contentious expansion fight in Cambridge, raising hopes in Government Center that Boston might be able to poach the tech giant from across the Charles. Last night’s Cambridge City Council vote puts an end to those hopes. Hence, Steve Murphy’s dejected “too bad” quote in the Herald. The whole episode speaks volumes about the state of economic development in Boston -- the city talks a world-class game, but is often chasing leftovers from across the river.

The casino gamble

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 11:22:00 GMT

If you’re a state leader or a casino mogul lustily eyeing the gambling licenses up for grabs in Massachusetts, did you smile giddily or break into a cold sweat when reading yesterday’s New York Times Magazine cover story on the rough times at Foxwoods, the Connecticut mega-casino whose lunch we are supposed to be preparing eat?

GateHouse bonuses give clue they don't have one

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 10:51:00 GMT

The problem with being a publicly traded company is all your missteps are there for everyone to see. The problem with being a publicly traded company that gives bonuses and enhanced severance packages to top executives is it’s there for everyone to see.

SJC acknowledges 21st century

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 10:00:00 GMT

There are still courthouses around Massachusetts where index card files reign over computer files and you still have to go to clerks’ offices to get civil and criminal case documents because the state’s Trial Court website still does not post anything online except the barest of updates.

Transit insaniTy

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:37:00 GMT

It’s all over, including the shouting. If some MBTA riders actually thought that negative testimonies at public hearings were going to prevent fare increases and service cuts, now they know better. On the same day as its last public meeting in Allston-Brighton, the authority released an “Open Letter to Our Customers” announcing that hikes and cutbacks, like the next subway train, are arriving.

Gambling law unknowns

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 11:10:00 GMT

he late entry of the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe has upended the calculus behind the Mashpee Wampanoag’s Taunton casino bid. The Mashpee were supposed to have a head start on one of the three casino licenses the state will be handing out. Now, at the very least, the Mashpee might have to head to court to dispatch the Aquinnah and preserve their exclusive negotiating window.

Retaining Boston's tech cluster

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 11:19:00 GMT

Today marks the fourth day of South by Southwest (SXSW), a conference that attracts almost 50,000 people and showcases the latest in music, film, and technology each year in Austin. Back here in Boston, the business pages are highlighting our own cluster of tech companies in areas like social networking, retail, and health care; the big concern is that these startups could be lost to places like Austin and San Francisco.

Mystery woman to run for office

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 09:51:00 GMT

The mystery woman who was at the center of a House chamber incident with a Braintree lawmaker last year says she is going to challenge Rep. David Torrisi of North Andover in the Democratic primary this fall.

The Thin Blue Line's thinner wallets

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:18:00 GMT

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.

Where the Pentagon sees guns, Mass. sees butter

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 11:32:00 GMT

With Gov. Deval Patrick gone AWOL more and more, Lt. Gov. Tim Murray has been tapped to lead the fight to forestall cutbacks at Bay State military facilities. So far, the Pentagon is winning.

Worries about Warren

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 11:21:00 GMT

A new Western New England University poll has Sen. Scott Brown rocketing past Elizabeth Warren, and that has some Democrats sizing up the distance between the window ledge and the pavement below. The Globe’s Frank Phillips writes today about the sudden unease gripping Bay State Democrats.

On higher ed, Santorum flunks out

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 11:51:00 GMT

It certainly didn’t match the coarseness of Rush Limbaugh’s characterization of an articulate Georgetown University law student as “slut.” But when Rick Santorum called President Obama a “snob” for encouraging American young people to attend college, it had about the same level of intellectual rigor as the radio blowhard’s gutter-feeding meltdown. Which is to say, not very much at all. Which qualifies, of course, as the kind of criticism one must expect from elitist pointy-headed media types.

FinCom calls for Swan Boats audit

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 10:54:00 GMT

The Boston Finance Commission is calling for an audit of Swan Boats Inc., the family-run ferry service in the Public Garden that says it earned $1.4 million between 2008 and 2010 and paid the city rent of just $62,000.

A cause to go Gaga over

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 11:13:00 GMT

Anyone who’s ever been the target of bullying or taunting back in the day and later achieves some measure of success relishes that opportunity to go to the high school reunion to throw an unspoken “Ha!” – or, in some cases, a loud spoken “HA!” – back in the faces of the perpetrators and spectators.

Snowe storm

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:55:00 GMT

If Americans needed yet more evidence that Congress has been taken over the political equivalent of the walking dead, there is now the case of US Sen. Olympia Snowe. The moderate Maine Republican decided to retire from the Senate rather than face the prospect of another six years head-butting her dysfunctional colleagues.

OneUnited's "cardinal sin"

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:33:00 GMT

OneUnited Bank has a complicated relationship with bills. Specifically: It isn’t fond of paying its own. The Boston-based bank was saved in 2008 with a $12 million cash infusion from the US Treasury. Since that time, OneUnited has missed 11 quarterly payments to the Treasury, racking up $1.7 million in unpaid dividends. That’s what makes a headline in today’s Herald a real screamer: The bank that won’t pay its own bills is putting the screws to a Dorchester church, threatening to foreclose if the church doesn’t come up with $1.1 million by next month.

The cause endures

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:45:00 GMT

With the entry of Joe Kennedy III into the race for an open US House seat, the political chatter has returned for the umpteenth time to the question of whether the “Kennedy brand” has still has any sway.

Is Lynn overreacting?

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 10:01:00 GMT

City and school officials in Lynn say they plan to prosecute two freshman girls who fought each other at Cook Street Park and discipline at least 27 other children who watched and did nothing.

In sports, boys need to be men

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:19:00 GMT

The Boston University men’s hockey team, among the most successful college sports programs in the country, is reeling after the dismissal of two stars who were arrested and charged with sexual assault.

Newt Gingrich declares war on reVolting electric cars

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:39:00 GMT

The next stop in the culture wars is the electric car. Newt Gingrich has declared that President Obama now threatens Americans’ right to choose the type of car that they want to drive. At the center of this nefarious plot are electric cars like the Chevrolet Volt. In a recent speech to an Oral Roberts University audience in Tulsa, Gingrich said that Obama’s championing of hybrid electric-gas technology makes him “the most dangerous president in modern American history.”

Romney: A Michigander or Michi-gamer?

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:32:00 GMT

Mitt Romney wants to be president, so he needs to win next week’s Michigan primary. A big part of the game plan for pulling that feat off involves reinforcing Romney’s ties to the state where he grew up, where his father served as governor, and where he launched his 2008 presidential run. Which is why a column in yesterday’s Boston Herald should be a giant red flag for Romney’s embattled campaign.

How corrupt is Massachusetts?

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:36:00 GMT

We tend to think of Massachusetts as a pretty corrupt place. Let’s see, three House speakers in a row have been convicted of crimes. Sal DiMasi, the most recent speaker to fall, is apparently taking a break from his prison cell to testify before a federal grand jury that is reportedly poised to indict more than a dozen people, including several lawmakers. Toss in the Chelsea Housing Authority, the Merrimack Special Education Collaborative, Arthur Winn, and Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua and you can see why some people think there’s something in the water around these parts.

In Worcester, a web site that names names

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:28:00 GMT

Matt Amorello, the former head of the Mass. Turnpike Authority and the Big Dig, debuted a transportation column this morning that criticizes what he calls the minimal impact of stimulus funds on transportation and infrastructure projects around the country.

Scott Brown and the 99 percent

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:21:00 GMT

US Sen. Scott Brown has jumped feet first into a controversy that complicates his Senate campaign.

Meditech project really dead

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:01:00 GMT

Back in September, medical software developer Meditech pulled the plug on a plan to build a $65 million office complex in Freetown, but South Coast officials mounted an intense effort to salvage the project. Yesterday, the company confirmed that the Freetown office development really is dead, and said it will be expanding around Interstate 495 instead. It’s what happened in between -- a battle with Secretary of State William Galvin, an intense lobbying effort on Beacon Hill, and bitter complaints about political power plays thrown everywhere -- that makes either announcement worth noting.

Hospital rankings stir controversy

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:01:00 GMT

As part of the sweeping 2010 federal health care law, the government is trying to tie Medicare reimbursement rates to the quality of care delivered at hospitals. The idea is that creating incentives for good outcomes and punishing bad ones will help lower health care costs (or at least slow their rate of increase) and improve the quality of care delivered to patients.

What's yours is the Times's and what's the Times's is the Times's

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:45:00 GMT

The New York Times, like most entertainment, publishing, and media behemoths, is firmly in favor of the stalled efforts in Congress to reel in copyright infringement and outright piracy on the Internet, especially from those overseas entities that US law as written can’t touch.

Schilling's got game

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:16:00 GMT

MBTA Snow Job

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:57:00 GMT

Higher gas taxes. New tolls. Charging drivers by the mile. Everyone has an idea of how to fix what ails the MBTA. The latest trial balloon would reallocate $20 million in unspent Massachusetts Department of Transportation snow removal funds to the MBTA. Unfortunately, that remedy depends on the vagaries of Mother Nature. A late February, March, or April blizzard (they do happen) could plow right through what’s left in the snow removal kitty and then some.

DiMasi moves, Beacon Hill quakes

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:47:00 GMT

Last month, the Globe reported that federal prosecutors had “essentially completed their investigation” into rigged hiring at the state’s Probation Department, saying indictments “could be imminent.” Soon after, the Lowell Sun sized up the likely State House targets -- two sitting state reps, two sitting senators, and one former legislator. The indictments have yet to materialize, but this morning, the Globe and the Herald both run with a bombshell update: Both papers say former House Speaker Sal DiMasi is on his way to Worcester, to testify before the Probation grand jury.

Boston busing crisis

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:01:00 GMT

It was nudged to the corner of yesterday’s Globe Metro front by the all-important history of a decade of worth of wagers between Tom Menino and various mayors over whose team will prevail in assorted sports championship battles. And, truth be told, once your eye caught the headline, “Pupil, 6, dropped off at wrong bus stop,” it was easy to pass off the piece as a recurring storyline that seems to pop up every half year or so.

Millennium to plug hole

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:25:00 GMT

The ugly hole in the ground at Downtown Crossing is finally going to be filled, according to stories in the Boston newspapers.

Romney’s mythical Latino support

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:48:00 GMT

The national mainstream media likes its narratives neat and tidy. How else to explain Mitt Romney racking up big numbers among Latinos in Florida? The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza falls into the trap of proclaiming that Romney has made a “leap” among Hispanics and has “overcome his doubters.”

Who will like Facebook’s IPO?

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:33:00 GMT

How much are our jokes, our stories, our likes and dislikes, our pictures, our family and friends worth? To you, priceless, but on the open market, perhaps as much as $100 billion.

Arthur Winn, Florida, and campaign finance

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:27:00 GMT

This afternoon, prominent housing developer Arthur Winn will appear in federal court in Boston and be sentenced for funneling $4,500 in illegal campaign contributions to a pair of Massachusetts congressmen. This evening, it’s very likely that Mitt Romney will stomp all over Newt Gingrich, thanks in large part to Romney’s overwhelming advantage in Florida’s advertising-heavy primary. These two developments are connected, two extremes bookending a warped campaign finance system -- or, at least, that’s what Winn’s attorneys believe.

Mayor Deluxe

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:42:00 GMT

He was, as Brian Mooney led the paper-of-record’s obit-of-record, “a colossal political figure who helped transform Boston into a world-class city during 16 often turbulent years as mayor.” But beyond that sweeping 4,800-word account of the life and legacy of Kevin White, it has been hard for media types to boil down to its essence the mark left by a man as complicated as White, who governed during a time more tumultuous than anything Boston has even remotely witnessed in the almost three decades since he left office.

Drill, baby, drill

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:51:00 GMT

President Obama made it official this week: The United States is awash in natural gas.

Political goals, touchdowns, and dunks

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:37:00 GMT

This week hundreds of reporters from around the country will try to get Tom Brady, Eli Manning, or any number of their teammates to say something beyond the canned observations about how tough their game will be. And if they do, especially if it’s an even innocuous political observation, at least half the fan base will be up in arms.

No more Mr. Nice President

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:31:00 GMT

Nothing sobers up a president faster than the real prospect of losing a re-election battle. For the past three years, President Obama’s critics on the left have chided him for not taking on the Republicans more forcefully.

Going 'Freddie' in Florida

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:28:00 GMT

The Republican presidential primary entered a new and brutal phase when it rolled into Florida yesterday, with Mitt Romney going sharply negative on the suddenly re-resurgent Newt Gingrich. Romney is trying hard to link Gingrich to Florida’s depressed housing market via Freddie Mac, the bailed-out mortgage company that paid Gingrich $1.7 million to act as its historian and not-lobbyist. It’s a strategy that’s ripe with danger for both candidates, thanks to Florida’s seriously upside-down housing market.

Murray's spin-out

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:09:00 GMT

Until yesterday, it looked as if Lt. Gov. Tim Murray had been through a very rough patch of misfortune, with two separate big hits to his political standing: a series of Boston Globe stories detailing his deep ties to the disgraced former Chelsea housing authority director, Michael McLaughlin, who was pulling in an astronomical $360,000 a year salary, and a mysterious late-night car crash that Murray has had a hard time explaining. Now it seems that Murray may have been out on the road in the wee hours of Nov. 2, when he careened into a rock ledge along Interstate 190, because of worries that his political career was being imperiled by the McLaughlin scandal.

Common ground for strange Web bedfellows

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:58:00 GMT

President Obama came out against some of the provisions in the two bills in Congress that would put the boot on online piracy so you’d think the remaining Republican contenders would make it one of their top priorities to pass the bills, no?

Boston.com jumps into ticket scalping

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:20:00 GMT

The Boston Globe’s Boston.com website is now reselling tickets to sporting events under its own name through a partnership with Ace Ticket, reports the Nieman Journalism Lab.

The tax man cometh for Mitt Romney

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:13:00 GMT

Why did Mitt Romney think that his GOP competitors or the national media would sit still while he dithered over the release of his tax returns? The furor over his personal finances, now compounded by his admission that he “is probably closer to the 15 percent [tax ] rate,” is a colossal distraction that a candidate with a squishy base of support cannot afford.

The Brown-Warren disarmament talks

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:59:00 GMT

Last week, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson mailed $5 million to Newt Gingrich. Or, rather, he mailed the cash to some friends of Newt, who are permitted to raise and spend unlimited amounts of cash on the former House speaker’s behalf, so long as they don’t talk to him about it. That single act, which breathed new life into Gingrich’s flagging campaign, provided the financial muscle behind Gingrich’s blistering attack on Mitt Romney. And it provided the most vivid example yet of the ability of newly-unleashed outside organizations to shape elections.

Brown Warren in dollar duel

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:15:00 GMT

This year’s US Senate campaign is going to be big. Just follow the money. On Tuesday Scott Brown revealed that he raised $3.2 million during the fourth quarter of 2011 for his reelection campaign, giving him more cash on hand than any previous candidate at this stage of a statewide race. All eyes then looked for news of Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren’s totals, and on Wednesday we learned that she had again outpaced Brown to raise a total of $5.7 million in the same period. A Democratic fundraiser told the Globe he’d never had such an easy time raising money. Despite Warren’s numbers, Brown retains a larger war chest overall -- $12.8 million to Warren’s $6 million.

Is envy one of the seven deadly political sins?

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:01:00 GMT

Going to Carolina

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:19:00 GMT

Now that New Hampshire is one for the history books, it’s time to see how that Nikki Haley endorsement pays off for Mitt Romney.

Too little too late for Murray?

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:25:00 GMT

Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray is telling supporters not to believe “false rumors and wild speculation” about his pre-dawn automobile crash in early November. The problem for Murray is, it’s tough to tamp down false rumors and wild speculation when everything you’ve done up to this point has fanned those rumors.

Patrick's transportation strategy

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:54:00 GMT

The Patrick administration’s transportation strategy seems to be working. First came the tease, then the hammer, and now the talk -- by others -- of new taxes or tolls is beginning in earnest.

Camelot comeback?

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 10:15:00 GMT

There’s nothing like the Kennedy name to change the dynamics of a political contest in Massachusetts, especially at a time when the name is missing from congressional roll calls for the first time since 1947.

Render unto the Globe

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:04:00 GMT

When I was a co-op student at the Globe’s State House bureau a couple decades back, the paper’s political editor at the time asked me to write a story about a minor issue. I pointed out to him that the Herald had run a story about the same issue a few days before and pretty much covered all the bases. His response was one of my first true journalism lessons: “It’s not news until we report it,” he said.

Fare warning

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:59:00 GMT

Knowing this day was coming did little to soften the blow: The MBTA unveiled its proposal to close a $161 million hole in its budget with a double-whammy of big fare hikes and cuts in service that include shutting down commuter rail service on weekends and elimination of ferry service. The cost of a subway ride using a CharlieCard, depending on which of two options is adopted, would jump from $1.70 to $2.25 or $2.40. The cost of CharlieTicket would go from $2 to $3.

Mitt's milddling moment

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 11:18:00 GMT

One of two things will happen tonight in Iowa. Mitt Romney might slide backwards into a win in a state he’d initially written off as a nonstarter, thus confirming his invincibility and inevitability as the GOP nominee. Or, Romney might get eclipsed by one of two fringe candidates -- an irascible libertarian or a culture warrior whose curtain call came six years ago. Depending on which scenario plays out tonight, either Mitt Romney will be crowned the nominee a week before voting starts in New Hampshire, or the political irrelevance of the Iowa caucuses will be confirmed.

Mostly Martha

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 11:08:00 GMT

If living well is the best revenge, Attorney General Martha Coakley should be feeling good this holiday season.

With casinos, all politics is political

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 10:48:00 GMT

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 own agenda and self-interest while putting a flamethrower to competition that might injure our priorities.

The Romney roller coaster

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 11:16:00 GMT

Two weeks ago, this very space noted the odd timing of a New York Times Magazine story that marveled at Mitt Romney’s remarkable staying power, given the fact that, between the date the story was written and the date it ran, Romney had been overwhelmed by a Newt Gingrich surge. Gingrich was up by huge numbers in Iowa, South Carolina, Florida, and Ohio, and New Hampshire was looking too close for comfort. The post also noted that, given the breakneck pace at which GOP primary not-Mitts were rising and falling (see: Trump, Bachmann, Perry, Cain, et al), “everything here may be dated and wrong by the time you’re reading this.”

Populist fury may not yield electoral edge

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:42:00 GMT

When President Obama traveled to Kansas recently and delivered speech full of populist fury at the great concentration of wealth among the country’s richest elite, a great sigh of relief could be heard among Democratic Party loyalists. “At last” was the feeling among leading liberals, who had been feeling increasingly ambivalent about a president who seemed to have gone wobbly on fighting the great fight over income polarization that was becoming the economic story of our time.

Unemployment down; political intrigue up

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 09:46:00 GMT

The economy, bit by bit and with all sorts of caveats, appears to be improving, which could reshape the political landscape next year.

Oh, ye of little faith

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 10:03:00 GMT

Religion and politics are two topics my Boston Irish clan was forbidden from discussing at the Sunday dinner table. Which would have made for some very quiet dinners had we actually observed the edict.

The Crosby Show

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 11:47:00 GMT

Even Scott Harshbarger, the Bay State’s most irascible casino critic, could find little to quibble with in Gov. Deval Patrick’s “inspired” selection of Stephen Crosby as the state’s first gaming commission chairman.

Coakley's foreclosure gamble

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 11:49:00 GMT

We’ll know as soon as this week whether Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley was right to walk away from a national foreclosure settlement, or whether that decision will leave Bay State homeowners out in the cold.

