Yes, it was hard to believe that Marco Rubio was not being vetted as a vice presidential possibility by Mitt Romney. Romney revealed that the Florida senator is under consideration and claimed that an ABC News report to the contrary was off-base. But today Rubio still isn’t talking. Rubio has some obvious qualities that would […]
Politics
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Turner vindicated by SJC ruling
To many of the constituents he once represented, vindication came as a sweet balm late last week when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that convicted former Boston City Councillor Chuck Turner was illegally booted from the city’s legislative body after being found guilty of federal corruption charges. Many of his supporters felt that the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Gambling glitch
The gambling conglomerate bankrolling the efforts to build a tribal casino in Taunton has become embroiled in an apparent pay-to-play scandal in New York, a fact that sheds new light on the different legal regimes Massachusetts’s new gaming law places on tribal and commercial casino operators. Because the firm at the center of the New […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Environment, Politics
Murray rips NRC, Entergy
As the lockout of workers at the Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth continues amid stalled contract negotiations, Senate President Therese Murray had some harsh words Thursday for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. “We don’t know who’s in the plant. We don’t know what their training is, and NRC as usual ignores the town’s and the […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Storrow Drive garage, park proposed
Clarification: Mass Eye and Ear says the profit on the existing Storrow Drive parking lot it leases from the state is less than $500,000 a year. CommonWealth reported it was at least $500,000 a year. The Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary is proposing to build a four-story, 1,000-car garage underneath Storrow Drive and construct a […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Cursing up a storm in Middleborough
If George Carlin could speak from the other side, he’d probably have some choice words for the good citizens of Middleborough, Massachusetts. Middleborough town meeting recently voted to levy a $20 fine against people who use profanity in public. One town resident invoked Carlin’s famous routine about the “seven words you can never say on […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Debating the American Dream
Massachusetts and the nation are no longer teetering on the abyss as we were in 2008, but a deep sense of discomfort has settled in among us. Again and again we hear anxiety about the American Dream and whether it is within reach of us and our children. So I suggest that a debate between […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Bottle law backers press for vote
Supporters of an expanded bottle deposit law said on Tuesday they have the support of a majority of both House and Senate lawmakers but can’t pry the legislation out of committee. In a rally organized by MassPIRG and held on the front steps of the State House, bottle bill advocates said they have enough legislative support […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, The Download
UMass gives, takes away, and gets testy with Patrick
With student loan debt pushing past $1 trillion, Vice President Joe Biden, University of Massachusetts Amherst Chancellor Robert Holub, and representatives from the New York, Maryland, and Texas state university systems and six other institutions announced an unprecedented effort to let the sun shine in on higher education financial aid. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, The Download
Emails reveal Mitt’s embrace of health care mandate
Maybe David Axelrod flew to Boston a week too early. The Wall Street Journal checks in today with what it bills as the most complete inside look at Mitt Romney’s pro-health care mandate activism on Beacon Hill. The newspaper found a way around Romney’s January 2007 data purge, which saw the governor’s top aides take […]