There’s been a lot of talk about the MBTA’s plan to install a new fare collection system, most of it focused on the problems associated with going cashless. The concerns were exemplified by a headline in the Boston Globe last week that said: “The MBTA wants to go cashless. What about people who might be left […]
Current Affairs
Posted inThe Download
What’s the standard for Rosenberg?
We have, it seems, crossed the Rubicon in Massachusetts politics regarding sexual harassment with the latest allegations against the husband of Senate President Stan Rosenberg. The bombshell story Thursday from Boston Globe columnist – and one-time State House reporter – Yvonne Abraham gave salacious details of Bryon Hefner grabbing, groping, and kissing advocates and lobbyists […]
Posted inThe Download
Baker will run. Yawn.
Seriously, who thought it was ever a question that Gov. Charlie Baker may not run for reelection next year? Of course, reporters had to ask the question, and, of course, Baker had to play the game. But now that it’s official, the next game begins – where will his votes come from? If you read the polls, pretty […]
Posted inThe Download
Post turns tables on O’Keefe
James O’Keefe, known for his no-holds-barred undercover video stings, had the tables turned on him by the Washington Post. The Post lays out a great yarn about a woman who approached the newspaper saying she had a sexual relationship as a teenager with Roy Moore, the Republican US Senate candidate in Alabama. The woman claimed […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: Gateway Cities come of age
It was 10 years ago that MassINC launched its Gateway Cities initiative with a report documenting the challenges — and huge opportunities — in the state’s once vibrant industrial cities. “Massachusetts’ proud, old manufacturing cities must be counted, on balance, as distressed,” it said. Yet, concluded the report, “For the first time in decades, these […]
Posted inThe Download
Troopergate gets more tangled
The mess in the State Police seems to be getting messier. The head of the department, Col. Richard McKeon, abruptly retired last week in the face of controversy over his orders to subordinates to revise a report on the arrest of a woman who is the daughter of a district court judge. The department’s No. […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: Filling the news hole
Everyone knows about the retrenchment and redistribution of resources by media outlets, especially newspapers. While some regions have filled the vacuum with blogs purporting to be news but are really opinion pages in disguise, true local news and events often go uncovered. Here in Boston, though, some web sites have sustained long enough to become […]
Posted inThe Download
For women, news seems good and bad
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Overused as they are, it seems hard to avoid the sense that the famed first lines describing the runup to the French Revolution also apply this week to the state of things involving women in American society Today’s context, of course, centers on […]
Posted inThe Download
A new start in Framingham, old faces elsewhere
If you’re starting with a fresh form of government, you might as well have a fresh face. At least that’s what Framingham voters thought after giving a convincing win to political newcomer Yvonne Spicer over former selectman and five-time legislator John Stefanini, a major force behind the charter question that turned Framingham into a city. […]
Posted inThe Download
Tufts Medical CEO quote inflames negotiations
Michael Wagner, the CEO of Tufts Medical Center, is trying to walk back controversial comments he made about nurse staffing levels in a bid to get deadlocked contract negotiations with his hospital’s nurses back on track. After 18 months of negotiation, the hospital and its nurses have largely resolved differences over wages and retirement benefits. […]