Mitt’s $10,000 pyramid

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:05:00 GMT

Poor Mitt Romney. Probably a poor choice of words. Which is exactly the problem for the once -- and perhaps future -- front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. No matter what he does, Romney can’t seem to get away from the characterization of him as a rich guy out of touch with the problems facing most Americans.

Mankiw's evolution on income inequality

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 10:42:00 GMT

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney doesn’t seem troubled by income inequality, but his economic advisor, Harvard professor Gregory Mankiw, says he is worried.

Hey, hey. Ho, ho. Occupy has got to go.

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 11:58:00 GMT

And so the word has gone out to the Occupiers in Dewey Square: You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here.

State House computergate

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:40:00 GMT

It’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up. No one has accused Mitt Romney of wrongdoing. It’s been established that Romney aides operated within the bounds of Massachusetts law when 11 of them purchased their hard drives and that the governor’s predecessors also destroyed electronic communications.

DeLeo bid to tamp down patronage talk does the opposite

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:19:00 GMT

Here’s how Charley Murphy rings out the old year, and rings in the new: The calendar turns, and the ambitious Burlington Democrat gets knocked down another rung in the House power structure.

The perhaps at this moment not so inevitable Mitt Romney

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:30:00 GMT

The Republican presidential primary campaign can be a frustrating exercise for voters interested in substantive discussion of the great issues, what with Michele Bachmann’s talk of the HPV vaccine causing mental retardation, Rick Perry’s lack of familiarity with the voting age enshrined in the 26th Amendment to the Constitution, and (alleged) serial harasser/philanderer Herman Cain’s apparent attempt at a last-ditch defense in which he said there are probably “an infinite number of people who could come forward with a story.” But that may be nothing compared with the frustration the primary is causing the press, which can’t seem to put together a decent step-back look at the race without having the wacky up-and-down fortunes of various would-be nominees throw a wrench into what only days earlier looked like reasonable storyline.

Online sales taxes coming?

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:12:00 GMT

Federal legislation requiring online retailers to collect state sales taxes from their customers is gaining momentum, picking up bipartisan support in Congress and the backing of one-time opponent Amazon.com.

Herald publishes five-part education series!

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 10:52:00 GMT

Even in its heydays, the Boston Herald was hard-pressed to match the Boston Globe in substantive beat reporting, especially on issues such as education, but it wasn’t for lack of effort.

Michael Moore occupies Wall Street

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:25:00 GMT

Filmmaker and lefty firebrand Michael Moore decided that Occupy Wall Street could benefit from serious storyboarding. To help rescue the movement from what critics across the political spectrum have dismissed as incoherence, Moore recently spent four hours with the occupiers coming up with a new vision and goals.

Frank frenzy

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 11:01:00 GMT

Barney Frank totally could have won reelection to his new district. It’s just that he didn’t want to. So, he told reporters at Newton City Hall yesterday, he won’t be running anymore. Frank’s decision to retire from Congress “was precipitated by congressional redistricting, not entirely caused by it,” Frank said yesterday. “I’ve been ambivalent about running, not because I don’t continue to think the job is important but because there are other things I’d like to do in my life before my career is over.”

114 Mud season comes early

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 11:06:00 GMT

Do they make mudflaps for flat screen television sets?

Although the presidential election is a full year away, the contenders have taken to the airwaves and the ratio of mud to anything resembling meaty substance is high and only likely to grow. The Globe’s Michael Levenson took stock yesterday of what we’ve seen so far and offered a sort of preview of coming attractions.

Senator 1 Percent leads battle for the 99 percent

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 11:18:00 GMT

There’s a certain irony in seeing the wealthiest man in the US Senate arguing against tax cuts for the richest Americans. US Sen. John Kerry stuck to the script as he and the rest of the not very supercommittee swept their unproductive deficit reduction efforts into the dustbin of history.

The inside games of Murray and Bump

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 11:31:00 GMT

Here’s a question for everybody out there who wants to be governor, as well as the people who are in the business of charging this first group of people several thousand dollars per month in consulting fees: If Massachusetts voters have a clear pattern of choosing political outsiders over ladder-climbing, machine-building pols, where’s the upside in playing crude politics?

Church speaks, but who's listening?

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 12:00:00 GMT

Did you note take note of the strong call last week by the state’s four Roman Catholic bishops for Gov. Deval Patrick to veto the casino bill now on his desk? Didn’t think so.

From American Dream to "American Scream"

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 11:28:00 GMT

“Occupy” protesters with tents pitched in city parks and loud marches in scores of US cities have been beating a drum figuratively -- and sometimes literally -- about the economic angst Americans are feeling at a time when those at the very top are doing better than ever.

Conflicting opinions

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:29:00 GMT

Just hours after members of the US Supreme Court decided to hear the challenge to President Obama’s health care reform, the Los Angeles Times reported, Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, two of the court’s most conservative jurists, were guests of honor at a gala dinner sponsored by the law firm which will argue the case against the law.

Massachusetts stays true to its blue laws

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 11:14:00 GMT

There’s no better phrase than conspicuous consumption to describe the orgy of excess that is Black Friday. The first day of the traditional holiday shopping season had been creeping earlier into the predawn morning after Thanksgiving.

Cambridge feels the diss in redistricting

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 10:45:00 GMT

The state’s proposed new congressional districts dice up Cambridge, to the benefit of the rest of the state. Or, as Rep. Alice Wolf puts it, “A lot of people are feeling that Cambridge is getting dissed again.”

Occupying the campus auditorium

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 11:45:00 GMT

It had a whiff of the 60s about it, and that was no accident. Yesterday’s “Reclaiming Our Economy” teach-in at Northeastern University was the brainchild of Northeastern economics professor Barry Bluestone, who told the Globe he organized one of the first teach-ins on the Vietnam War while a student in the 1960s at the University of Michigan.

Journalism cuts are serious business

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 11:27:00 GMT

The never-ending reductions in newsrooms just keep piling up. The latest victims, though, are not reporters on the front lines of journalism or in the support areas in circulation or advertising that keep spiraling into a sea of red ink but rather the top decision makers at two of the more high-profile community news organizations in the state.

Lisa Wong answers the wake-up call

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 10:48:00 GMT

Fitchburg Mayor Lisa Wong received a Martha Coakley-style shock to the system when City Councilor Joseph Solomito trounced her in the September preliminary election, 60 percent to 37 percent. But Wong energized her supporters and then some, riding a record voter turnout in yesterday’s election to stage a stunning comeback victory, thumping Solomito by a 56-44 percent margin.

Menino's power plays

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 11:14:00 GMT

It’s election day in Boston, which means all eyes are on Tom Menino. Political watchers are wondering whether he can tamp down an insurrection in South Boston, whether his political machine will run roughshod over its opponents in Dorchester, and whether he can drag Steve Murphy over the finish line again, sticking a dagger in Mike Flaherty’s comeback for good measure.

Charter foes try a new tack

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 11:32:00 GMT

Opponents of charters schools, who have long complained about funds being lost to district schools when students enroll in charters, have opened a new front in the war they’ve been waging ever since charters were first authorized in the state’s landmark 1993 education reform. The new objection: the state-based approval process for granting charters. Opponents rallied at a State House hearing last month on behalf of bills that would require any new charter school to obtain local approval, either from a district school committee or via voter referendum.

Murray's mystery ride

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 10:40:00 GMT

The Boston Herald's Howie Carr asks the question everyone has been wondering this week: What was Lt. Gov. Tim Murray really doing in the predawn hours on Wednesday when he totaled his state-issued car?

Murray says he was out surveying storm damage and looking for coffee and a Herald. He says he drove 23 miles from his home in Worcester up Interstate 190 to Route 2 before turning around and heading back. About halfway home, in Sterling, he says he skidded on some black ice and lost control of the car, which veered off the road and ended smashed against a rock ledge. The lucky-to-be-alive Murray escaped with minor cuts.

Judge returns OBrien statements

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:07:00 GMT

Tax on us

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 11:48:00 GMT

It’s not exactly a full-fledged phenomenon yet but there is a noticeable trend amid the economic angst and anti-tax rhetoric: Voters in Massachusetts communities are choosing to reach deeper into their pockets to fund public construction and renovation projects through overrides and debt exclusions.

Beacon Power-less: Another clean energy mess

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 10:41:00 GMT

With the demise of Beacon Power, Massachusetts has the dubious distinction of steering scarce state dollars to not one, but two, failed clean energy companies, firms that also pulled in significant federal stimulus grants and loan guarantees.

Odds improving for online poker

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 11:00:00 GMT

Two Las Vegas gambling powerhouses, MGM Resorts and Boyd Gaming, are betting that Congress will legalize online poker -- a development that could have deep ramifications for the casino gambling bill currently pending on Beacon Hill.

The folly of a (slightly) longer school day

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:14:00 GMT

The effort by Boston school administrators to add a half-hour to the school day looks a lot like the Obama economic stimulus plan -- only possibly much less effective. Some have said the $800 billion stimulus package was the worst of both worlds: It rankled critics of big government spending while not being big enough to put the sort of major dent in unemployment that would make it seem worth the fight. In truth, while a larger stimulus package might have packed a bigger punch, with as many as 3.3 million jobs created or saved, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the stimulus did pay real dividends.

Compromise is cheaper

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 10:31:00 GMT

Bitter enemies are suddenly finding common ground on Beacon Hill.

Dimming the Globe's Spotlight

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 11:02:00 GMT

The term “scoop” in a journalistic sense has become a cliché, used far more by outsiders than those in the business, if it’s ever heard in newsrooms at all. But its most basic meaning – “to dig or shovel” – as well as its general usage as a colloquialism to describe an exclusive story that has a wide-ranging impact is most appropriate.

Rushin' roulette

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 11:26:00 GMT

It’s hard to know what the right metaphor is to capture all the absurd gyrations and policymaking-on-the-run that have characterized the mad dash to casinos and slots. Sometimes it seems a balloon is the right image, with every effort to squeeze some sense into this thing merely causing another area of the casino balloon to bulge toward the breaking point. Or maybe it’s the sweater metaphor, where each tug at a knot in the knitting only unravels things a little more.

The Bain of Romney's business resume

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:27:00 GMT

Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign is built on his business acumen and turnaround skills. But what exactly does that mean? This week, New York magazine submits its answer. The magazine credits Romney’s former firm, Bain Capital, with helping to reshape the way American businesses look at corporate governance and productivity. It also credits Bain for helping to usher in an era of soaring executive compensation and widening income inequality -- with helping to create, in essence, the one-percent economy.

Western Mass. transit gain is MBTA's loss

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:31:00 GMT

Once again, Washington shows Western Massachusetts the love. Lt. Gov. Tim Murray, Transportation Secretary Richard Davey, US Rep. John Olver, and other state and federal officials went to Greenfield recently to announce $73 million worth of stimulus-funded upgrades to the Connecticut River rail line from the Nutmeg State through Massachusetts to Vermont. The track improvements will speed up trips on Amtrak’s Vermonter service from Washington, DC, to St. Albans, Vermont. The route took in a large haul of federal dollars last year, too.

Judge Wolf: Courageous? Or coward?

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:16:00 GMT

What you think of Chief US District Court Judge Mark Wolf and his decision to overturn a death sentence for serial killer Gary Lee Sampson may depend on where you get your news.

Sources say sports reporting needs to raise its game

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 10:45:00 GMT

While we don’t usually have a sports page here at the Download, the ongoing drama that is the Boston Red Sox points to a troubling trend in journalism: What, exactly, constitutes reliable sourcing in reporting sports news and how much responsibility does a media outlet have in following up on either their story or someone else’s.

All's fair in love and redistricting

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 11:06:00 GMT

The main takeaway from Tuesday’s Special Joint Committee on Redistricting announce-a-palooza was the explosion of new majority-minority voting districts, 10 for the House map, bringing the total to 20, and a new Senate district for Springfield, for a total of 3 majority-minority districts on the Senate map.

A different kind of slot position for Pats?

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 10:58:00 GMT

The Globe reports today that a lawyer for Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s company drafted a zoning change over the summer that would have allowed for a casino on property The Kraft Group owns directly across from Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Who's guarding the guards?

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 11:26:00 GMT

Sunday’s Boston Globe led with the story that lottery officials tacitly accepted, and sometimes actively encouraged, high roller players in their manipulation the game Cash WinFall. The story also found that officials were unaware that a group led by an MIT graduate had essentially hijacked the game to its advantage in August 2010, winning almost all of the jackpot.

Ireland praises DeLeo, Murray

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 10:46:00 GMT

Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Roderick Ireland yesterday praised the courage of House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray for approving emergency funds for the state court system, but said nothing about their decision to quash a court consolidation initiative.

Defining conflicts for lawmakers

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 10:13:00 GMT

State Sen. Steven Tolman put off his resignation from the Senate until the end of today so he could beat back any attempts to water down the casino bill and throw his vote behind the passage. Incoming AFL-CIO president Steven Tolman, whose group is among the strongest supporters of casinos in the state, was pleased.

A Warren buffet

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 10:23:00 GMT

The national punditocracy continues to salivate over a presumed Elizabeth Warren-Scott Brown match-up.

The FBI's unholy alliances

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:21:00 GMT

It seems fitting that the case against alleged Mob capo Mark Rossetti gets thrown into doubt over a long holiday weekend dominated by speculation about the FBI’s Icelandic Whitey Bulger tipster: The two cases share unnerving similarities, but those connections have largely been left to veterans of the Whitey beat.

The bare facts

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 10:22:00 GMT

The country is an economic basket case and Washington is in political gridlock, but media coverage of the race for US Senate in Massachusetts is focused on a couple of jokes about nudity.

iSad: Steve Jobs

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 10:11:00 GMT

Put up for adoption at birth by a young unwed mother, college dropout, garage inventor, Buddhist capitalist, culture changer, genius, tyrant.

Katherine Craven, superstar

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 10:37:00 GMT

When one state official does a superlative job, does anybody notice?

Menino no Wal-Mart greeter

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 11:29:00 GMT

Boston Mayor Tom Menino has made official what he’s been saying for months: There’s no way Wal-Mart is opening a store in his city. What he really means is, there’s no way he’s helping Wal-Mart open a store in his city. The retailer has to do that on its own.

Grossman's binge fundraising

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:40:00 GMT

The sequence was almost as predictable as a September swoon for the Red Sox (how helpful to be able to dust that line off and get it back in circulation!). A candidate gets elected to office pledging to bring a new day of integrity and good government to office. Months into office that balloon gets popped by a news story reporting on all the campaign donations the official is raking in from special interests his office oversees. A finger-wagging editorial then follows, decrying the unseemliness of the fundraising haul.

Boston protests: It's the economy, stupid

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 11:26:00 GMT

Yesterday’s announcement that Bank of America would begin next year charging customers $5 a month for the long-free privilege of using a debit card to make purchases could hardly have come at a worse time in Massachusetts. The move, apparently being made in time for new profit-sapping regulations to kick in, came on the same day as reports of a sputtering Massachusetts economy. This news followed another report shedding new light on unemployment statistics: Many Massachusetts workers are settling for part-time jobs that don’t adequately pay the bills.

Mass. sheriffs: Populist positions or partisan pandering?

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 10:53:00 GMT

How often do you hear about what the state’s county sheriffs are doing, except at election time or in stories about patronage hiring? In Massachusetts, the office has been marginalized as no more than an innkeeper for miscreants, one that is elected but whose budget is controlled by the state.

ProPublica zeroes in on Fair Districts Mass

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:41:00 GMT

A ProPublica investigation found that some independent groups promoting redistricting plans across the country are anything but. It’s probably no surprise that one of the organizations that they probed was Fair Districts Mass, a group formed by one-time Republican US Senate candidate Jack E. Robinson.

The immigrant wedge

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 11:19:00 GMT

If it’s election season, it’s time to ratchet up the rhetoric about immigration, and the fatter the target, the better. That’s why in-state college tuition for the children of illegal immigrants has been such a consistently hot point of contention in recent gubernatorial contests, and why it’s become a flashpoint in the showdown between Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. It’s a wedge that’s just too big and too effective to leave on the ground.

Firefighters' folly

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 10:03:00 GMT

It seemed like something from the Onion. But stories about the antics of the Boston firefighters union often have the feeling of parody about them.

OH MY GOD!

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 11:27:00 GMT

Yes, that was my reaction when I read the small editorial in this morning’s Boston Globe about a small Catholic university in Pennsylvania rescinding its invitation to syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman to lecture on campus because of her support for abortion rights. Ironically, Goodman, a former Globe columnist, was planning to speak about civility, not abortion.

Voting not to participate

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:01:00 GMT

What if they held an election and nobody came? It darn near happened in Brockton this week when only 4.7 percent of voters turned out for the city’s preliminary election.

Mass Dems needle Scott Brown on gay rights

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 10:50:00 GMT

The Massachusetts Democratic Party celebrated the demise of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ by putting Scott Brown on the defensive before what should have been a marquee moment for the Massachusetts National Guard solider.

Pay to play on Beacon Hill

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 11:06:00 GMT

The first indictments in the long-simmering scandal over rigged hiring at the state’s Probation Department are in. It’s no surprise that former Probation Commissioner John O’Brien has been brought up on charges -- the state courts’ independent investigator, Paul Ware, alleged that O’Brien oversaw “systemic corruption” in staffing probation. But in a twist on the Probation patronage storyline, the indictments mainly focus on O’Brien’s alleged quest to land a job for his wife in the state Lottery, rather than the jobs agency O’Brien allegedly ran for the relatives and campaign donors of State House politicians.

Sealed indictment 'highly unusual'

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 18:41:00 GMT

Attorney General Martha Coakley said she moved to seal for months the indictments against the former head of the state’s Probation Department and the former chief of staff for the state treasurer to maintain the integrity of the investigation.

Coakley indicts O'Brien, Cahill aide

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 18:33:00 GMT

Indictments unsealed today by Attorney General Martha Coakley allege the commissioner of the state’s Probation Department and the one-time chief of staff to former state Treasurer Tim Cahill engaged in pay-to-play patronage schemes.

New clues on charter school effectiveness

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 10:33:00 GMT

The verdict on charter schools has always been a mixed one. A major study in 2009, for example, by the National Center for Research on Education Outcomes, or CREDO, at Stanford University found that students at 17 percent of charters nationally performed better than students in the district schools where the charters were located, but students in 46 percent of charters did no better than their district peers while students at 37 percent of the charters performed worse.

Fiscal concerns trump political loyalties

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 10:46:00 GMT

The Massachusetts Legislature continued to put fiscal concerns ahead of political loyalties as the Senate voted 24-10 for a bill that would make new public employees work longer for less benefits.

Wishing for the return of Luddites

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:17:00 GMT

Climate change skeptics are increasingly turning to a weapon many conservatives have over the years despised: Public record access.

The other Warren moves to the head of the pack

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 10:45:00 GMT

It’s official: Scott Brown can start worrying.

Elizabeth Warren is in. Prior to Warren’s announcement, smart money was on Brown to skate to re-election. After all, Brown is the most popular politician in Massachusetts. None of the seven Democrats vying to retake the late Sen. Edward Kennedy’s seat, a field that includes City Year co-founder Alan Khazei and Methuen Democratic City Committee straw poll winner Setti Warren, had shown any hint of the mojo required to propel them past the Republican favorite in the 2012 contest.

Warren off and running for Senate

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:31:00 GMT

Harvard professor and former presidential advisor Elizabeth Warren will announce Wednesday she is officially in the race to unseat US Sen. Scott Brown. Aides say she will greet commuters in Boston in the morning before travelling to New Bedford, Framingham, Worcester, and Springfield.

The casino bill's bad press

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:24:00 GMT

As far as inevitable developments go, Beacon Hill’s consensus proposal to license three resort casinos and one slot parlor sure has a lot of questions hanging over it.

