In Washington, the fight over the nation’s health care future is full of drama. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who is dealing with brain cancer, vowed to return to Capitol Hill today to vote on whether to begin debate on repealing the Affordable Care Act. And President Trump is making it very clear where he […]
Current Affairs
Posted inThe Download
A Metco take-down
The headline on the Sunday Globe front-page story suggested the 50-year-old school integration program known as Metco was a mixed bag, but the story painted an almost uniformly dismal picture of students’ experience with the initiative. “As Metco turns 50, students find promise, but also pain, in their suburban schools,” read the balanced headline atop […]
Posted inThe Back Story
Political payback and whatnot
JAMES VALLEE. CHARLEY Murphy. John Rogers. Jonathan Hecht. To that list of past and present lawmakers, you can add state Rep. Russell Holmes as someone who has crossed House Speaker Robert DeLeo and paid the price. Holmes, a four-term legislator with a background in financial planning, was removed earlier this week as House vice chairman of […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download
As the Globe churns
The newspaper industry is volatile enough because of outside pressures that stability at the top is a requirement to ensure as smooth a ride as possible in navigating the shifting dynamics of the changing business. But with the abrupt and immediate resignation of Boston Globe president and CEO Doug Franklin on Tuesday, owner John Henry […]
Posted inThe Download
Baker (still) flying high
It’s great to be on top. Just ask Gov. Charlie Baker. The Republican governor has maintained his No. 1 ranking in the latest Morning Consult poll showing America’s Most and Least Popular Governors. Baker clocks in with a 71 percent approval rating, with just 17 of state voters disapproving of his performance. His steady popularity […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download
Hingham drama
For a small, toney town, Hingham generates an awful lot of news. The latest comes in Sunday’s Boston Globe with the recounting of a suicide by a distraught 26-year-old man whose parents claim a show of force by police led him to shoot himself despite warnings that a confrontation would heighten, rather than resolve, the […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: Trash talk
CommonWealth ran a cover story in January 2015 that featured a photo of a dump truck unloading trash at a massive landfill in New Bedford. The headline, drifting in the center of the page amid all the stinking refuse, was: “Seriously, is this the best we can do?” Now, more than two years later, we’re […]
Posted inThe Download
Another side to pot billboard
A billboard dispute in South Boston is proof that people can look at the same image and see something very different. The billboard carried this message: “States that legalized marijuana had 25% fewer opioid-related deaths.” The ad was paid for by Weedmaps, a California-based company that runs a website guide to medical marijuana dispensaries. […]
Posted inThe Download
Galvin throws shade on Millennium tower deal
Long ago, Beacon Hill insiders used to call then-Rep. William Galvin the Prince of Darkness because of his penchant for intrigue and political machinations. But now Galvin is coming to be known as the Lord of Light, the guy championing sunshine, not shadows, on Boston Common. As secretary of state and the overseer of the […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
Getting Obama out of Obamacare
It really shouldn’t be this hard, should it? When one party has the White House and both chambers of Congress, passing legislation and fulfilling promises should be a snap, one would think. Case in point was the passage of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, that was enshrined by a Democratic Congress and a Democratic president, […]