Gov. Deval Patrick threw $60 million at South Coast Rail on Monday, and he told New Bedford and Fall River residents that they’re thisclose to finally getting their commuter train into Boston. “You’re right on the threshold,” Patrick told the New Bedford Standard-Times. “And I want to ride that first train.” The South Coast has […]
CommonWealth Staff
Posted inPolitics
Casino cannibalism
Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly voted to uphold the state’s casino gambling law earlier this month. By a margin of 20 percentage points, voters rejected a ballot question that would have repealed the 2011 law that legalized casinos in Massachusetts. The victory was a huge win for the casino industry, which has been buffeted by a regional […]
Posted inOpinion
Fall 2014 correspondence and updates
UMass endowment story off mark CommonWealth Magazine was correct in pointing out that the University of Massachusetts endowment has grown dramatically, from $38.5 million in 1995 to today’s nearly $750 million. But the article’s premise that the university’s investment strategy has been overly conservative in today’s financial markets defies the facts and misses what is […]
Posted inPolitics
What the light Probation sentences mean
The light sentences handed down on Thursday in the Probation Department patronage scandal sent a clear signal to Beacon Hill that federal prosecutors proved only half their case. Federal judge William Young sentenced former Probation commissioner John O’Brien to 18 months in jail, top aide Elizabeth Tavares to three months, and William Burke III to […]
Posted inPolitics
Fall River follies
Since 2010, Massachusetts voters statewide have marched to the polling booth eight times for primary, general, and special elections and there have been at least 13 other special elections with accompanying primaries to fill state House and Senate seats as well as a Congressional seat, not to mention the myriad of biennial local elections. It’s […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, Transportation
Boston’s data doldrums
The Globe reports today that nobody in Boston City Hall or in the state’s transportation bureaucracy knows whether Boston streets are models of safety or hotbeds of carnage because Boston doesn’t share its road crash data with anyone. The report is the latest indication that, although government agencies are putting effort into collecting data, they […]
Posted inEconomy
For casino proponents, it all adds up to jobs
Penn National just broke ground on its Plainville slots parlor, the Plainridge Park Casino, a few months ago. It won’t open until next spring. But the racetrack casino will begin hiring in September — just in time to use newly-minted casino employees to beat back a casino repeal referendum in November. Casinos across the northeast […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker and the GOP immigration dilemma
Republicans knew early in 2012 that they were staring at demographic obsolescence, and that the only way to stave off a prolonged trip to the electoral wilderness was to broaden their base, and adopt a more liberal stance on immigration. Instead, the party tacked to the right, and handed President Obama a second term in […]
Posted inThe Download
Wegmans has the sizzle while Market Basket burns
As the Arthur S. Demoulas clan continues to fiddle while the Market Basket legacy burns, there is another entrant quietly moving into in the lucrative Massachusetts grocery store sector. This fall, Wegmans, a popular, upscale supermarket chain will land on Market Basket’s turf in Burlington. The chain, which already has a store in Chestnut Hill, […]
Posted inThe Download
DeLeo on offensive
House Speaker Robert DeLeo has been on the offensive recently, and very little of it has relied on charm. DeLeo has made the rounds with television reporters. He’s battering the state judiciary’s point man on corruption inside the state Probation Department, and swiping at one-time legislative lieutenants. DeLeo’s current offensive isn’t all that different from […]