Post 9/11 stress syndrome

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:01:00 GMT

The nation paused yesterday to reflect on the horrors inflicted a decade ago. The observance was moving, and it was hard not to be touched by it. The day of remembrance seemed to recapture the sense of national unity that came over the country in the days following 9/11.

Patrick consolidates UMass control

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 11:38:00 GMT

Gov. Deval Patrick consolidated his control over the 19-member University of Massachusetts board of trustees by reappointing its controversial chairman and naming six others who are political supporters and Democratic activists. The move was consistent with second-term efforts by the governor to move friends, allies, and supporters into vacant positions, a policy that was first identified last December in a CommonWealth Back Story.

Remembering 9/11

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 10:47:00 GMT

As the United States nears closer to the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the media has embarked on a collective national memorial in print, broadcast, and online. The coverage in the papers has been so extensive that some are questioning whether so much of it is really good for us. Much of the coverage, however, has been a fitting and beautiful tribute to those who lost their lives and a nation that won’t ever be the same again.

FEMA: Rescue me

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 11:00:00 GMT

Be grateful that Hurricane Katia is headed to out to sea rather than toward New England since the Federal Emergency Management Agency appears to be the next agency in line for a beat down by Republicans in Congress.

Next DC crisis: The Postal Service is broke

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 11:29:00 GMT

Washington loves a good crisis, and it has had no shortage of them this year, from a near-shutdown of the federal government in April, to the 11th-hour negotiations over the federal debt ceiling that resulted in a downgrade of the US’s credit rating, to this summer’s brief and costly FAA shutdown. There are more fiscal crises on the horizon, too. Congressmen aligned with the tea party movement are threatening to let the federal gas tax expire at the end of September, putting transportation funding for highways and mass transit at risk.

Scott Brown's secret

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 11:02:00 GMT

Two stories tucked inside the metro section of The Boston Globe this morning help explain why US Sen. Scott Brown is going to be hard to beat.

Justice sends clear signal to AT&T: No more T's

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 10:49:00 GMT

The move to quash the $39 billion deal also signals a more aggressive posture by the Obama administration to tamp down these mega-mergers that were hailed by the previous White House occupant as good for the free enterprise system.

Justice Department officials say the key to their decision is the threat to consumer choice if AT&T adds a T. It’s a legitimate concern, even in a state as metropolitan and technologically savvy as Massachusetts.

How do you solve a problem like Uncle Omar?

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 11:37:00 GMT

Jimmy Carter had brother Billy. Barack Obama has Uncle Omar. Carter’s headline-grabbing younger brother produced countless headaches for the White House as his elder brother fought for reelection in 1980. President Obama finds his family squarely in the middle of the debate over illegal immigration again just as the 2012 election campaign heats up.

Feudin' Republicans

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:55:00 GMT

The weeks leading up to Labor Day are slow ones on the presidential campaign trail. Real news is scarce, with candidates spending most of their time cozying up to well-heeled donors in places like Martha’s Vineyard. (The exception, of course, is Rick Perry, who doesn’t even know where the Vineyard is.)

Blown out of proportion

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 11:01:00 GMT

With the benefit of hindsight, today’s Boston Globe headline gets it about right: “Tired Irene Slaps N.E.” That put a pithy -- and accurate -- coda on the killer-Hurricane-turned-whimpy-tropical-storm that was the subject of days of breathless anticipatory hype.

Hurricane reading list

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:55:00 GMT

Here comes Irene

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 11:21:00 GMT

Mother nature is pumping some life into the usually sleepy August news cycle. Earlier this week, an earthquake shook the East Coast and dominated front pages. But there’s nothing like a big hurricane, which provides days of anticipation (and stories) before you find out whether the storm is a disaster or a dud.

CrazyKhazei like a fox?

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:16:00 GMT

CrazyKhazei has been outed and he’s none other than Eric Fehrnstrom, one of the architects of Sen. Scott Brown’s stunning victory last year and a key adviser to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign.

Is Massachusetts ready for the Big One?

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 11:10:00 GMT

Will the aftershocks from yesterday’s 5.8 Virginia earthquake that rumbled through the Northeast Corridor get people thinking more seriously about natural disasters as more than comic fodder for bloggers and the twitterati?

Herald having difficulty covering itself

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 11:27:00 GMT

It’s a good thing we’re a two-newspaper town -- especially when one of those two papers is the subject of a very public libel lawsuit.

Warren picks the medium for her message

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 11:06:00 GMT

As part of her exploratory moves towards announcing a Senate bid, Elizabeth Warren has been avoiding the press. Her statewide listening tour among potential supporters has been reported only by the individuals who were invited. Accounts can be read on CW as well as BlueMassGroup.

Evergreen Solar, R.I.P.

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 10:15:00 GMT

The editorial obituaries for Evergreen Solar, which filed for bankruptcy protection this week, varied depending on the politics of the newspaper.

Crowd control in the Facebook era

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 11:09:00 GMT

The shooting of a homeless man by San Francisco transit police prompted reactions that have propelled Bay Area Rapid Transit into the history books. Last week, BART's spokesman, (who apparently didn't realize that his job is to facilitate communication, not curb it), suggested that transit officials shutdown the system's cellphone service to disrupt the latest round of flash mob protests against the July shooting.

The truth about Portnoy's complaints

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 11:42:00 GMT

You have crossed the line of tastelessness when even Howard Stern, who has made a fortune personifying tastelessness, says you’ve crossed the line.

The Texas jobs governor?

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:25:00 GMT

Numbers are tricky monsters, especially in politics, where the only truth is that everything is up for debate. So it is that Texas Gov. Rick Perry can run for president as the biggest, baddest job-creator in the country, even though he really isn’t.

They have their exits and their entrances

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 12:03:00 GMT

T-Paw is gone and Rick Perry is the man. Oh yeah, and the lady from Minnesota is popular with party die-hards in Iowa, but don’t take her too seriously. The first of these is fact; the next two are all conjecture, but that’s what political reporters seem to live for these days.

Warren teases some more

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 12:01:00 GMT

Elizabeth Warren whipped the Massachusetts political world into a frenzy yesterday with a post on Blue Mass Group. She didn’t announce her candidacy for the US Senate, but her “Coming Home” note came about as close as you can get. It outlined her personal background, her views on the struggling middle class, and her low opinion of Washington politics.

Waiting for changes in the health care atmosphere

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 11:11:00 GMT

“A great deal has been said about the weather but very little has been done,” Mark Twain is said to have famously remarked. Sometimes, it feels like the cost of health care is a similar force of nature that cannot be reined in despite the constant gnashing of teeth.

Youth violence takes an uglier turn

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 12:12:00 GMT

As Boston tries to figure out what went wrong at the recent Urban Music Festival at City Hall Plaza, other major cities are facing fresh upsurges in another type of youth violence: “flash robs.”

Mitt is not the lone star

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 11:42:00 GMT

Mitt Romney wasn’t on vacation yesterday, and he wasn’t shaking secretive rich folks for huge piles of cash. Instead, he was sweating it out in New Hampshire, a full month before he was supposed to have been awkwardly mingling with common folk and spitting talking points at reporters in earnest and, you know, campaigning for president like he means it.

Obamas narrative failing

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 11:07:00 GMT

Among liberals and Democratic-leaning voters, these have been dark days. The sense that their party -- and their president -- got played big time in the recent debt ceiling showdown has prompted much spleen venting and ruminating over what’s gone wrong with Barack Obama.

042 Davey moves up

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 10:13:00 GMT

Gov. Deval Patrick’s appointment of 38-year-old Richard Davey as his new transportation secretary won strong press reviews, but it was unclear whether Davey’s skills in running the T would translate to a bigger political stage where he will need to make the case for more funding.

The Bulger defense takes to the airwaves

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:31:00 GMT

No, not that Bulger, the one facing 19 murder charges in federal court. UMass Boston political science professor Mo Cunningham was on Emily Rooney’s radio show yesterday talking about his ringing defense of the defendant’s brother, William Bulger, in this piece for CommonWealth. Listen to the interview here.

--Michael Jonas

FAA funding debate may not fly with public

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 11:06:00 GMT

People over 30 remember that the ABC late night news show Nightline started under a different title -- America Held Hostage -- before morphing into its current incarnation. Each night during the Iran hostage crisis, which stretched from November 1979 to January 1981, the opening of the show with ominous trumpet blaring would give the number of days Americans had been held in Tehran before Ted Koppel gave a sober 15-minute update of the day’s news regarding the situation.

The Bay State's forgotten commuters

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 11:42:00 GMT

The MBTA sucks all the air out of the room when it comes to mass transit funding, leaving scarcely any oxygen for the commuters who rely on the state’s 15 regional transit authorities to get from point A to point B. The smaller systems face some of the same woes as the MBTA ,like budget shortfalls and maintenance issues, but these agencies suffer in relative silence.

Green Line delay

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 11:09:00 GMT

The Big Dig took 25 years to complete, from initial planning to final wind-down. It looks like one mass transit expansion that was tied to the highway project’s environmental permits will best that mark by at least a few years.

Bicycling ahead

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 11:06:00 GMT

Boston is all atwitter with the arrival of Hubway, the new bike sharing program launched last week. The arrival of Hubway certainly is an important milestone in what has been an increasing embrace of bicycling culture here in the Athens of America. Mayor Menino, who took a fancy to two-wheel workouts himself before being sidelined by recent injuries, has installed a “bike czar” in City Hall, and bike lanes are sprouting all over city streets. Notwithstanding the protests of the occasional cranky columnist trying to get a rise out readers during the summer doldrums, the growth of city cycling is a great development that could lessen automobile traffic and help people get in shape and get to work all at once.

Back to math class for the Globe

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:35:00 GMT

We’re all familiar with the warning to keep matches out of the hands of children. The same should often be said with respect to statistics and reporters.

NPR puts a face on dropping out

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 10:21:00 GMT

In a five-part series this week carried by WBUR, National Public Radio examines the cost of dropping out of high school through the stories of five people scattered around the country. Three of them dropped out years ago, and two teenagers are struggling to stay in school.

Debt clock ticking

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 11:15:00 GMT

This morning the washingtonpost.com’s debt countdown clock reads 5 days and 15 hours until a government default. The news media and politicians are wading into the murky water of what could happen if Congress cannot agree on a plan and the federal government runs out of money come next Tuesday.

Black holes

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 11:53:00 GMT

In the 35 years since National Urban League conventioneers last ventured into Boston, the city has made galactic strides in race relations. Boston is finally getting control of the one troubling narrative that has permeated the Hub’s modern history. With tensions far less searing than they were during the busing era, educational and professional opportunities for African-Americans here have broadened.

Retail politics

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 11:39:00 GMT

In Washington, politicians are fighting over debt. Closer to home, it’s groceries they get all worked up about.

Bowling abroad

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 10:51:00 GMT

The breakdown in American civic culture and community has been well documented. The definitive treatise on this, of course, is Robert Putnam’s 2000 book Bowling Alone, which painted a picture of an increasingly atomized America, in which we belong to fewer organizations, know our neighbors less well, and even get together with friends and family less often.

What happened to all that “social capital,” the umbrella term Putnam, a Harvard political scientist, uses to capture all the communal activities so much in decline? In the current Washington Monthly, John Gravois suggests it hasn’t disappeared, but rather, like manufacturing jobs and call centers, we’ve offshored it. Gravois outlines a surge in membership in the Rotary International, Toastmasters, and Boy Scouts in such far-flung locales as Abu Dhabi, Taiwan, India, Uganda, Egypt, and Bahrain.

Wallace indicted, questions remain

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 11:21:00 GMT

The indictment of former South Boston state representative Brian Wallace on campaign finance charges leaves a lot of questions unanswered.

Just between us, watch what you say

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 11:08:00 GMT

Mark Tremblay is, by all accounts, a reasonably intelligent family man who works two jobs, including installing “kill switches” in police cars. A 5-2 majority opinion by the state’s highest court says that only helped justices solidify their position when they upheld his conviction for burning a neighbor’s boat in Chelmsford, a conviction based on an inflammatory anti-gay screed that prosecutors say showed motive but that Tremblay thought was “off the record” during an interview with police investigating the 2002 arson.

Standard-Times all in on New Bedford schools

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 10:47:00 GMT

In this continuing era of reduced resources, it is both noteworthy and newsworthy when a newspaper devotes time, space, and manpower to examine in depth an issue that is critically important to its readers.

For lawmakers on Beacon Hill, patronage is the scandal that won’t go away

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 11:48:00 GMT

First it was Probation, a legislative jobs bank that blew up in spectacular fashion in its sponsors’ faces. Now, just two months after the Legislature tried distancing itself from patronage at Probation, an investigation into the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission is shining more light onto the nexus between cash, jobs, and legislative influence inside the State House.

40B debate, cont'd

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 10:55:00 GMT

Voters settled the latest battle over the state’s affordable housing law last November when they soundly rejected a ballot question that would have repealed the 42-year-old statute known as Chapter 40B. But the debate over the law apparently never ends.

Patrick's compensation philosophy and Mullan

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 10:23:00 GMT

State Transportation Secretary Jeffrey Mullan is leaving his job later this year because Gov. Deval Patrick refused to give him a raise.

031 The Big Dig's paper trail problem

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 10:47:00 GMT

If the recent report on secrecy in the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the subsequent suspension of engineer Helmut Ernst tell us anything, it’s that access to public records and documents might be only part of the Massachusetts government’s transparency problem.

Not your father's Kennedys

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 10:53:00 GMT

With the passing of Ted Kennedy, it appears the family’s well-known ability to circle the wagons and protect the familial legacy as well as each other may also be slipping away.

All quiet on the union front

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 11:23:00 GMT

Just a couple months ago the leaders of public sector unions in Massachusetts were up in arms about attempts on Beacon Hill to curb their collective bargaining rights. They threatened to withhold union support in the next election. They vowed to fight to the bitter end.

Closed door democracy

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 11:01:00 GMT

The political class in Massachusetts, birthplace of the American Revolution, has a rather inglorious record when it comes to practicing some of the basic tenets of the open democratic government that its18th century forebearers so eloquently preached. That was the message of a Boston Globe story last Friday, which painted a picture of a state government that operates far more secretively than most in the country.

Patricks health care dilemma

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 09:56:00 GMT

It’s been a week now, and as of this morning Gov. Deval Patrick still hadn’t decided whether he’s going to go along with a provision in the Legislature’s budget that would strip municipal unions of some of their health care collective bargaining rights.

Hitting the jackpot

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:40:00 GMT

Tomorrow night’s Megabucks jackpot is an estimated $4.3 million. If you’re under 40 and not feeling particularly lucky but still like the sound of that much money, you could run for state representative and then get an appointment as a clerk-magistrate. If you keep the $110,000-a-year job until you’re 80 – which is not hard to do – you would make at least $4.4 million if the Legislature never passes another raise for you.

Hyperlocal news in trouble

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 10:29:00 GMT

Whatever the future of news is, Jack Shafer of Slate doesn’t think it will include Patch.

High-watt hearings on proposed utility merger

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 11:23:00 GMT

NStar and Northeast Utilities will begin a series of high-stakes regulatory hearings tomorrow that will determine whether the two electric giants will be allowed to merge -- and may also decide the fate of Cape Wind.

Different gay marriage paths for Rhode Island, New York

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 11:33:00 GMT

We’re getting close to allowing same sex marriage throughout the country -- or banning it altogether -- depending on who you ask.

Risky business

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 11:54:00 GMT

Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua isn’t the first American mayor to run into trouble with shipments of city-owned vehicles to the Dominican Republic.

Legislating through the budget

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 10:56:00 GMT

The Legislature likes working like a harried college freshman, with the bulk of its work coming in late-night bursts just before a looming deadline. The body is famous for the frenzied prace that precedes the end of its two-year legislative session, when reams of bills that have been bottled up in committee are rushed to the floor in a race against midnight. Now the cram-session mentality seems to have trickled into the state budget deliberations - normally one of the few pieces of business lawmakers pride themselves on passing punctually.

Brotherly loyalty

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 11:24:00 GMT

While Whitey Bulger was at the center of the spectacle that played out Friday afternoon at the Moakley courthouse, the lead supporting actor in the day’s drama was undoubtedly his brother, William Bulger, who strode in and out of the courthouse with two of his sons, with a pack of eager reporters in hot pursuit.

White all over

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 10:52:00 GMT

Hard to tell if the arrest of James “Whitey” Bulger is the beginning of the end, the end of the beginning, a chance for closure or merely the end of the line for the notorious crime boss.

It's the ethics, stupid

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 11:17:00 GMT

Lost in the din of Whitey Bulger’s capture is the latest effort to legislate ethics among elected and appointed officials at the state and local level. But you can bet that Republican backers of the move will not let it die.

Romney to Huntsman: Go away

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 11:18:00 GMT

Odds are Mitt Romney doesn’t much care what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid thinks about the Republican presidential nomination battle turning into a face-off between Romney and Jon Huntsman, the latest entrant in the GOP presidential-palooza.

Culture of corruption, cont'd

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 10:43:00 GMT

If you thought convicted Beacon Hill lobbyist Richard “Dickie” McDonough couldn’t look like more of a snake than he already does, think again. Inspector General Gregory Sullivan is now alleging that McDonough arranged for one of his lobbying clients, the state-funded Merrimack Special Education Collaborative, to give him a no-show, no-work job. That job inflated McDonough’s state pension and gave him access to the state’s public employee health care system.

Dysfunction or just democracy in action?

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:22:00 GMT

With all the complaints about partisan gridlock and the polarized political atmosphere in Washington, Peter Baker asks in yesterday’s New York Times “Week in Review” section, “Is this any way to run a country.” His answer to his own question: “As it happens, yes.”

Wifes cancer leads to his firing

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 11:21:00 GMT

It seems so unfair. First, Kathy Sorabella of Natick learned she had lung cancer and her prognosis wasn’t good. Then Carl Sorabella, her husband, told his boss that he might need a more flexible work schedule to get his wife to chemotherapy treatments and doctor visits. Despite 14 years with the company, and a raise last November, his boss fired him.

Nothing to see here, folks

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 11:05:00 GMT

There’s probably no more happy sports fans in Massachusetts than Beacon Hill lawmakers that the Bruins won the Stanley Cup. Not just because it’s yet another feather in the city’s championship cap but because by the time the euphoria and parades die down, the media will have moved on from the immediacy of former Speaker Sal DiMasi’s conviction on seven counts of conspiracy, fraud and extortion.

Masters of disaster

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 11:46:00 GMT

Depending on Uncle Sam’s largess and the kindness of strangers are just two of the life-altering changes facing communities hit by a major natural disaster. The Christian Science Monitor profiles the town of Parkersburg, Iowa, and finds “a model for tornado recovery” for places like Monson and the 19 other Massachusetts communities that tornadoes savaged two weeks ago.

The gay marriage divide

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 12:00:00 GMT

In Massachusetts, when someone suggests that a judge’s sexual orientation interferes with both logic and law, that suggestion invites public ridicule and rebuke. In California, it’s grounds for an appeals hearing. That, as much as anything, shows the fractured state of the nation’s debate over same-sex marriage, more than seven years after gay and lesbian couples won the right to legally marry in Massachusetts.

Rainbow Boston

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 11:16:00 GMT

For all of its inglorious history when it comes to matters of race, Boston is now a national leader in diversity and multiculturalism. That’s the finding from a new look at racial demographics by Robert Sullivan that appeared yesterday in the Ideas section of the Boston Sunday Globe.

Cutting the profits from nonprofits

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 11:26:00 GMT

Nonprofits, it seems, are in the official cross hairs and under assault.

