IT ALL SEEMS so much the same. The preening self-regard and references to his singular abilities and strength, evoking his 2016 Republican National Convention speech declaring, “I alone can fix” what ails the country. The personal digs at his political adversaries. The reckless disregard for facts. One thing, however, already seems different about Donald Trump’s […]
News Analysis
Posted inNews Analysis
One-party rule returns to Beacon Hill
FOR DECADES IT has served as a winning argument for electing Republican governors in deep-blue Massachusetts: A Republican in the corner office is a sensible check on the impulses of the Democratic-dominated Legislature. In January, however, that equation will be scrambled for only the second time in 32 years, with Democratic attorney general Maura Healey […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Election winners and losers
GO TO CommonWealth’s homepage for stories on the big races, including Maura Healey’s historic victory in the race for governor. What else did we learn from Tuesday’s election about the big winners and losers? SMASHING THE CEILING Women were big winners in Massachusetts, as Healey led a statewide Democratic ticket to victory that will result […]
Posted inPolitics
A sudden flash of the ‘Troubles’ and Boston’s tribal past
ADD THE SCRATCHY sound effect of recordings from the 1920s and 30s, close your eyes, and it was possible for a moment to think the thundering from City Hall was James Michael Curley stoking his base, claiming Boston’s Catholics were again under attack by the imperious Brahmins who had so long subjugated them and held […]
Posted inNews Analysis
For Diehl, a curious dance on abortion
TO VOTERS WHO may be turned off by Geoff Diehl’s pro-life stand on abortion, his pitch to consider voting for him for governor anyway comes packaged in an usual argument for someone seeking the state’s top elected office: Don’t worry, I’ll be powerless to do anything about it. That was essentially Diehl’s message last week […]
Posted inEconomy
Mass. small businesses going through transition period
THE MASSACHUSETTS SMALL business economy is struggling to recover from COVID-19, even as it enters a major and time-sensitive transitional period. Many long-time small business owners are eying the exits, planning for their retirement and the sale of their businesses. Newer, more diverse entrepreneurs are looking to grow their businesses, but face barriers to realizing […]
Posted inPolitics
Is new poll a Diehl breaker?
THE HEADLINE IS not exactly the sort of unqualified boost that campaigns usually go out of their way to promote. But if you’re running for governor of Massachusetts as the Trump-backed Republican nominee, you take what you can get. So it is that the homepage of Geoff Diehl’s campaign website, under latest news and press, […]
Posted inEducation
Wu walked fine line in superintendent pick
IT’S A FRAUGHT TIME for the Boston Public Schools – and not just because of the recent pressure from state officials, who held the threat of receivership over the system in order to reach an agreement with the city on an aggressive timeline for reform of basic district functions. The city, which has operated under […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Roe overturned: What you need to know
This article is reprinted with permission of The Conversation, which compiles contents on a variety of subjects and makes it available to media organizations. logo-horizontal-en-6374a439416242a04d05435431638ec5 THE SUPREME COURT decided by a 6-3 majority to uphold Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. In doing so, the justices overturned two key decisions protecting access […]
Posted inEducation
For Boston schools, a reckoning with no simple answers
THINK OF DANIELLE MILLER and Mary Tamer as the rock and hard place between which state and city leaders sit as they try to figure out a plan for the Boston Public Schools. Miller, the parent of a special needs student at the Clap Elementary School in Dorchester, told members of the state Board of […]