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. Four of the House districts have Latino majorities, […]
State House News Service
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
A Warren buffet
The national punditocracy continues to salivate over a presumed Elizabeth Warren-Scott Brown match-up. The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne rushes to Warren’s defense after George Will’s full-throated broadside against her as “modern liberalism incarnate.” However, Dionne, a fan of Will’s, can’t quite bring himself to come down too hard on his conservative colleague, so he splits […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
DiMasi sentenced to eight years
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Former House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, once arguably the most powerful man in Massachusetts, was hit Friday with an eight-year jail sentence for his conviction on charges that he sold his office for personal gain, the harshest punishment ever doled out in a Massachusetts public corruption case. If he serves his full […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Scott Brown’s secret
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. The first story is a bit of fluff, but the picture of Brown in combat fatigues being met by his wife at Logan Airport as he returns from […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
UMass chief calls debt ‘untenable’
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE The growing cost of covering debt is crowding out the ability of the University of Massachusetts’s five campuses to invest in faculty, staff and other projects and is driving up tuition and fees for students, UMass president Robert Caret said Wednesday. “It’s just untenable,” Caret said during a State House hearing […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Murray calls Brown a ‘last-minute Larry’
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Lt. Gov. Tim Murray sharpened the Democratic Party’s attack on Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown on Wednesday, labeling him a “last-minute Larry” reluctant to lead on controversial issues as they move through Congress. “What we need in Washington is leadership, not last-minute Larry,” Murray told the News Service, repeating the phrase […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Speedy bridge repairs
UPDATE: This story has been updated to include comments from Governor Patrick Twelve down and two to go. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is currently on track to complete the replacement of 14 structurally deficient bridges on Interstate 93 in Medford by the end of the summer. The project has drawn raves from the Federal […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
FAA funding debate may not fly with public
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 […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Black holes
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 […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
Retail politics
In Washington, politicians are fighting over debt. Closer to home, it’s groceries they get all worked up about. The mayors of Somerville and Boston are currently beating up on Wal-Mart. The discount retailer is looking to urban expansion to boost flagging sales at its suburban and exurban superstores. That effort is bringing Wal-Mart into conflict […]