A bill filed by state Sen. Mark Montigny of New Bedford to stop health plans from paying “volunteer” board member exorbitant stipends could also impact compensation to board members at some of the state’s oldest and largest charities.

Senate race no laugher

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 11:29:00 GMT

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Scott Brown and Martha Coakley squaring off for the Senate seat once held by the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

Arlington overrides

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 12:40:00 GMT

Could other Massachusetts towns facing a Proposition 2 1/2 override drum up a “yes” vote like Arlington did yesterday? Doubtful, but it’s worth considering the reasons that barely carried the day in this northwestern Boston suburb of more than 42,000. Nearly half of registered voters turned out, with 7,726 voting yes (53 percent); 6366 voting no (47 percent), according to unofficial tallies. Homeowners’ tax bills will rise about $450 per year.

Immigration showdown

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 13:12:00 GMT

Gov. Deval Patrick waded back into the immigration quagmire again yesterday, saying Massachusetts won’t join a program sharing the fingerprints of arrested individuals with federal immigration agencies. Patrick said he’d initially signaled his intention to join the program because the feds had told him the program was mandatory, “not because I thought it was good policy.” Upon being told it wasn’t, he pulled out, joining the governors of Illinois and New York.

In New York City schools, civil rights or wrongs?

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 11:04:00 GMT

The school reform wars have taken a dramatic turn in New York City, where 2,500 parents and students – overwhelming black and Hispanic – rallied last week to protest the NAACP’s involvement in a lawsuit against the city’s effort to close 22 low-performing schools and allow charter schools to occupy surplus space in city public school buildings.

Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 10:32:00 GMT

He went by Chris Gerhart, Christopher Chichester, Christopher Crowe, CCC Mountbatten, and ultimately Clark Rockefeller, but his real name was Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, one of the strangest and most successful con men in the annals of history.

Storm cells

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 11:15:00 GMT

For years now, the topic of where news will come from has been feverishly debated as technology has enabled the average person to be eyewitnesses-cum-street-reporters of breaking news.

Stormy weather

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 11:12:00 GMT

June 1 marks the beginning of the Atlantic hurricane season. Yet Massachusetts residents can be forgiven for forgetting that the state is overdue for the Big One. Who remembers that Hurricane Bob hit Massachusetts 20 years ago this August? Or that the Category 2 storm caused $1 billion worth of damage in southern New England? Or that peak winds of 125 miles per hour were recorded in Brewster and Truro and people were turned away from some shelters on Cape Cod?

Lantigua's brazen fundraisin'

Tue, 31 May 2011 11:41:00 GMT

Last year, Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua spent more money on printer toner ($1,545) than he spent on political catering ($1,525). In fact, according to reports on file with the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance, Lantigua only paid for two fundraisers all of last year -- a year in which he hauled in $38,615 in donations. If those numbers appear to strain credulity, it’s because they do: According to a Sunday Globe report, Lantigua’s campaign finance disclosures are littered with “yawning gaps in his records and potentially serious violations of campaign finance law by both the candidate and his contributors.”

Frank credit

Fri, 27 May 2011 11:07:00 GMT

In his column yesterday, the Herald’s Howie Carr skewered US Rep. Barney Frank for recommending his then-partner Herb Moses for a job 20 years ago at Fannie Mae, a housing agency his legislative committee oversees. Carr ended the column by asking: “When do you think El Globo will report this story?”

The Download: Mediscare

Thu, 26 May 2011 10:57:00 GMT

The Download: The GOP's alienation program

Wed, 25 May 2011 12:05:00 GMT

Instead of coming to grips with the changing face of America, the Republican Party appears to be dead set on alienating every minority group in the country. Mother Jones writer Tim Murphy examines how the Republican Party has managed to put off Muslim Americans, who flocked to the GOP in 2000.

The Download: Pawlenty fever? Try golf clap

Tue, 24 May 2011 10:35:00 GMT

On the same day Tim Pawlenty made his presidential candidacy official, Mitch Daniels said he was out of the race. Daniels was polling right next to Pawlenty – low-single digits nationally, and in New Hampshire. Daniels’s retreat engendered much wailing and gnashing of teeth, while Pawlenty’s official announcement was greeted by a collective shrug. As they gazed at the door, waiting for Chris Christie to waltz in, the wailing, teeth-gnashing Republican Party faithful gave themselves a halfhearted pep talk. That reaction, as much as anything else, should sum up the prospects of the closest thing Mitt Romney has to a serious challenger from within the traditional (i.e. non-Palin) wing of the GOP.

The Download: The best school policy money can buy?

Mon, 23 May 2011 12:59:00 GMT

Bill Gates has made improving US schools one of the cornerstones of the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and he’s put his considerable stash of money where his mouth is. The foundation ponied up some $373 million for education efforts in 2009 alone, the last year for which full records are available, according to this front-page story in Sunday’s New York Times.

The Download: Howie Inc.

Fri, 20 May 2011 12:10:00 GMT

Howie Carr, the one-man media empire, knows how to promote himself.

The Download The write stuff

Thu, 19 May 2011 12:13:00 GMT

Despite a national publicity tour and appearances on all the major television shows, Gov. Deval Patrick’s memoir “A Reason to Believe” is selling like cold hotcakes, according to Nielsen Bookscan, with just under 4,300 copies sold so far.

The Download: Michele Bachmann's teen problem

Wed, 18 May 2011 11:30:00 GMT

US Rep. Michele Bachmann is contemplating tossing her hat in the ring for the Republican presidential nomination. With Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee out, the Minnesota Republican says her telephone is ringing off the hook, money is pouring in, and Facebook is “lit up” with people clamoring that she run.

The Download: Brown's DiMasi diversion

Tue, 17 May 2011 11:53:00 GMT

US Sen. Scott Brown doesn’t want to talk about Osama bin Laden. He does, however, have plenty to say about the disgraced former speaker of the House, Sal DiMasi.

The Download: The T's contract problem

Mon, 16 May 2011 12:11:00 GMT

The Boston Globe yesterday wrote another chapter in the ongoing saga that chronicles failures at the MBTA, this time regarding the T’s relationship to Mass Bay Commuter Rail, the company that manages the commuter rail that serves 134,000 people daily. A three-month Globe investigation found that the T approved a number of contract changes that essentially rewarded the company for running trains on time and minimized financial penalties when it did not. The result: “millions in bonuses for “on-time performance’ even when the system’s overall service is lousy.”

The Download: The Eagle-Tribune and Lantigua

Fri, 13 May 2011 12:03:00 GMT

In 1988, the Eagle-Tribune won a Pulitzer Prize for its relentless coverage of Willie Horton and the Massachusetts prison furlough program. The paper published nearly 200 stories detailing how Horton, a convicted murderer sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, was able to walk away from prison on a weekend furlough and rape and assault a couple in Maryland.

The Download: Oddfellows: Globe to print Herald

Thu, 12 May 2011 11:00:00 GMT

What’s next, Howie Carr sporting a bowtie? Frank Phillips and Brian Mooney acknowledging their Herald roots? The Inside Track finding something interesting in the Boring Broadsheet? The Globe writing a follow-up story and giving the Herald credit?

The Download Southern comfort

Wed, 11 May 2011 12:05:00 GMT

The most popular governor in the North is from the South.

There was lots of carping in 2009 when Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor only got a measly $112 million in high-speed rail funds. But Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s decision to send back more than $2 billion originally destined for an Orlando-Tampa link was a game-changer. He opened the way for the Obama administration to kiss and make up with Northeast intercity rail supporters.

The Download: Governor's Council on thin ice

Tue, 10 May 2011 11:53:00 GMT

When the needle moves on Beacon Hill, it tends to move quickly. Last Tuesday, one member of the Governor’s Council was warning his colleagues that if they didn’t stop attracting so much attention, they’d all be swept right out of the State House. A day later, Senate President Therese Murray lined up against the body’s continued existence, bringing the council’s abolition from inside joke to serious policy in no time. And tomorrow, Murray will gavel in a constitutional convention with not one, but four separate proposals for eliminating the Governor’s Council on the convention agenda.

The Download: Flaherty's return engagement

Mon, 09 May 2011 10:19:00 GMT

He's now made it official: former Boston city councilor Michael Flaherty wants his old job back. Actually, he doesn't really want his old job at all. He wants the job that he had to give up his old job in order to pursue. But he figures he needs his old job in order to again take a shot at the new job he really wants.

The Download: Another patronage haven bites the dust

Fri, 06 May 2011 10:58:00 GMT

One by one, state government’s biggest patronage havens are being shut down. The state’s Probation Department, long an employment agency for politically connected friends of state lawmakers, got a makeover last year after rigged hiring practices were documented by an independent counsel. And now state Auditor Suzanne Bump is cleaning house at her office, turning out many of the employees hired by her predecessor, Joe DeNucci, who the Herald, in an editorial, says ran “a personal job bank for friends and relatives.”

The Download: Grave dancing

Thu, 05 May 2011 10:56:00 GMT

“We don’t need to spike the football,” President Obama said in his decision to not release photographs of Osama bin Laden’s dead body. “That’s not who we are.”

But who we are seems to be a matter of interpretation and the answer is certainly not monolithic. In the aftermath of what can best be described as a cathartic moment in the war on terrorism, there’s an increasingly tense debate over how much is too much in rejoicing in the death of one man, even if that man is one of the most heinous mass murderers in history.

The Download: Eternal vigilance in Boston and beyond

Wed, 04 May 2011 11:33:00 GMT

The death of Osama bin Laden changed little for Boston’s Logan International Airport, the launch point for the September 11 attacks almost ten years ago. Gov. Deval Patrick advised “an excess of caution,” and Boston police and transit officials stepped up security measures at the airport, the metro transportation network, and large sports and entertainment venues.

CommonWealth magazine's new video conversations feature

Tue, 03 May 2011 14:56:00 GMT

CommonWealth has launched the beta version of a new video feature we’re hoping will become a mainstay of our website – and a must-see for those who follow policy and politics statewide. The feature will consist of brief webcam-based conversations on important and timely issues from across the state.

The Download: Now to the political calculus

Tue, 03 May 2011 10:53:00 GMT

It’s now the second day of Osama bin Laden stories, which means the narrative has turned to stories detailing how the daring weekend raid came together, and to stories speculating about what the raid means for the political fortunes of the commander in chief who ordered it.

Bin Ladens long run

Mon, 02 May 2011 14:51:00 GMT

The Download: KIPP success a matter of degrees

Mon, 02 May 2011 11:56:00 GMT

In the world of high-achieving urban charter schools, seeing graduates ultimately go on and finish college has always been the Holy Grail, the goal that school leaders say truly represents the ticket into the middle-class for students who have grown up in poverty. For the vast majority of students in this country who grow up in poverty – some 92 percent of them to be exact – the dream of a four-year degree will never be realized. All of this is what makes a new study of college graduation rates among those who attended KIPP charter schools so important.

The Download: How does New Hampshire do it?

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 10:37:00 GMT

For years, New Hampshire has been like an oasis in the desert to antitax forces. The “Live Free or Die” state has no income or sales taxes, and yet it seems to survive and at times even thrive. In a new report, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s New England Public Policy Center asks: “How does New Hampshire do it?”

The Download: Days of yore

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 11:06:00 GMT

As much of America is fixated on a wedding in the royal family -- except, believe it or not, viewers of Fox 25 -- that harkens back to the time when we were colonists, yet another vestige of long ago is making its voice heard in our own backyard.

The Executive Council (aka the Governor’s Council), that eight-member panel that has alternately been called a necessary counterbalance to gubernatorial powers and a constitutional anachronism whose freshen date expired around the time Patrick “Sonny” McDonough began calling in his votes from his Florida residence, is once again beginning to call attention to itself. Whether that’s not a good thing depends on your politics.

The Download: Lantigua lets down Lawrence

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:00:00 GMT

The coda has yet to be written on the political career of Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua. But attracting the attention of federal law enforcement officials never bodes well, as Sal DiMasi, Dianne Wilkerson, and Chuck Turner can attest.

The social and economic challenges facing Lawrence, a city that has been dealt more than its fair share of bad cards, should be the story these days. But the Immigrant City has been upstaged by the Lantigua drama.

The Download: Glum Sal

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 12:09:00 GMT

Jury selection begins today in the corruption trial of former House Speaker Sal DiMasi, and the former king of Beacon Hill is already looking and talking like a beaten man.

The looming trial has severely exacerbated DiMasi’s existing financial difficulties: He has already been declared an indigent defendant, and as of February, he owed more than $11,000 in back condo fees on his North End residence, which might be seized if he’s found guilty. Old friends and business associates are lining up to testify against him. Last week, when US District Court Judge Mark Wolf ruled that DiMasi’s former law partner can testify that the ex-Speaker suggested he lose his check register -- the one recording $65,000 in alleged kickbacks -- DiMasi was biting his nails and insisting, none too convincingly, that he’s looking forward to his day in court. Upon boarding a courtroom elevator, mistakenly pressing the up button, and being told by his lawyers, “No, we’re going down,” DiMasi sadly replied, “I used to be on my way up.” Chuck Turner he isn’t.

The Download: The birtherism of a nation

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 11:27:00 GMT

According to a New York Times/CBS poll released last week, 25 percent of adults surveyed believe that President Obama was not born in the US. Among Republicans, the figure soars to 45 percent.

The Download: Sexy cities

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 11:45:00 GMT

Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter says flourishing cities have sex appeal. I hadn’t thought about cities that way, but she’s got a point. The good ones have a certain magnetism about them, attracting people, resources, opportunities, and ideas. “Cities are one big dating game,” she says.

The Download: No idle threat

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 11:18:00 GMT

With the price of oil topping $112 a barrel, the highest price in nearly three years, it won’t be long before we see $4 a gallon here in Massachusetts, perhaps by the end of the month at the current rise.

“Do you know what I am telling people? Before this year is out, you will wish you were only paying $4," Robert L. Bolduc, president of Pride Stations and Stores, which has 24 locations in the Pioneer Valley, told the Springfield Republican.

There don’t seem to be a lot of changes in driving habits so far, if you go by consumption, but the steady rise in prices is grabbing the consumer’s attention. The increases are also drawing the attention of local officials, some of whom are asking the attorney general to investigate whether there’s any price gouging going on.

The Download: Getting bolder on the environment

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 12:14:00 GMT

With Earth Day on the horizon, Phil Primack, a CommonWealth contributing writer, turned on the wayback machine, lamenting in a recent Boston Globe Magazine column that the passion that marked Boston’ first Earth Day has faded. Instead of 1970-style protests, such as a “die-in” at Logan Airport to protest supersonic jets, people today gravitate toward “product-placement bonanza[s] of ‘green living’ festivals, cleanup campaigns, and special events.”

The Download: The debt ratings game

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 11:22:00 GMT

Standard & Poor’s tried to goose Washington into tackling its financial problems yesterday. The ratings agency lowered its outlook on government debt, effectively saying that unless Congress and the White House can agree to raise the country’s debt ceiling and cut the deficit, the federal government’s AAA credit rating is history.

The Download: What the frack?

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 11:05:00 GMT

Sherry Vargson lights a match, sticks it near the water coming out of her kitchen faucet, and watches as a flame shoots upward. As this multimedia story from Time magazine makes clear, the boom in natural gas exploration in Pennsylvania is having some unusual side-effects.

The Download: Putting the budge in the budget

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 11:21:00 GMT

Who blinked? Who will blink? And is blinking overrated?

The Download: Reform before revenue resurrected

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 12:16:00 GMT

Another hearing, another round of mea culpas from Bay State transportation officials. This past winter’s commuter rail problems set the stage for Transportation Secretary Jeffrey Mullan to put a new label on problems facing the debt-ridden sector when he told the Transportation Committee on Tuesday that the state’s transportation assets were “undercapitalized” to the tune of about $1 billion.

Michael Jonas appears on Emily Rooney

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 12:50:00 GMT

CommonWealth’s Michael Jonas, who reviewed Patrick’s book for Sunday’s Boston Globe, discussed the the governor’s memoir yesterday in this segment on “The Emily Rooney Show” on WGBH radio and on “Greater Boston” on WGBH-TV.

The Download: Heralding Patrick's new book

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 11:48:00 GMT

As the Boston Herald hits the midway point in its tour through Gov. Deval Patrick’s wobbly early years in office, the governor is showing he’s now a far different politician than he was at the start of his first term.

The Download Bostons innovative antiquated city hall

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 12:06:00 GMT

Saturday's Boston Herald carried a story that is the kind Mayor Tom Menino loves to see. It chronicled how the city's new digital constituent service effort, which lets residents file complaints about potholes or burned out street lights using a smart-phone app, now also lets them check online to see what action has been taken on the case. “The city is holding itself publicly accountable,” Chris Osgood, who helps run the city's office of New Urban Mechanics, told the paper.

MassINC Research Director on Chronicle

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 12:26:00 GMT

MassINC Research Director Ben Forman appeared on WCVB's Chronicle last night to discuss the rise in immigration in Massachusetts, and the dramatic demographic shifts that have taken place over the last decade. Watch the segment here.

The Download: Cracking down on gambling

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 12:18:00 GMT

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 been popping up in small shops across the state for the past few years, sidestepping the legal ban by masquerading as sweepstakes.

Hampden County justice

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 16:02:00 GMT

The Download: Talking the talk

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 10:29:00 GMT

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 in 2012?

Download: Driscoll goes down but not out

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 11:50:00 GMT

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 the Witch City (and the demands of a young family), but it doesn’t take a passel of political consultants to tell a smart woman with virtually no statewide name recognition that she didn’t have a prayer against an incumbent senator with high-voltage star power.

The Download: The circus is coming

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 11:13:00 GMT

It’s a running joke on Beacon Hill that this current incarnation of the Governor’s Council may finally be the one that takes the whole institution down. That theory should be put to the test soon, as Gov. Deval Patrick’s latest history-making pick for the Supreme Judicial Court runs headlong into a confirmation process that the Big Apple Circus, now playing on Boston’s City Hall Plaza, may not be able to hold a candle to.

The Download: Schoolyard rumble

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 10:58:00 GMT

A new study on schooling in America, a new round of charges and counter-charges about overblown claims of charter school success, skewed data sets, and incomplete analyses. Put it all together and it's no wonder that research on what's happening in US schools often generates more heat than light.

The Download: Brown tome wrecker

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 11:29:00 GMT

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 terms possible.” Reviewer Craig Fehrman said the book recounts the many commendable choices Brown made during his life, but never connects them or tries to make sense of them. “Brown’s only insight seems to be: work harder.”

The Download: It's all about perspective

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 10:44:00 GMT

Libya, budget stalemates, government shutdowns. Earthquakes, tsunamis, nuclear meltdowns. Fleeing jobs, local aid cuts, spiraling health care. And yet another snow storm is expected to hit the region tonight and tomorrow, with snow removal budgets long depleted.

The Download: What Times is it?

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 10:50:00 GMT

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 generator has become the El Dorado for media managers. Only a few publications (The Wall Street Journal comes to mind) have succeeded in charging readers for content.

The Download: Redistricting road show or sideshow?

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 12:33:00 GMT

The Legislature’s redistricting road show debuted in Springfield last weekend, and the good people of western Mass. hit ‘em with everything they had.

Veterans' services quagmire

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 11:16:00 GMT

The Download: On the web, traffic still rules

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 12:40:00 GMT

The recent sale of the Huffington Post to AOL and the New York Times’s implementation look like very different moves by very different media entities. But scratch below the surface and they have more in common than one might think. When it comes to news and information sites on the Internet, traffic is still king.

Killing them softly

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 12:45:00 GMT

The Download: Census data, race, and advertising

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 12:08:00 GMT

Robert Groves, the director of the US Census Bureau, is a man in demand. While state demographers mull over why people are fleeing Lincoln, Stockbridge, and Provincetown, advertisers are trying to make sense of what new Census data mean for their big picture: marketing products and services to American consumers.

The Download: Sen. Warren? (Elizabeth, that is)

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 11:02:00 GMT

Up until now, the nascent movement to draft Elizabeth Warren to challenge Sen. Scott Brown has had one glaring deficiency – a willing participant.

The Download: March madness

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 12:17:00 GMT

The NCAA men's basketball tournament carries the right nickname, but not because of the excitement it generates. The madness is the big-money pursuit of top basketball talent by colleges and universities where education takes a back seat to victory on the court. Globe columnist Derrick Jackson has made a mission of the issue – with a particular focus on black players, whose graduation rates badly lag behind their white counterparts. His Saturday column was the latest installment, and Jackson is hoping some attention to the problem at very high places might make a difference.

The Download An early toast

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 11:36:00 GMT

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 St. Patrick’s Day parade, bars in South Boston have been ordered to close at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday. Package stores will be closed by 4:00 p.m. While the Herald story, and the city’s press release, report that Boston is requiring bars and package stores to shut in order to stomp out St. Patrick’s parade shenanigans, the Globe has a slightly different take.

The Download: Payback

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 12:10:00 GMT

Maybe it’s the defensiveness engendered by the decades-long moniker of Taxachusetts or the relentless hammering by Republicans and corporations about the inhospitable business atmosphere in the state, old perceptions that officials have worked to overcome. Massachusetts has always had a “thank you sir, may I have another” approach to rejection by those who have received breaks and then taken the money and run.

The Download: Nuclear fear factors

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 12:32:00 GMT

Fears about nuclear power increase with each new, catastrophic development in Japan. In Germany, people took to the streets after last week’s earthquake to protest against nuclear power. Not needing any further prodding, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the physicist-turned-politician, quickly ordered the immediate shutdown of seven pre-1980 built plants. The Washington Post rounds up public reaction in Europe and Asia to Japan’s nuclear crisis here.

The Download: DeLeo's GIC ultimatum

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 12:43:00 GMT

Two years ago, when House Speaker Robert DeLeo made his first address to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, he distanced himself from his embattled predecessor and burnished his reputation as a hard-working guy from Winthrop. Last year, it was all casinos, all the time.

It was a different DeLeo who addressed the Chamber this morning. He mentioned gambling in passing, but it wasn’t the focus of his speech. Instead, the speaker focused on patronage and health care reform. In the latter area, especially, he was more forceful than he’s ever been.

The Download: Taking a chance on schools

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 12:51:00 GMT

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 their futures on escaping failing school systems by winning the lottery for a seat at a charter school. The movie offered gripping drama showing how a child’s destiny seemed to rest so much on the selection of a numbered ball in a drum.

The Download: Clear as mud

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 11:36:00 GMT

The Department of Public Utilities ruling yesterday on the proposed NStar-Northeast Utilities merger is about as clear as mud.

The Download: Gotcha Nation

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 11:18:00 GMT

Once the purview of shock jocks, 10-year-olds with a phone and time on their hands and MSNBC, prank calls, punks, and set-ups are now becoming the de rigueur method to oust – and out – political opponents.

The Downlaod: The solar advantage

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 12:51:00 GMT

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 address at a recent MIT Energy Conference in Boston, Rogers told the audience that solar has an edge over wind since energy from the sun can be distributed to the electric grid at times of peak demand. Named by Newsweek as one of the “50 most powerful people in the world,” Rogers is a big believer in renewable energy and supported the Obama administration’s failed cap-and-trade plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Download: Face time with Larry Summers

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 11:17:00 GMT

Larry Summers gave his first local speech since leaving the White House yesterday. He began his address by joking that Washington, DC, offered a respite from the brutal politics of Cambridge. He ended it indulging a question about that Facebook movie. And in between the two, President Obama’s former economic adviser told a room full of Boston business leaders that capitalism as we’ve known it is irreparably broken.

The Download: Breaking news—important people consort and talk to each other

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 12:59:00 GMT

“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 coverage. Boston’s tabloid daily can stir outrage and deliver a welcome populist punch with the best of them. But nuance and perspective have never been the strong suit on Wingo Way.

The Download: Bill, TED, and state budgets

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 10:55:00 GMT

Microsoft founder Bill Gates is deep into state finances these days, worried that government officials are using so many accounting tricks to balance their budgets that precious public education dollars will be squandered.

CW's Bruce Mohl on the Callie Crossley show

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 13:08:00 GMT

CommonWealth magazine editor Bruce Mohl appeared yesterday on The Callie Crossley Show on WGBH . The two discussed the Governor's proposal to overhaul the state's public defender system. Listen to the full interview here. See also CommonWealth's recent Back Story on public defender ethics.

The Download: First and goal

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 11:46:00 GMT

Union matters seem to dominate the 24-hour news cycle these days. From Wisconsin’s governor looking to eviscerate his state’s public sector unions; to Ohio being on the verge of doing the same thing; to conservative New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie unexpectedly holding out an olive branch to his unionized workers; to Gov. Deval Patrick showing his love for collective bargaining here, it’s all anybody’s talking about.

The Download Setti for Senate

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 12:15:00 GMT

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 since Coakley’s disastrous fall to earth last year, Democrats have been wondering which politico would have the chutzpah to try a run against Brown.

The Download: Patrick as political analyst

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 12:52:00 GMT

Gov. Deval Patrick spent the weekend in Washington, DC, raising his national profile, raising cash, and getting some practice in the role of campaign surrogate for President Obama. The trip allowed him to plant an unwanted kiss on the mug of one Willard Mitt Romney, but it also caused a stir back home when the governor took it upon himself to formally announce challengers to Sen. Scott Brown.

The Download: Rank this

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:10:00 GMT

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 extended an admission offer and which have politely said no. Nothing has done more to reinforce the significance of the admissions game than US News, whose college rankings have become the bible of the higher education hierarchy.

The Download: On Wisconsin

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 11:33:00 GMT

It was more of a shouting match than a vote, but the Republican-controlled Assembly in Wisconsin early this morning approved legislation cutting the collecting bargaining rights of public sector workers and sent the measure to the Senate. NECN has video of the shoutfest and AP has details on the 60-hour debate. The Senate can’t pass anything at the moment, with its Democrats hiding out in Illinois to prevent the chamber from attaining a quorum.

The Download: No defense

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 11:18:00 GMT

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.

The Download: Cheesehead Nation

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 12:00:00 GMT

Cheeseheads of the world, unite! In these times of fiscal stress, Gov. Scott Walker would probably be just another unknown Midwestern state executive had he taken aim at public employee wages and benefits alone. Instead, he went for the whole enchilada, collective bargaining rights. (That is, his proposal would allow collective bargaining for pay increases only, and only those that are pegged to the consumer price index.)

The Download: Deval's centralization strategy

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 12:32:00 GMT

The Download: The sprawling health care story

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 12:02:00 GMT

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 in the media do well anymore.

The Download: Mass. rail projects to cash in again?

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:34:00 GMT

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 Tampa. His explanation: anemic ridership projections and the potential for cost overruns made the project too much of a risk. But Tampa officials say the governor didn’t even wait for a state transportation department to finish its ridership study.

The Download: IOU health care

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 11:05:00 GMT

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 on the unfunded liabilities for municipal retiree health care and the numbers are staggering.

The Download: Presidential campaign idol

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 12:08:00 GMT

The just-concluded Conservative Political Action Conference marks the unofficial start of the presidential campaign season, and the months ahead will be full of fundraising, speechifying and quiet outreach. That’s the old model for running for president, anyway: Raise a ton of money, create an aura of inevitability (or at least possibility), and use both to wrap up key staffers and supporters in strategic early primary states. After all, it’s only a year until the New Hampshire primary.

The Download: Budget bluster

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 11:01:00 GMT

Just how broken is the budget process in Washington, where President Obama today releases his proposed 2012 spending plan? The White House budget director has pretty much conceded that the proposal avoids tackling the deficit with the full degree of seriousness needed because such a move would simply open up Obama to withering partisan attack.

The Download: Deval's road map

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 12:32:00 GMT

The Download: Tier drops

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 11:47:00 GMT

The Download: Redistricting - there's an app for that

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 10:32:00 GMT

Why is meeting with members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation the first order of business for Beacon Hill’s point men on redistricting, Rep. Michael Moran and Sen. Stanley Rosenberg?

The Download: Green Line delays

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 12:51:00 GMT

Right-wing budget hawks in Congress could hold the planned Green Line extension hostage. That’s the terrifying vision state transportation secretary Jeff Mullan raised yesterday. Amid a day filled with talk of weather-driven delays and tchotchke sales, Mullan pronounced himself “nervous” that budget-slashing Congressional Republicans might try to scuttle the federal funding the MBTA needs to extend the rapid-transit line from Lechmere to Somerville.

The Download: A matter of degrees

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 13:16:00 GMT

The Download: Cash for credits

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 11:11:00 GMT

The US Tax Court is making it easier to turn tax credits into cash.

The Download: The politics of snow removal

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 10:37:00 GMT

The Download: A reeling industry

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 11:32:00 GMT

More and more, the state’s fishing industry has been in the news and very little of that news is good for those who farm the seas.

The Download: Deal 'em

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 11:58:00 GMT

The Download: Contract lessons

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 12:23:00 GMT

All sorts of factors contribute to the relative performance of students in different school districts. Household income and parent education levels often stand out as the most obvious: Students in wealthier communities with highly educated parents invariably score higher on achievement tests than those from lower-income communities with low adult educational attainment levels.

The Download: Seeking middle ground on public workers

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 11:56:00 GMT

Gov. Deval Patrick is struggling with how to rein in municipal health care costs. Those costs are eating up city and town budgets, and most voters think public sector union workers are living high on the hog. Many mayors are pressing for the authority to unilaterally cut the benefits of their workers.

The Download Gore that ox

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 13:55:00 GMT

Everyone knows the annual unveiling of House 1, the governor’s budget message to the Legislature, is just the first step in the six-month marathon that will likely conclude late in the evening on June 30. But Gov. Deval Patrick’s $30.5 billion budget plan still opens the door for some questions to be answered, such as: How the heck are you going to do that? Are you serious about that? How do you figure that adds up? And the most obvious: Does any of this stand a chance?

The Download: Killer bees, space aliens, and the invasion of the bankrupt states

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 13:08:00 GMT

The Download: Chuck 'n' Sal

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 12:33:00 GMT

The Download: DeLeo's declension?

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 12:11:00 GMT

While yesterday's front-page Globe Spotlight Team report has prompted no immediate calls for his ouster, it hardly seems out of bounds at this point to raise the question of whether Robert DeLeo is really the right guy to restore integrity and public confidence in the House of Representatives, whose already shaky standing with the public has only fallen farther in the wake of the Probation Department scandal.

The Download: Term limits

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 11:43:00 GMT

Give probation chief 2 year appointment

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 16:55:00 GMT

Saying an effective leadership team is needed at the scandal-plagued Probation Department, a judicial task force is urging the Supreme Judicial Court to give the acting commissioner a two-year appointment and fill other top slots as quickly as possible.

The Download: Director's cut

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:10:00 GMT

Massachusetts is not the only state rethinking its tax lure for films. With a partisan shift in governors’ offices and legislatures around the country, a number of states are reexamining film tax credits that many think do more to enrich Hollywood stars and producers than boost the local economy.

The Download: Evergreen Solar flameout

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:18:00 GMT

Massachusetts continues to fume over Evergreen Solar’s decision to decamp to China, throwing more than 800 people out of work and squandering most of a $58 million package of incentives from the state.

The Download: The Speakah speaks

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:01:00 GMT

The Download: Map quest

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 11:49:00 GMT

It’s a decennial dance that makes sausage-making look like an art form. Congressional redistricting, mandated every 10 years by the federal census, is once again playing out in all corners of the country. Massachusetts legislators, who have the added chore of fashioning nine districts out of 10 because of population growth in other areas of the country, are hoping their game of inside baseball won’t draw the ire of voters.

The Download: Chinese mothers rule?

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 12:03:00 GMT

Many American parents are nervous about what the future holds for their children. Jobs are scarce and the good ones go to the most qualified candidates. Parents see Chinese students excelling in math, English, history, and other school subjects, while their children seem to be excelling at Facebook and Call of Duty.

The Download: Wind resistance

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 11:20:00 GMT

The Download: Recoil edition

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:35:00 GMT

The Download: Coarse correction

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 11:56:00 GMT

The horrific shooting that took place Saturday morning in a Tucson parking lot has set off wide-ranging debate on everything from the toxic tone of political discourse in the country to gun laws so lax that a deranged loner was able to able to walk in a purchase a semi-automatic handgun a little more than month before unleashing his fury at US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others.

The Download: Whose Constitution?

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 12:38:00 GMT

It couldn’t be termed a constitutional crisis but the decision by the new Republican-controlled House to read the Constitution into the Congressional Record was as much hysterical as historical.

Lawmakers call for parole moratorium

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 17:20:00 GMT

A bipartisan group of state lawmakers called on the Parole Board to put off any more hearings until a report is completed on the parole of Dominic Cinelli, who allegedly gunned down a Woburn policeman last month during a botched robbery. Patrick administration officials said the hearings will go on but no parole decisions will be made until a full review of the Cinelli case is completed.

The Download An energetic argument

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 11:59:00 GMT

We’ve all heard the green energy debate. Critics say projects like Cape Wind are too costly, even with heavy subsidies. But the greenies counter that the projects are needed to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. They also claim that green energy subsidies are miniscule compared to the subsidies flowing to fossil fuels.

The Download: Flip side of the coin

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 11:41:00 GMT

Glamour hasn’t gone out of style during the Great Recession. It’s just gone quiet as Jaguar dealers and wealth management gurus see their customers making more prudent purchases. But business owners serving a less privileged clientele have different stories to tell.

The Download: Patrick's new politics

Tue, 04 Jan 2011 12:02:00 GMT

Kevin Cullen, in a column in today’s Boston Globe, shines a light on how Gov. Deval Patrick is insisting on political loyalty as he assembles his leadership team for a second term. There’s certainly nothing wrong with wanting to reward your political supporters, but it’s a risky time to be overt about it, particularly with the patronage scandal brewing at the state’s Probation Department.

The Download: Education dividend

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 12:16:00 GMT

It's hardly news that higher levels of educational attainment bring greater pay and economic security. But it's one of those truths, like the benefits of regular exercise, that probably can’t be invoked too often because the stakes are so high and the number of people that would benefit from taking action based on it is so large.

The Download: Mass inequality

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 11:40:00 GMT

Massachusetts is leading the way into a new Guilded Age. The Bay State has one of the largest income gaps between the rich and the poor in the country. The first installment of a two-part report in the Worcester Business Journal details how this yawning divide has affected business in Central Massachusetts.

The Download: Senator Zelig

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 11:52:00 GMT

Another week, another round of head-scratching and hand-wringing over just who Scott Brown (Wrentham resident, truck owner, and current occupant of the People’s Seat in the US Senate) really is.

The Download: Don't ask, don't call

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 12:33:00 GMT

It's hard to know whether to regard the steady drip of stories on patronage abuses in the state's Probation Department as utterly predictable or maddeningly outrageous. Both reactions are probably in order, and that's just the problem. The calls made by politicians and court officials on behalf of probation job candidates are so much a part of how things work that it’s simply not that shocking to learn of new examples. Yet each case adds to the feeling that these and other public sector jobs are often wired for those with connections to inside players.

The Download: Michelle Rhee, Inc.

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 13:12:00 GMT

The Download: There will be blood

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 11:16:00 GMT

Few, save the most minimalist proponents of small government, think there’s much left to cut in the state budget without inflicting pain, so it’s now a matter of whose priorities get spared and where to find those reductions to close the projected $1.5 billion gap in the next budget.

The Download: Mitt's op-ed machine

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 11:41:00 GMT

While Sarah Palin goes the reality show route to boost her popularity and reduce her negatives, Mitt Romney takes a more conventional path to building presidential gravitas: holding forth on the issues of the day in the op-ed pages of the country’s leading newspapers and news websites.

The Download: Setting up a schoolyard brawl

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 12:20:00 GMT

There was tough talk aplenty in Boston Mayor Thomas Menino’s speech to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. And it was all built on a strange paradox. Menino isn’t asking the city’s teachers’ union for unprecedented concessions in spite of the fact that he can’t possibly afford to pay for radical modifications to the teachers’ contract. He’s going to war with the union precisely because a budget in shambles has given him the opening to do so.

The Download: House hunting

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 10:44:00 GMT

Headlines about housing woes are usually followed by tales of low-income families squeezed by the sky-high cost of housing in Greater Boston. But that very difficult reality has obscured a very different housing story that is playing out in the state's Gateway Cities, where subsidized housing has taken over local housing markets and is holding back the recovery of these second-tier cities.

The Download: Where the grads are

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 11:31:00 GMT

Well-educated people tend to congregate together, and sometimes so do high school dropouts.

The Download: Counterpunch

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 11:53:00 GMT

Suspended, and likely to be soon ousted, commissioner of Probation John O’Brien is fighting back.

The Download: Obama hits back

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 11:27:00 GMT

When it comes to taxes, presidents can’t get a break and Barack Obama is no exception. Obama is on the defensive after the announcement of a tax deal that includes a 13-month extension of unemployment benefits and a two-year extension of tax cuts for the middle class and the wealthy.

The Download: Kick the can

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 10:38:00 GMT

The midterm elections last month presented the country with the prospect of a deadlocked Congress, one that had been birthed by obstructionism, and one whose leadership measured success in terms of a zero-sum caged death-match.

The Download: Crusadin' Galvin

Mon, 06 Dec 2010 10:35:00 GMT

Bill Galvin has always been something of an enigma in Massachusetts politics. A former Brighton state rep who has served as the Commonwealth’s secretary of state for 15 years, Galvin cuts a profile better fitted to an undertaker than a glad-handing pol, favoring dark suits and a dour mien. His reputation for stealthily operating in the shadows and being pegged as a source for some reporters of unflattering news (about others) has earned him the unflattering sobriquet “The Prince of Darkness.”

The Download: Immunization exemptions

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 11:54:00 GMT

Whooping cough, an infectious bacterial disease that causes uncontrollable coughing, used to be one of the most common childhood diseases in the United States and a major cause of childhood deaths. Then a vaccine was developed and the disease became something of an oddity. But not in California.

The Download: Brownie points

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 11:21:00 GMT

Is Sen. Scott Brown the real-life personification of Bedford Fall’s Henry Potter, caring only for his rich ilk and kicking the working class to the curb at Christmastime, or is he someone who is offering a fiscally sane clause to ensure continued assistance to those in need in a manner that doesn’t break the bank?

The Download: House Proud

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 11:53:00 GMT

Real estate helped sink the American economy, but real estate can bring it back. However, only if policymakers and developers keep two of the country's largest demographic groups in mind.

The Download: Murphy's moment

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 12:52:00 GMT

It took eight years of effort, but Steve Murphy is close to getting that thing he has chased for so long. After an unsuccessful run for Suffolk County sheriff bracketed by two failed runs for state treasurer, Murphy is finally landing a better job. It just so happens that his new job – heading the Boston City Council – won't relieve him of his old job on the City Council. No matter. The job of city council president is a plum one. It comes with a nice big office, and a budget to match.

Turner doth protest (way) too much

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 17:12:00 GMT

No one in town seriously could have expected Boston City Council President Mike Ross to do anything other than what he did today: file an order recommending the expulsion of City Councilor Chuck Turner, who was convicted last month on federal charges of accepting a $1,000 bribe and making false statements to FBI agents. No one except, it seems, Turner himself.

The Download: Pondering patronage

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 11:06:00 GMT

Former Senate president Billy Bulger practiced the trade with such abandon that MBTA was said to stand for “Mr. Bulger’s Transportation Authority,” an only partially tongue-in-cheek reference that seemed to make him beam, not cringe. One of his Senate president successors, Robert Travaglini, spoke of it as something more akin a solemn duty when he defended landing jobs for East Boston residents at Massport as mitigation for a community saddled with all the negative impacts of having an international airport in its backyard.

The Download: Dreams deferred

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 11:31:00 GMT

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.

The Download: The People's Republic

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 10:35:00 GMT

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 time, the economy was a wreck, unemployment was sky-high, and everybody knew exactly whom to blame for the mess: bankers. Thus, protests raged on Wall Street, and mobs piled into buses and spit venom at AIG execs. Even the president tossed around words like “outrage.”

The Download: Teacher lessons

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 11:36:00 GMT

Another Monday, another impressive spread on the Boston Globe op-ed page devoted to the thoughts of retired Boston high school teacher Junia Yearwood.

The Download: Going to pot

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 11:17:00 GMT

“No one calls pot pot anymore,” writes Andrew Ferguson in Time’s latest issue. “It’s medicine now. Dealers are called caregivers and the people who buy their dope – medicine -- are patients.”

The Download: Aliens in our midst

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 12:00:00 GMT

With the election in the rearview mirror, the headlights are now focusing on the hot-button issue of immigration, both legal and not.

The Download Capitol coverage

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 13:04:00 GMT

Although the American Journalism Review predictably bemoans the state of state house news coverage around the country, the magazine recently looked in on some promising profit and nonprofit start-ups. Nationwide, there are very few reporters covering state politics. A little over a year ago an AJR survey found that there were only 355 reporters covering state capital issues, down one-third from 2003.

The Download Reality deficit

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 11:43:00 GMT

The message behind the bipartisan deficit-reduction panel’s recent report was, “See, fiscal discipline isn’t all that tough!” But the back-and-forth that followed the report’s release last week has seriously called that assumption into question.

The Download Class warfare

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 12:53:00 GMT

As the battle slogs on over the fate of the Bush-era tax cuts, a little perspective might be particularly useful. Frank Rich helpfully provides some in yesterday’s New York Times. In the debate over whether to extend the tax cuts for high earners, some facts help set the context.

Probation report delivered, impounded

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 15:38:00 GMT

The independent counsel investigating patronage practices at the state’s Probation Department has given his report to the Supreme Judicial Court, which impounded the document until the judges have time to review it. According to Joan Kenney, an SJC spokesman, the report by independent counsel Paul F. Ware was delivered on Tuesday.

The Download: Green is good

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 12:31:00 GMT

The Christian Science Monitor’s print weekly takes an in-depth look at the ongoing green revolution in a “Future of Energy” special issue.

Mayors want Beacon Hill to get tough on health care, unions

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 16:31:00 GMT

Massachusetts does not have the financial wherewithal to fully address the looming fiscal problems facing cities and towns.

The Download Reviving the outside game

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 13:05:00 GMT

Governor Deval Patrick spoke often on the campaign trail about having to learn to pause, take a victory lap, and puff out one’s chest, for the benefit of the voters and the press.

The Download Whose American Dream

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 13:38:00 GMT

“The American dream mattered a lot in this election,” writes Christopher Caldwell in yesterday’s New York Times Magazine. But it mattered so much that it has practically lost any clear meaning.

The endorsement chase

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 17:39:00 GMT

Video: Brown refuses to answer on Question 3 vote

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 15:30:00 GMT

Globe auditor endorsement

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 09:05:00 GMT

Today’s Globe endorsement of Mary Connaughton for state auditor is a coup for the Republican nominee – and devastating for Democratic nominee Suzanne Bump.

North Andover sets Hollywood straight

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 14:58:00 GMT

Picturing what’s next in cutting health costs

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 13:37:00 GMT

Tom Reillys personal endorsement

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 13:33:00 GMT

The last time Charlie Baker trumpeted the endorsement of a celebrated defector, it didn’t go so well.

Taking the T to the Big Apple

Fri, 08 Oct 2010 16:49:00 GMT

The financially hobbled MBTA continues to come up with creative ways to reel in cash.

High housing costs still pricing many out

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 13:30:00 GMT

The housing bust has done little to ease the pressure housing costs exert on working families in eastern Massachusetts, a new report from the Urban Land Institute says.

Wind subsidy tucked inside spending bill

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 21:00:00 GMT

A special interest wind power subsidy is tucked inside a spending bill that is the focus of a power struggle between Democrats and Republicans on Beacon Hill.

School segregation report tells us what we knew

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 13:07:00 GMT

To borrow from a certain sage of the ’60s, you don’t need a demographer to know the racial breakdown of Boston and Springfield area schools. But a study such as that released earlier this week by a Northeastern University research team can nonetheless give firm documentation to what’s visible in plain sight: schooling in the two regions is highly segregated.

Murphy's creative writing

Tue, 14 Sep 2010 15:13:00 GMT

CWs Jack Sullivan on Radio Boston

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:15:00 GMT

Herald: Dog bites man

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:12:00 GMT

We have officially entered the silly season in campaign coverage, at least over on Wingo Way.

Bruce Mohl on Radio Boston

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:29:00 GMT

Bruce Mohl and Michael Jonas appear on the Emily Rooney Show

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 16:00:00 GMT

CommonWealth Editor Bruce Mohl and Executive Editor Michael Jonas appeared on the Emily Rooney Show on WGBH radio today to discuss the new special issue of CommonWealth on Energy and the Environment. Listen here. You can also read the new issue in full here.

Blago faces the music

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:13:00 GMT

Getting wind power to hold a charge

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:36:00 GMT

The Shirley Sherrod he knew

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 11:19:00 GMT

Mohl on Broadside with Jim Braude

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:16:00 GMT

In gambling showdown, greed is king

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:06:00 GMT

News that things are getting testy among legislators trying to reach agreement on a expanding gambling bill is hardly surprising. When it comes jockeying for position in the big-money, high-stakes world of legalized gambling, the long knives are drawn quickly, and the nastiest fights often occur among those who are ostensibly all on the same side.

Fresh thoughts for the Greenway

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:19:00 GMT

What to do with Boston’s Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway?

The unpredictable Scott Brown

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:59:00 GMT

US Sen. Scott Brown continues to gain national prominence as Washington’s new go-to guy. All it takes these days is a letter from Brown to signal the way the legislative winds are blowing on Capitol Hill. So says Washington Post reporter Perry Bacon Jr in a Friday profile of the freshman senator’s ballooning influence on inside the Beltway politics and policy.

Still Taxachusetts after all these years?

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:09:00 GMT

Not exactly. Anti-tax activists won’t get any ammunition from the US Census Bureau for their tax rollback efforts.

Neighborhood politics

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:01:00 GMT

What's in a name? Plenty when it comes to Boston neighborhoods and local politics.

Matt O'Malley, an earnest 30-year-old activist, was the first one out of the gate when Boston City Councilor John Tobin announced last week that he is resigning his district seat to take a top job at Northeastern University.

No quick action on probation parole

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:17:00 GMT

Ads and comments blend at the Globe

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:27:00 GMT

Herald refuses to cover probation story

Wed, 26 May 2010 13:57:00 GMT

Travaglini's new firm works for state pension fund

Wed, 26 May 2010 12:00:00 GMT

Slots dont cure all deficits

Wed, 19 May 2010 12:28:00 GMT

The ‘comment’ game, part 2

Mon, 10 May 2010 14:46:00 GMT

As of this afternoon, 90 comments had been posted on Boston.com about the Boston Globe’s story about Don Chiofaro’s clash with Mayor Thomas Menino, and they seemed split fairly evenly between opponents of the controversial developer and opponents of the mayor.

Firefighter follies

Fri, 07 May 2010 14:04:00 GMT

Paying firefighters extra not to endanger themselves and others is evidently what last month's absurd ruling by an arbitrator was all about.

Playing the 'comment' game

Thu, 06 May 2010 12:34:00 GMT

Salem mayor says health care impasse may require ballot solution

Thu, 06 May 2010 12:11:00 GMT

Holding on tight and not letting go

Mon, 03 May 2010 17:07:00 GMT

Judging from comments House Speaker Robert DeLeo made to The Republican of Springfield, it doesn’t appear there’s any appetite in the Legislature for reining in the autonomy of the state’s probation commissioner.

Berwick to replace Hibbard at DPU

Mon, 03 May 2010 11:37:00 GMT

Paul Hibbard is stepping down as chairman of the state Department of Public Utilities and being replaced by a top aide to Ian Bowles, the secretary of energy and environmental affairs.

Budget transparency - even for tax credits

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:04:00 GMT

Chiofaro to crank it up

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:06:00 GMT

Missing the Scott Brown juggernaut

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 17:53:00 GMT

Globe's dominating presence at the GOP convention

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 12:23:00 GMT

Budget cuts could close 10-15 courthouses

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:18:00 GMT

Sarah Palin No shades of gray

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:52:00 GMT

Patrick probation proposal not included in House budget plan

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 17:37:00 GMT

The House budget plan is not expected to include Gov. Deval Patrick’s proposal to move the state’s probation service out of the judiciary and into the executive branch, according to a source briefed on the situation.

Transparency provision defeated

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:17:00 GMT

By Bruce Mohl

The Massachusetts Senate unanimously passed an overhaul of the state’s economic development agencies, but rejected by a 21-13 vote a measure that would have required greater public disclosure of companies receiving state subsidies and how many jobs they are creating with them.

Duquette's ticket absurdity

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 11:07:00 GMT

Yin and yang

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 16:19:00 GMT

Worcester Regional Airport: back from the brink...again?

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:46:00 GMT

Board games at MassDOT

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:17:00 GMT

By Gabrielle Gurley How long will the charade of trying to schedule the Massachusetts Transportation Department’s board of directors to appear before the Joint Transportation Committee continue?

Carr and Braude sing the same tune

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:14:00 GMT

Howie Carr and Jim Braude are about as far apart on the political spectrum as you can get, but both of them are singing the same song about the state’s probation service.

Christy Mihos has big RMV idea

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:49:00 GMT

With all eyes on the big dogs in the governor’s race, the underdog can afford to go out on a limb.

Underemployment rates

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:50:00 GMT

The 2009 "underemployment rate" for Massachusetts, which includes those who have given up looking for work, and those working only part-time, was at 14.5 percent, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Fly the bipartisan skies

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:13:00 GMT

Washington may be paralyzed by political partisanship, but our state’s Democrat and Republican senators seem to be getting along reasonably well.

James Aloisi talks up VMT, parking fees

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:57:04 GMT

Most of the revenue-generating remedies for the state’s ailing transportation networks are “feasible,” “viable” and “doable.” Problem is they aren’t getting done. Which brings us to former Transportation Secretary James Aloisi. In one of his first major public appearances since he left his post last November, Aloisi pitched two not-so-new ideas — taxes on mileage and parking — to help fund mass transit in metro Boston and across the state at a Wednesday talk billed as “innovative solutions” and sponsored by the Conservation Law Foundation.

No funds for Open Meeting Law enforcement

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:22:09 GMT

No one, it appears, is policing public officials to make sure they comply with the state’s Open Meeting Law.

Smart growth setback in Kingston

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 11:36:11 GMT

New York Times tweaks Scott Brown on federal stimulus

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:44:54 GMT

Newly elected Republican Sen. Scott Brown has a unflattering cameo in yesterday's New York Times article by David Leonhardt on the effects of last year's federal stimulus package.

Brian McGrory goes soft

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:55:54 GMT

Did Brian McGrory send any signals that he’d give Lawrence Mayor — and state Rep. — Willie Lantigua kid-gloves treatment in order to secure what McGrory boasts is the only interview the embattled pol has granted in recent days?

Are two jobs in Lawrence better than one?

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:04:38 GMT

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 — not Gov. Deval Patrick nor any of his Beacon Hill colleagues — has yet been able to convince Latingua otherwise, even with his city’s finances collapsing all around him.

Not enough money in politics

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:17:15 GMT

Lowell enters the 19th century

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:19:49 GMT

MassBeacon.com's Conor discovers that the city of Lowell will provide you with statistics from last month's election if you use this newfangled system of communication called the US Postal Service.

Boston deemed "least drunk" city in US (!)

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:58:18 GMT

Men's Health magazine is about to declare Boston the "least drunk" among 100 major American cities, reports USA Today. (See the other outliers after the jump) That really doesn't feel right: Per-capita alcohol consumption has always been relatively high in the Bay State, and there's no indication that it's come down recently.

The Herald's hack obsession

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:53:00 GMT

Today's Boston Herald has a follow-up to yesterday's story by Jay Fitzgerald that implied that the lion's share of federal stimulus funds were hijacked by the Patrick administration to pay for "hack" government jobs. Yesterday's front-page story, headlined "GOV'S STIM FLAM" on the front and "Stimulus saves hacks" on the inside, made it seem like the Patrick administration had chosen to steer stimulus funds toward public-sector jobs.

WSJ: Cahill got contributions from firm vying for state pension business

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:46:00 GMT

By Bruce Mohl The Wall Street Journal reports that a number of Massachusetts officials, including state Treasurer Timothy Cahill, received campaign contributions from out-of-state law firms in connection with their push for pension fund litigation.

The BRA prebuttal

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 10:37:41 GMT

Western Mass beats South Coast for rail funds

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:26:27 GMT

Bay State transportation officials continue to throw everything they’ve got into South Coast Rail , but the feds took a pass, deciding that three western New England intercity rail projects were more worthy.

Probation head in the spotlight

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:21:24 GMT

Over the weekend, Gov. Deval Patrick leaked news that he plans to include in his upcoming budget a measure that would take the state's probation department out of the judiciary and place it under his administration's control. The gambit is being sold as a cost-saving measure, but the governor is also practicing some election-year politics. Probation is seen as a patronage haven for the Legislature and lawmakers are unlikely to turn control over to Patrick without a fight. A fight might be just what Patrick wants to pick, allowing him to run as a reformer against the Legislature.

The report below is from the winter issue of CommonWealth, which comes out tomorrow. At press time, Patrick's proposed takeover of probation was only under discussion and had not been finalized.

John J. O’Brien, the reclusive state commissioner of probation, is coming out of his shell. Faced with two reports suggesting that spending at his agency is excessive, O’Brien is suddenly talking. Well, not talking exactly, but sending out emails and letters through his spokeswoman denying many of the accusations and suggesting that his agency is actually understaffed. In one email, O’Brien says the ratio of offenders to probation officers in his department is 167 to 1. Even excluding less involved administrative cases, O’Brien says, the ratio is 103 to 1, well above the caseloads recommended by the American Probation and Parole Association.

Coakley on both sides of legal dispute

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:30:00 GMT

Attorney General Martha Coakley finds herself on both sides of a sensitive legal dispute over the state's competitive auto insurance system.

Technology makes ride-sharing a better way to go

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 10:42:32 GMT

Politics not his strong suit?

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:17:59 GMT

Judge rules against Catholic college's plans for retirement community

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 12:02:57 GMT

Will Jill join the anti-tax brigade?

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:20:58 GMT

Two weeks until CW launch date

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 08:36:37 GMT

"Walk-in" contract fails the transparency test at the MBTA

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 08:27:04 GMT

Do the people on Buzzards Bay swear like sailors?

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 07:11:20 GMT

Revving up for a new year and a new website

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 09:15:20 GMT

The Education Mayor

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:20:24 GMT

Budgets slashed, but not corporate tax breaks

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 13:22:00 GMT

Where's Martha Coakley's love for the League of Women Voters?

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:58:17 GMT

Mass. beats Florida, 24 other states in population growth this year

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 07:56:02 GMT

Be happy we're not New York. But not too happy.

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 07:03:44 GMT

Coakley and the abortion question

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:28:21 GMT

Globe calls for NE Corridor funds

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 06:28:35 GMT

As Massachusetts goes, so goes health care reform?

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 10:11:00 GMT

The measure of success for Scott Brown

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 09:36:49 GMT

"Fix it first!" New projects get the headlines, but we need to repair what we already have

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:22:09 GMT

Northeast Corridor shut out of high-speed rail funds

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:02:25 GMT

Each registered voter costs Oregon $4.51 in paperwork

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:59:47 GMT

Elizabeth Warren, "Bostonian of the Year," as seen in CW magazine

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:06:58 GMT

More good strategy from Coakley?

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:24:24 GMT

Martha Coakley and the myth that women can't get elected in Massachusetts

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 11:28:51 GMT

Property bill story makes for a taxing read

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:58:08 GMT

Mass. had steepest drop in imprisonment rate in 2008

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:42:13 GMT

Lawrence: The next Springfield?

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:37:51 GMT

Remembering the woman behind "Charlie on the MTA" — and the CharlieCard

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:53:33 GMT

Report finds state's "quality of life" is key IT industry driver

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:15:22 GMT

Bay State's bridge to nowhere

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 05:43:27 GMT

Fact-checking the Senate debate: Subjectivity reigns

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:38:32 GMT

Fact checking the Senate candidates: Some fumbles, stumbles and personal revelations

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:45:41 GMT

Taunton goes from Silver City to Chickpea Central

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 07:58:45 GMT

Average debt for Bay State college grads tops $23,000

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:33:59 GMT

Fact-checking the Senate candidates: Youth will be served

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:23:41 GMT

Harvard Square book-signing for "Harvard Square"

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 07:45:00 GMT

Who says the federal stimulus program isn't working? Not the MBTA

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:56:44 GMT

Are hate crimes 10 times more likely in Massachusetts than in Mississippi?

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:13:58 GMT

Remembering Boston's "clean highway in the sky"

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:44:18 GMT

Nevada underwater, Bay State relatively dry

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:57:27 GMT

"Too big to fail" strategy for Boston Convention Center?

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:40:41 GMT

US senate candidates on the public option, a new stimulus bill, and other domestic issues

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:27:50 GMT

Bay State 3rd healthiest, alcoholic binges notwithstanding

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:43:12 GMT

Dukakis breaks silence to protest Brookline's "confounded wreck"

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:07:01 GMT

US senate candidates on foreign policy

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:57:38 GMT

US Senate candidates on charter schools, No Child Left Behind

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:31:32 GMT

Buffett’s shrewd recognition of a railroad revival

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:31:00 GMT

A near disclosure

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:55:33 GMT

Ed bill packs a punch, but

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:11:17 GMT

Robinson answers CW Unbound questionnaire, leaves Coakley as only holdout

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:05:19 GMT

Kirk on the abortion flap

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:52:53 GMT

Towns complain that special US senate election is an unfunded mandate

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:29:00 GMT

Answers from the candidates (other than Coakley): Their first bill as US senator

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:27:51 GMT

Journalism: The Poetry of the '00s

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:19:00 GMT

No backing off the Green Line extension

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:10:01 GMT

Campus hate speech

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:05:12 GMT

Appeals court investigates term paper writer

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:40:18 GMT

Daniel Grabauskas

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:10:44 GMT

Maryland's "carrot" approach to smart growth gets failing grade

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:16:30 GMT

Ted Sizer

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:00:00 GMT

Grabauskas on the D’Alessandro Report: It goes beyond the news that “the T is still broke”

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:10:18 GMT

Boston City Council race: 4 were elected, but 5 had strong bases

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:13:16 GMT

An inconvenient truth: Fixing the MBTA’s problems costs $$$

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:06:38 GMT

Will creativity gild the road to growth in Gateway City economies?

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:24:15 GMT

Flaherty as change agent a shaky idea from the start

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:05:56 GMT

A Corzine warning to Patrick?

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:20:44 GMT

Warning sign for the "Menino in 2021" campaign

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:17:47 GMT

An election result you'll be hearing about for the rest of your life

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:01:03 GMT

Bay State sheriff defends his right to bill inmates

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:29:09 GMT

All aboard for MassDOT

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:18:45 GMT

US should emulate Bay State health care reform, says MIT's Gruber

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:03:00 GMT

No treats at Deval's Milton house

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:51:40 GMT

An ethics dilemma: Do as I do or do as I say?

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:15:00 GMT

Harvard panel, Boston police chief Davis discuss the Gates controversy

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:00:00 GMT

It's the teachers, stupid

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:22:01 GMT

Patrick gets the ultimate insult on Martha's Vineyard

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:20:31 GMT

School facts not friendly to Menino, but that's not the biggest problem

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:38:39 GMT

What Gateway Cities need to do to attract biotech firms

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:06:38 GMT

Fact-check: The US Senate debate

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:40:57 GMT

Pappas plans to build film studio in Southie

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:00:56 GMT

Full disclosure

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:14:16 GMT

Can South Coast Rail qualify for stimulus funding?

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:21:43 GMT

Massachusetts not so great this year, say public planners

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:25:14 GMT

Last-minute bets in the Boston mayoral race

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:59:17 GMT

This Side of Tax Paradise

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:43:08 GMT

Study: Older drivers good, but not good enough for 25% discount

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Why some Boston voters may be holding their noses at the polls

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:24:55 GMT

Fact-check: The Menino-Flaherty debate

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:44:07 GMT

Willie Horton Doctrine guides Bay State governors

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:53:04 GMT

Menino still in pole position

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 07:31:13 GMT

Charter schools -- how dare they want the best for their students?

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:06:42 GMT

First comes love, then comes marriage, then....

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:19:01 GMT

Federal stimulus funding cushions state budget

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 06:38:25 GMT

Bay State leans on income taxes, not so much on sales levies

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 07:19:55 GMT

driving alone commutes

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:24:24 GMT

What might David D’Alessandro find as he turns over the rocks at the MBTA?

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 08:04:42 GMT

What might David D’Alessandro find as he turns over the rocks at the MBTA?

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:34:06 GMT

Khazei promises to shake things up

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:12:06 GMT

Charter schools and spaghetti?

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 07:06:33 GMT

Mass. likely to lose House seat, but no population sinkholes here

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:29:44 GMT

Galluccio road show growing tired

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:20:46 GMT

Competing non-competes

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:34:54 GMT

Galluccio hits the road again

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:19:03 GMT

Fact-checking Menino and Flaherty

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:10:04 GMT

A book worth a look

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:40:00 GMT

The Invention of Tax Credits

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:51:00 GMT

Combatting the debt culture

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:13:37 GMT

Gateways Cities leaders introduce economic development plan

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:40:35 GMT

Can Newbury Street and Southie vote the same way without driving each other crazy?

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:11:52 GMT

Flaherty/Yoon team-up throws Mayor-for-Life a curve

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:40:27 GMT

Calling for reform and progress in the Commonwealth’s Gateway Cities

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 06:30:00 GMT

Some states sour on film tax credits

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:37:08 GMT

Charter schools legislation is a Gateway Cities bill

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:57:38 GMT

Mass. is Tax Foundation's 15th least favorite state

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:23:21 GMT

tax foundation Massachusetts 2010

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:15:55 GMT

Broken MBTA ties trigger safety orders

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:26:18 GMT

Martha's big sister

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 06:53:10 GMT

Mission Impossible II: MBTA Crisis Management

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:30:53 GMT

Sharing service

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:14:00 GMT

Boston's mayor race "toughest" to call in the US?

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:16:50 GMT

Loyalty and the US Senate race

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 06:42:48 GMT

One Beacon's 121A tax agreement expires

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:39:48 GMT

What state are we in?

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:31:18 GMT

Fact checking the 2d mayoral debate

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:06:23 GMT

Trick or Treat: The Revenge of Dan Grabauskas

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:30:06 GMT

Back(track) to the future

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:54:14 GMT

Turn toward politics a natural one for City Year cofounder

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:25:27 GMT

The State House as cash cow

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:52:05 GMT

Whip City aims to become Warehouse City

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:31:52 GMT

Menino's poor grade on schools

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 08:57:44 GMT

US Senate race a snooze?

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 07:43:10 GMT

Coakley and Lynch: Come on in, the water is fine

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 07:27:39 GMT

Fact-checking the Boston mayoral debate

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:03:54 GMT

A weak showing for Menino, but does it change the race?

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:58:23 GMT

"Schlumpy and shrill" need not apply?

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:19:55 GMT

Hollywood-style voting takes a baby step in Massachusetts

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:47:28 GMT

Cruise is coming

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:52:00 GMT

Kerry to face the (town meeting) music

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:07:29 GMT

Local foods mean local smells

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:38:58 GMT

An email's as good as a phone call when nagging City Hall

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 07:04:44 GMT

Patrick: Vicki not interested in Senate seat

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:45:57 GMT

The line on succession

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:44:45 GMT

The Supreme Court argument for US Sen. Jim McGovern

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:46:20 GMT

89 years and counting

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:11:56 GMT

Do small businesses in Gateway Cities have adequate access to credit?

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:49:00 GMT

July 2009 unemployment rates: Lawrence and Fall River top 14 percent

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:05:30 GMT

Ted Kennedy and Massachusetts

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 05:49:49 GMT

Kennedy succession plan again attacked as villainy out of a James Bond film

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:02:53 GMT

It is possible for a big-city incumbent mayor to lose

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:42:06 GMT

Not much pork for the Bay State

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:10:17 GMT

Isn't "power politics" a redundant term?

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:09:21 GMT

Huge job losses haven't spread to public sector -- yet

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:56:37 GMT

The 2009 export market for calculating Massachusetts (and scrappy Rhode Island)

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:00:38 GMT

How Boston parks measure up

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:03:57 GMT

Oooh-no! A municipal wake-up call from Hurricane Bill

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:22:00 GMT

Iowa's school year creeps into early August

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:42:53 GMT

Energy costs plunge in Boston, restaurant costs show relatively small rise

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:41:37 GMT

Gallup deems Massachusetts the most liberal and most Democratic state

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:00:46 GMT

Fantastic MBTA voyages

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 12:53:12 GMT

NPR maps economic indicators

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:26:00 GMT

Boston's golf courses get liquor licenses on the cheap

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 07:54:02 GMT

Stimulating a Bristol County cleanup

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:03:57 GMT

Standardizing pre-school

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 01:00:00 GMT

Sox strike out on open bars

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 01:00:00 GMT

The Pottery Barn Rule of MBTA management

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 07:48:50 GMT

Humane Society chief lauds farm animal bill

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:00:00 GMT

The Pottery Barn Rule of MBTA management

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 22:11:25 GMT

Slow housing growth in Mass., but better than Michigan

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 08:08:03 GMT

How the MBTA general manager wins friends and influences people

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:02:00 GMT

The homeownership gap gets a new lease on life

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:01:20 GMT

Gallup tags Bay State as most Democratic in US

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 08:39:35 GMT

Where is Deval's Valerie Jarrett?

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 13:28:00 GMT

Zoo story appalls Washingtonian who's seen it all

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:13:44 GMT

Head games at the MBTA

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 06:20:28 GMT

Tracking more trouble for Grabauskas

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:13:17 GMT

How to avoid tax increases: Pawn government buildings

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 08:45:10 GMT

Bay State tourism $ takes dive, but Brazil and Argentina send more visitors

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 07:44:36 GMT

To compete or not: That is the question

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 06:15:10 GMT

Charlie Baker and the Green Party are on the same page

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:03:07 GMT

CommonWealth's Summer 2009 issue now online

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:46:46 GMT

Duncan jumps the gun on Massachusetts charter school boost

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:14:07 GMT

Bay State Banner gets loan, draws attention to nonprofit

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:06:03 GMT

No cheerleading for convention centers

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:31:52 GMT

Patrick fights to keep DC outpost

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 07:27:09 GMT

Can Gateway City innovations close the achievement gap?

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:19:54 GMT

The facts on tax credits and movie star salaries

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:59:00 GMT

Did Al Sharpton save the Cambridge Police Department?

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:31:49 GMT

Spending priorities: Zoos vs. movies

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:52:40 GMT

For community colleges, Obama offers a lifeline -- and a challenge

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:28:58 GMT

Boston Globe goes hunting for bad comments about Goodwill

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:32:22 GMT

Laboy is persona non grata on Lawrence school lunch trucks

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 11:06:56 GMT

Tip, Ronnie, and Tricky Dick walk into a bar...

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:16:16 GMT

Franklin Park Zoo gets starring role

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:28:25 GMT

"Eds and meds" sector bucks national job loss trend

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:08:36 GMT

Charter school lesson: money talks

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:50:00 GMT

Murray: Repeal of film tax credit would be a mistake

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:13:05 GMT

Three strikes in two states

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 08:22:00 GMT

Surprising talk from Charlie Baker about taxes (in 2001)

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:46:40 GMT

Mass. population rebounds, but Berkshires and Cape Cod continue to slide

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 08:26:37 GMT

Patriots, StubHub end legal battle

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 06:16:14 GMT

The insanity of state government

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:12:24 GMT

Jobs picture in Fall River going from bad to worse

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 17:30:12 GMT

Don't bet on a three-way race, Deval

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:08:48 GMT

The recession's latest victim: campaign finance innovation

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:17:28 GMT

Florida may bring direct democracy to planning/zoning process

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:01:58 GMT

Reviews vary on film tax credit report

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:37:30 GMT

Will Cahill emulate Schwarzenegger or Finneran?

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:33:10 GMT

Most film tax credit spending goes to nonresidents

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:30:51 GMT

State of the States links

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:24:08 GMT

Take the Red Line to....Chinatown?

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:06:27 GMT

Are Boston shootings getting drowned out by rain?

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:56:00 GMT

Patrick administration divided on film tax credit

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:37:17 GMT

Patrick says he changed his mind on film tax credit change

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:54:53 GMT

A "new" neighbor?

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:14:34 GMT

Tom Cruise stars in Beacon Hill budget thriller

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:38:04 GMT

On school reform, time to get on with the show

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:07:58 GMT

The shadow over ethics reform

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:04:18 GMT

Cattle call begins for Boston council candidates

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:00:00 GMT

Gov. Patrick Goes to Arlington

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:52:26 GMT

The cost of delaying a special education

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:27:43 GMT

Drivers over 75 don't deserve insurance discount, official says

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:12:25 GMT

Talking the talk on ed reform

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:08:45 GMT

Gains and credit in the state's tax foundation

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:13:07 GMT

A perfectly reasonable approach to getting rid of MCAS?

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:55:44 GMT

Did the pension bill go far enough?

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:38:21 GMT

May brings more service jobs, fewer construction jobs

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:33:19 GMT

Can we talk?

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:38:38 GMT

We're not necessarily the most dysfunctional state, part two

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:03:45 GMT

Can business incubators bring the New Economy to Gateway Cities?

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:06:00 GMT

Cape Wind counterpart in Greenfield?

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:56:24 GMT

Billerica betrayed by town manager?

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 10:45:58 GMT

Candidates with more money won in Mass. last year -- with a dozen exceptions

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 10:18:36 GMT

Bunker Hill Day bunk

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:43:55 GMT

Plymouth Rock Studios loses state aid because it would attract too many movie projects

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 06:21:21 GMT

Expectedly bad year for public pensions in Massachusetts

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:15:44 GMT

Menino's changing school stories

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 07:47:31 GMT

Patrick snubs Plymouth Rock Studios in Murray's district

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:19:09 GMT

Can business incubators bring the New Economy to Gateway Cities?

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:54:00 GMT

Will Menino campaign against the teachers' union?

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:10:29 GMT

Lessons from the New York Senate

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 06:07:26 GMT

Senate wants to hide names of tax credit recipients

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 07:06:05 GMT

Are Sal's pals in trouble?

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 03:49:25 GMT

Sal makes three

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:11:40 GMT

The trains will be on time... ish

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:08:23 GMT

Logan Airport wins arbitrary award for bewilderment

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:18:31 GMT

The medical mystery of McAllen, Texas

Sat, 30 May 2009 12:06:30 GMT

Duncan: Federal aid may depend on openness to charters

Fri, 29 May 2009 10:58:51 GMT

With charter schools stalled, poor kids lose

Fri, 29 May 2009 04:36:25 GMT

Some Medford city jobs are worth keeping

Wed, 27 May 2009 10:32:38 GMT

Teachers' unions and Massachusetts achievement gains

Wed, 27 May 2009 08:15:07 GMT

Where the boys (and girls) are

Tue, 26 May 2009 21:30:00 GMT

An escalation in the debate over a graduated income tax

Tue, 26 May 2009 12:56:49 GMT

Unemployment still centered in southeast Mass.

Tue, 26 May 2009 09:39:19 GMT

State of the States

Fri, 22 May 2009 11:56:11 GMT

Mission Impossible: Commuting on the MBTA or running it?

Thu, 21 May 2009 10:58:20 GMT

Government work not so secure in Medford and Worcester

Thu, 21 May 2009 10:00:01 GMT

Boston's leadership club

Thu, 21 May 2009 07:56:51 GMT

Life after newspapers

Wed, 20 May 2009 05:58:41 GMT

Pension commission chair doesn't mince words on termination benefits

Tue, 19 May 2009 12:11:04 GMT

Boston's reliance on property tax may be a saving grace

Tue, 19 May 2009 08:54:23 GMT

Raynham deems 0.54% voter turnout good enough for town meeting

Tue, 19 May 2009 08:20:57 GMT

Florida calls Boston "thick" (in a nice way)

Mon, 18 May 2009 09:22:44 GMT

Head Count maps now archived

Mon, 18 May 2009 07:51:08 GMT

Greenway tries to build traffic, but there's a long way to go

Fri, 15 May 2009 06:38:05 GMT

"Remember my name," sing Arizona officials

Wed, 13 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT

Public records politics

Wed, 13 May 2009 07:27:37 GMT

Head Count

Tue, 12 May 2009 13:44:21 GMT

Punting on pension reform

Tue, 12 May 2009 08:03:28 GMT

Looking for government savings from the homeless and carless

Mon, 11 May 2009 08:56:45 GMT

Patrick "boxed in" on his 2010 re-election strategy?

Mon, 11 May 2009 07:55:08 GMT

Proposed taxes unlikely to solve transportation crisis

Sat, 09 May 2009 11:48:28 GMT

Ryan is top baby name in Mass. and nowhere else

Fri, 08 May 2009 10:00:00 GMT

Rennie forum seeks help for special ed students before, during, and after high school

Fri, 08 May 2009 08:34:29 GMT

grist green Menino Cicilline

Thu, 07 May 2009 11:24:51 GMT

Galvin sitting on development tax credits

Thu, 07 May 2009 09:09:33 GMT

Southern NE, Hawaii have fewest gun victims

Thu, 07 May 2009 08:22:50 GMT

'Reform before revenue' claims another TeamTrans victim

Thu, 07 May 2009 07:04:11 GMT

Grist for a higher meals tax?

Wed, 06 May 2009 08:37:03 GMT

Nantucket town meeting turnout

Wed, 06 May 2009 07:39:42 GMT

The Commonwealth of Tweet

Wed, 06 May 2009 06:43:26 GMT

Menino happy to debate, have root canal

Tue, 05 May 2009 13:02:36 GMT

Brockton

Tue, 05 May 2009 12:39:42 GMT

Fitchburg

Tue, 05 May 2009 12:34:00 GMT

New Bedford heading south again?

Tue, 05 May 2009 12:04:38 GMT

Globe pension 'scoop' is old news in the pages of CommonWealth

Mon, 04 May 2009 14:55:09 GMT

Nobody wants too many restaurants

Fri, 01 May 2009 09:07:33 GMT

How "sweating the small stuff" adds up big in urban schools

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:35:08 GMT

Innovation at 10

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 08:57:58 GMT

More health coverage doesn't necessarily mean more doctors

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 08:02:21 GMT

What do Bostonians think about their neighbors?

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:27:32 GMT

"ArchitectureBoston" covers Gateway Cities

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:57:46 GMT

Everything you wanted to know about dying in Massachusetts

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:35:39 GMT

MassINC is proud to be your "pure voice of gloom"

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 06:59:50 GMT

Spring issue of CommonWealth magazine now online

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 10:39:45 GMT

FBI sniffing around Sox stadium deal in Florida?

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:02:20 GMT

Hard times for moving companies, bubble wrap manufacturers

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 07:16:19 GMT

Weighty problems require complex solutions

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:36:30 GMT

Statistically ignorant study ranks Boston 8th for literacy

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:27:21 GMT

To build or not to build: Brockton's power plant plan

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:26:45 GMT

March unemployment rate by Mass. city and town

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:00:19 GMT

Doctor discipline low in Massachusetts, lowest in Minnesota

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 07:26:02 GMT

Phil Primack: Casino chorus sings from shaky data

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 06:54:00 GMT

All eyes on House, but with very different views

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:44:35 GMT

test for house story

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 07:56:46 GMT

Budget sets up battle of competing reality shows

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:34:56 GMT

Murphy cuts deep, includes cap gains, tax credit measures

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:18:53 GMT

Highway to Hell: Teams Trans previews coming attractions

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 09:19:13 GMT

In Chicago, "green jobs" are nothing new

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:20:00 GMT

Online forum: Special education in Massachusetts

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:25:02 GMT

CW in the news

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 10:13:29 GMT

Sox score monster deal in Florida

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:28:47 GMT

Blue Cross says GIC is not the only way for towns to cut insurance costs

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:55:11 GMT

MBTA puts the squeeze on suburban legislators, the MFA, and the BSO

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 12:50:43 GMT

Starbucks hunkers down in Massachusetts

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 11:16:41 GMT

Big auto insurance rate changes for some drivers

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 07:27:06 GMT

When green is not "green"

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 06:23:05 GMT

Is someone talking about transportation reform?

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:43:00 GMT

Massachusetts is dead last in seat-belt use

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:01:52 GMT

In Boston, a mayoral race to the bottom?

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:49:00 GMT

Most teachers in Mass. are old enough to be grandparents

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 09:06:57 GMT

Auto insurers raising, lowering their rates

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 04:59:49 GMT

Newest brainstorm: A public market atop Filene's ex-Basement

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:45:17 GMT

Hands off Massport, says its board chairman

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 20:57:00 GMT

Would Massachusetts become more conservative without the Globe?

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 10:02:48 GMT

Hands off Massport, says its board chairman

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 06:21:38 GMT

The difference between being governor and being mayor of a second-tier city

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:19:34 GMT

Going, Going...Still Here

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:21:26 GMT

Figuring out how to save the Boston Globe

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:20:40 GMT

Wiffing on "reform before revenue"

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:32:18 GMT

Fast track to fast Internet service?

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:18:00 GMT

Tax credits on chopping block?

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 08:03:46 GMT

Faring no better in New York

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:59:01 GMT

The Hub of politics no more

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:43:03 GMT

Billions of billboards?

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 09:44:39 GMT

Patrick's low ratings part of national trend

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:20:13 GMT

On Filene's hole in the ground, mayor doth protest too much

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:44:12 GMT

MCAS 2009 - brought to you by Nestle?

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 08:10:28 GMT

How long will a bleed lede?

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 09:05:43 GMT

Dead cat bounce: Heidi Erickson faces new animal cruelty charges in Plymouth

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 06:41:18 GMT

Walshing to and fro

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 04:30:50 GMT

Data matters, and not just in math class

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 01:01:00 GMT

The spill, twenty years later

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 06:34:34 GMT

Pension reform questions for Patrick and Cahill

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 09:51:46 GMT

Just words

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:27:46 GMT

Bottom Line: Getting from access to success

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:35:00 GMT

Gridlock loosens grip on Boston in 2008

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 07:50:46 GMT

An increasingly ordinary leader

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:03:14 GMT

Watch the video of MassINC's "No Contest" forum on the shortage of candidates in Mass.

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:54:21 GMT

no contest MassINC forum

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:27:09 GMT

Yes to regional equity, no to privatization: The transportation reform debate continues

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 08:22:14 GMT

Yoon to visit Southie's St. Patrick's parade without preconditions

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 08:53:48 GMT

Progressive grows quickly, so does grumbling

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:32:56 GMT

Dr. Seuss and the Biggering Carbon Footprint

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 11:34:16 GMT

Student diversity rises fastest north and west of Boston

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 08:41:46 GMT

Alison Lobron: Web-exclusive columns

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 06:53:22 GMT

Oregon to Mass.: Be specific on any VMT plans

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Money for nothing: Still dire straits at the MBTA

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 08:38:01 GMT

Pembroke to use CPA to rid itself of bothersome bog

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 07:33:37 GMT

The Boston Globe massacres statistical science

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 06:51:10 GMT

Mapping a possible Deval Patrick vs. Tim Cahill primary in 2010

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 11:37:28 GMT

Le MBTA n'est pas seulement

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 08:15:34 GMT

George Keverian, reformist Speaker and multimedia pioneer, dies

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 07:29:43 GMT

Florida makes play for Bay State's pet industry

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 05:58:32 GMT

"Pork" on Capitol Hill, perks on Beacon Hill

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:06:43 GMT

Chatham and Harwich rekindle 49-year-old mating dance

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 07:09:06 GMT

Burrito shop saves Downtown Crossing!

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 05:28:24 GMT

Haverhill City Council prefers to live at-large

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 07:25:27 GMT

Teachers on the other side of the desk

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 05:41:34 GMT

State tax credits likened to confidential grants

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 10:39:15 GMT

Historic mill on the chopping block in New Bedford

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 07:46:31 GMT

When in Paris, film as the Parisians do

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:15:09 GMT

Perspectives

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 10:06:39 GMT

Michael Jonas: Web-exclusive columns

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 09:48:10 GMT

Argument for "21st-century skills" lacking in critical thinking

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:50:31 GMT

Say goodbye to Hollywood, maybe

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:10:13 GMT

Bluestone and Pollack's defense of gas tax hike doesn't add up

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 12:59:20 GMT

Snow ban

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 12:47:53 GMT

MBTA's Silver Line: The exception that proves the rule

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 08:52:30 GMT

Orthopaedic surgeons warn of orthopaedic surgeon shortage

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 05:50:46 GMT

Would a gas tax hike really save you money?

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 08:49:57 GMT

Tax Foundation gives middling grade to Massachusetts

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:24:22 GMT

Won't know much about history?

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 12:27:48 GMT

Bay State dentists reveal their agenda

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 07:19:02 GMT

Rooftop garden pioneer takes key USDA post

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 06:12:40 GMT

No contest in Los Angeles mayor's race

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 05:48:44 GMT

Time has vindicated Gov. Romney's stand on embryo research

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 10:54:34 GMT

Green opportunities for Gateway Cities

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 09:38:06 GMT

Hungry for a public market in Boston

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 07:00:32 GMT

Patrick finally embraces gas tax increase

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:23:39 GMT

Will a "vehicle miles traveled" tax fly in Massachusetts?

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 10:50:50 GMT

Use stimulus funds to speed up the local permitting process

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:12:42 GMT

Mass. bucks trend, drives more in December

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 06:36:05 GMT

Home builders deem Worcester "80 percent affordable"

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 06:00:40 GMT

Save the earth, build to the sky

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:32:54 GMT

Save the earth, build to the sky

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:29:19 GMT

Air-conditioning costs to rise in Worcester this summer?

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 07:34:28 GMT

Norton, Fitchburg now dead to state library board

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:13:41 GMT

Rep. Murphy no longer has many private business dealings

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:38:35 GMT

Choosing between cops and library books in Springfield

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:11:53 GMT

Rethinking the Gateway Cities: A talk and photo exhibit at Smith College

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 10:44:22 GMT

Blue Mass Group: One-party state may not be so bad

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 08:16:01 GMT

Big differences in teen birth rates among Bay State cities

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:30:45 GMT

"Stimulus Watch" drills down to "shovel-ready" projects

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:06:30 GMT

Massachusetts is 10th most economically stressed state

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 07:16:34 GMT

Boston's successful Census challenge may not be such a surprise

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 11:34:07 GMT

Deval, help us put down our cynicism: send stimulus czar packing

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 08:38:56 GMT

Better know a Massachusetts district, thanks to Google Maps

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 07:19:22 GMT

Harsh reality underlies charter school boost

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:52:00 GMT

Pew report shows how good data can lead to better state budgets

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 05:54:23 GMT

"Starting Line 2009" tackles DeLeo, State House scandals, and the bleak economy

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:05:05 GMT

Up, up, and away in my beautiful gas tax trial balloon…

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 10:07:02 GMT

Private conservancy signs lease with Turnpike to maintain Greenway

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 06:11:13 GMT

Jobs outlook in Mass. is stingy for the hospitality industry, devastating for construction

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:51:41 GMT

Worcester's trial balloon: Tax dorm rooms

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 08:16:24 GMT

Freshman rep gets it right on pension perk

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 04:05:35 GMT

Pennies saved at the MBTA

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 07:53:46 GMT

Follow the money

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 10:41:22 GMT

Mike Dukakis on how to fix America

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:57:00 GMT

Is Obama following in Romney's devious, partisan footsteps?

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:10:15 GMT

Beacon Hill scandals and the one-party state

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 07:46:15 GMT

Springfield budget cuts hit 311 phone line and CitiStat program

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 07:15:19 GMT

Stateline.org calls Gov. Patrick "safe" for re-election in 2010

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 06:21:22 GMT

Kayyem hailed for "responder revolution" in state homeland security

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 08:11:53 GMT

Starting Line 2009: February 6 at the Parker House

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 06:47:09 GMT

FBI: Gangs migrating to suburbs; 640 gangs operate in New England

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 06:30:46 GMT

Bay State is tops in college completion, not so hot for immigrants' high school completion

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 09:39:59 GMT

The Bay State "lurch" to the right?

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 03:35:03 GMT

State's Public Records Law in need of repair

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 11:15:53 GMT

Patrick wants greater tax credit disclosure

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:52:33 GMT

A Capital idea

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:33:00 GMT

The tax horse is out of the revenue barn

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 09:39:09 GMT

New Mexico legislators fight for the right to doze through sessions

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 06:57:57 GMT

Tough negotiations with firefighters' union forecast in Haverhill

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 07:27:11 GMT

The MBTA isn’t the only transit agency in dire straits

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 04:15:23 GMT

Ka-ching: Delay pads DiMasi's pension

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:07:19 GMT

Prisons making more demands on state governments

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 09:56:54 GMT

New Bedford city councilors are not "complementary" potted plants

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 07:39:09 GMT

Housing starts hit "record" low in 2008

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 07:02:16 GMT

Saugus reluctant to give up its small-town identity

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 06:38:25 GMT

Saugus reluctant to give up its small-town identity

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 06:14:47 GMT

Idealism in the age of Obama

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:27:27 GMT

Worcester wants struggling artists

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 07:35:49 GMT

CommonWealth magazine releases Winter 2009 issue

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 05:45:10 GMT

New Bedford gets shout-out from the New Yorker

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 09:15:53 GMT

How much cutting is really going on?

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 08:56:02 GMT

Skirting the grad rate challenge

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 12:56:03 GMT

1,000 great places to see before you die – on a budget

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 06:28:00 GMT

Old Boston may have to feel sorry for that punk city in Arizona

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 06:12:03 GMT

Surgeons should adopt "cockpit" checklists

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 05:05:35 GMT

Jim Aloisi: Eyes wide shut

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:47:00 GMT

Pension perk for lawmakers may finally be curbed, but where's the wholesale fix?

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:09:52 GMT

Murray to Beacon Hill: No gas tax, at least not yet

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:20:19 GMT

Democrats pull a "Finneran" in Tennessee House

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 10:04:46 GMT

State budget numbers are bad

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 12:38:26 GMT

Greenway Conservancy scaling back

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 09:39:54 GMT

Greenway Conservancy scaling back

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 08:27:06 GMT

NBC: Mass. health care reform aided by light touch of Legislature

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 06:31:29 GMT

Politicker dies, "iTunes" for news looms

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 07:36:10 GMT

Finneran's pardon plea

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 08:23:49 GMT

Winter weather already causing financial sinkholes for cities and towns

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 07:17:35 GMT

Putting automobile insurers in the driver's seat

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:03:50 GMT

Public colleges still not making the grade

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 08:06:12 GMT

Asian longhorned beetles and their effects on Worcester brains

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:28:30 GMT

Green mag touts Plymouth Rock Studios

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 06:50:01 GMT

Charter schools shine in new study. Now what?

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:30:39 GMT

Lather - Rinse - Repeat

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:15:22 GMT

Patrick's narrow ethics focus

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:51:04 GMT

Trees, and possibly trains, are good for your urban brain

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 06:09:41 GMT

Partners HealthCare vs. the Globe

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 09:03:13 GMT

Doing the right thing by right whales

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 07:44:00 GMT

Plan, plan, who’s got a plan?

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 12:44:24 GMT

Massachusetts ranks low on weather "death map"

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 05:40:30 GMT

Capital gains freefall

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:16:29 GMT

"Moving with delays" and the MBTA’s culture of contempt

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 09:28:38 GMT

Filene's, World Trade Center projects get clotheslined by recession

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 09:09:13 GMT

TIF makes no dif to Chelmsford's budget woes

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 06:14:31 GMT

The Yellow Roads of Texas

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:02:10 GMT

Greenway gets $2 million bailout to prevent "blight"

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:26:52 GMT

Where local aid cuts may fall the heaviest

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:22:23 GMT

Bob Woodward warns North Adams audience about "secret government"

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 08:47:42 GMT

Team Trans fumbles at transportation reform hearing

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 05:03:54 GMT

State funding for Greenway Conservancy shrinking

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 11:58:06 GMT

Massachusetts welcomes California to its demographic nightmare

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:43:32 GMT

Markey, McGovern being pushed for Obama cabinet?

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:39:15 GMT

Creedon leaves Senate, laments shrinkage of House

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 10:02:22 GMT

Jacob's Pillow, BSO, and MFA top NEA recipients in Massachusetts

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:50:46 GMT

A bad year for Anthony's Pier 4

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:17:43 GMT

State lottery reports sales slump

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:54:26 GMT

The Bay State's dangerous dependence on the capital gains tax

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 05:36:17 GMT

Hub firefighters seek bonus for physical fitness

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 08:16:12 GMT

Older cars hurting municipal revenues

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:36:23 GMT

Ethics task force hears nuts-and-bolts ideas

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 04:52:26 GMT

Massachusetts: healthy but hard-drinking

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:58:23 GMT

Border war between Connecticut and Massachusetts?

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:14:39 GMT

Think big on education, says former IBM chief

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:36:37 GMT

The 401(k) blues are louder in Massachusetts

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 05:47:00 GMT

Keep your old car and starve your state's treasury

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:12:32 GMT

Wilkerson informant not so informative

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:27:19 GMT

The "Partners Effect": Health care hardball comes under a Spotlight

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:08:12 GMT

Lawrence is up, Cape Cod is down in voter turnout

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 08:48:36 GMT

Black leadership in Boston: Is change on its way?

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:31:09 GMT

Bridgewater mulls an end to open town meetings

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:00:14 GMT

Patrick's chance to lead on the gas tax

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 07:49:36 GMT

Patrick losing control of transportation debate

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:08:29 GMT

The majority rules on dog-racing ban

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:54:37 GMT

Raising the gas tax is the tip of the iceberg

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:30:06 GMT

Patrick planning at least $1 billion in cuts

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:38:24 GMT

CommonWealth takes award for "Municipal Meltdown" article

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:36:18 GMT

A foreclosure milestone on the West Coast

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:36:03 GMT

US mayors ask for a jump-start from Congress

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:19:05 GMT

Privatize the Mass Pike?

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:10:10 GMT

State planning more belt-tightening

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:30:17 GMT

The latest scoop on road salt

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:22:29 GMT

Going to college doesn't mean finishing college

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:03:58 GMT

Transportation topics from the gas tax to the state of the MBTA

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:51:08 GMT

Transportation topics in CommonWealth magazine

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:15:55 GMT

Piecemeal toll hike

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 08:38:25 GMT

Same old transportation story

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:49:07 GMT

Gateway Cities

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:58:41 GMT

Fall River

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:12:27 GMT

Worcester

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:09:43 GMT

Springfield

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:09:33 GMT

Pittsfield

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:09:23 GMT

New Bedford

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:09:12 GMT

Lowell

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:09:01 GMT

Lawrence

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:08:52 GMT

Holyoke

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:08:41 GMT

Haverhill

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:08:31 GMT

Brockton

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:07:47 GMT

Malden takes top honors from people who don't seem to have ever been there

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 06:38:30 GMT

When it rains bad news for cities and towns, it pours bad news...

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:09:00 GMT

Paul Krugman half agrees with the Massachusetts Republican Party

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:51:43 GMT

Gateway Cities rally for state income tax

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:01:13 GMT

Torkildsen on his way out as state GOP chair

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:30:10 GMT

Cos and effect: Did Bill Cosby pave the way for Obama's election?

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 06:27:50 GMT

Western Mass. vote puts an end to greyhound racing

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:11:58 GMT

Red ink at publisher of community newspapers

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:25:36 GMT

Municipal mind meld?

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 07:13:39 GMT

Cardinal O'Malley's fuzzy math

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 06:29:28 GMT

Will Worcester put the squeeze on its universities?

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:59:57 GMT

Saving the Massachusetts Republican Party: Deja vu

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 07:08:04 GMT

Old-school ways

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 10:03:02 GMT

Ian Bowles available to Obama, Red Sox

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 06:21:40 GMT

East Brookfield takes its rightful place as McCain's Bay State bastion

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 04:53:57 GMT

Patrick still not going anywhere, neither is Treasurer Tim

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:54:03 GMT

Community Preservation Act makes inroads in Bristol County

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 06:17:30 GMT

What's the deal with Wilmington? 75% McCain???

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:54:49 GMT

Reading the marijuana leaves

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:47:35 GMT

Massachusetts not so special? Or merely ahead of the curve?

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:46:56 GMT

Reading the October tax revenue tea leaves

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:02:47 GMT

Talk to your kids about... Question 2

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 07:51:02 GMT

The caffeinated vote

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 07:41:12 GMT

Big day for bake sales in the southwest suburbs

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 07:02:38 GMT

Getting a jump on voting in Arlington

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:51:07 GMT

The Trader Joe's vote

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:06:16 GMT

Canine electioneering in a polling place?

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:38:15 GMT

Will write-ins bollix balloting in Second Suffolk?

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 02:32:31 GMT

Will teachers abandon sinking states?

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:15:35 GMT

Loyalty, ethics, virtue, and Wilkerson

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 06:11:57 GMT

The national media weighs in on Question 1

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:41:09 GMT

Romney's neighbors abandon the GOP, and other fun voter registration facts

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:47:46 GMT

Patrick to launch website for young adults

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 06:00:14 GMT

Project to track Election Day voting problems in real time

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:17:22 GMT

Patrick catches Galvin’s Hail Mary pass on voter registration

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:13:44 GMT

Where do the anti-income-tax forces have room to grow?

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:54:24 GMT

Mitt McCain?

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:44:52 GMT

Dianne Wilkerson's long slide down

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:39:33 GMT

Plymouth goes Hollywood

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 06:33:01 GMT

Mass. ranks 20th in transparency, 42d on public records

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:46:00 GMT

How bad will the fuel crisis get?

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:27:00 GMT

City Council bans bait-and-switch muffins

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:54:21 GMT

Could fewer cars on the road jeopardize public transportation?

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:02:58 GMT

Community Preservation Act reined in

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:54:13 GMT

Public Records Law "a joke," Gov. Patrick missing a chance for reform

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 08:54:22 GMT

Wilkerson backers take the low road

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 05:22:28 GMT

Weld and Fried: New darlings of Massachusetts liberals

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 00:03:00 GMT

Time to unite the Attleboros?

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:35:03 GMT

Finneran: I was playing a word game

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:56:40 GMT

A survey of possible voting glitches, coast to coast

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:30:00 GMT

Worcester Polytech weighs heavier than Harvard

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:04:24 GMT

Taking stock: Starbucks or civic pride?

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:41:19 GMT

Student loan debt rises faster than salaries for graduates

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 04:27:00 GMT

Massachusetts ranks 39th in government employees per capita

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:42:59 GMT

"Public records should be public"

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:08:38 GMT

Finneran could resume legal work

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 08:28:16 GMT

Imagine who you can vote for...

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:28:26 GMT

The Fix We're In: Tamara Draut on "the deregulatory impulse"

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:56:17 GMT

The Fix We're In: Edward Glaeser on "the silver lining of bleak fiscal times"

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:36:04 GMT

Wall Street Journal discovers Patrick-Obama connection

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:48:30 GMT

Quincy insurer snubs its rep

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 07:48:05 GMT

The Fix We're In: David Weil on transparency and the economic crisis

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 15:14:29 GMT

The Fix We're In: Stephen Crosby on budgeting in an economic crisis

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 10:35:39 GMT

The Fix We're In: Jacob Hacker on the "Great Risk Shift" hitting home

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 10:18:23 GMT

The Fix We're In

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 10:13:34 GMT

Is local aid next?

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 08:32:56 GMT

Never mind the red ink: Team Trans spreads the good news

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:16:42 GMT

The Fix We're In: Alan Wolfe on "the utter failure of conservatism"

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 11:38:54 GMT

Plymouth movie studio gets generous treatment

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 09:21:04 GMT

Film tax credits: A state budget horror show?

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:35:11 GMT

Zoning laws: Wasilla is no Wayland

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 07:31:03 GMT

Channel tax anger at Dems?

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 05:30:23 GMT

Wait 'till your mother leaves home

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 06:36:00 GMT

One week and counting

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:14:00 GMT

Party on: governors to meet in Hub

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 09:11:00 GMT

Skin problems? Consider moving to Pittsfield

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 06:56:00 GMT

Treasurer Tim makes the New York Times

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:59:03 GMT

Restaurants on the Boston Common?

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 08:57:17 GMT

A capital gains nightmare

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:30:00 GMT

To get a sense of why the state is in financial trouble, take a look at your investment portfolio. Most people are watching the value of their stocks and bonds plummet. There aren't many capital gains to report. If anything, there are losses.

School district mergers? Not so fast

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:54:03 GMT

Mass. not so bad on income tax, horrible for corporate tax

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 06:41:24 GMT

Obama voters against the state income tax?

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:44:23 GMT

Unopposed rates 2008

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:30:09 GMT

How does the state's fiscal crisis affect the Group Insurance Commission?

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 07:05:55 GMT

Conversation: Debt, economic anxiety, and the middle class

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:10:53 GMT

Revenue report cites tax credits

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 10:46:43 GMT

Massachusetts ranks dead last in contested elections

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:17:43 GMT

Real Talk

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 11:55:05 GMT

What Works

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 11:53:45 GMT

Conversation

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:36:42 GMT

Senate Republicans blow back on wind siting bill

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT

The need to regionalize

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT

America's 10 political regions redefined

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT