Betting on the House

By Shawn Zeller 0 Comments Apr 17, 2008

If Gov. Deval Patrick represents the new face of liberalism in the Massachusetts Democratic Party, 14-term Congressman Barney Frank is the unabashed older version. But both men believe that government programs can improve the lives of citizens, and they are not hesitant to say that the government needs more revenue to fund them. Patrick and(...)

Transportation

Statistically Significant

By Robert David Sullivan Demographics 0 Comments Apr 17, 2008

BUSES TAKE A HEAVY TOLL ON THE T Passenger fares accounted for only 29 percent of operating expenses on the MBTA during 2006, according to new data from the Federal Transit Administration, or well below the national average of 34 percent. The biggest drain was the bus fleet, which brought in enough revenue to cover(...)

Economy

What works

By B.J. Roche Cost of Living and Consumer Affairs 0 Comments Apr 17, 2008

LOCAL GROWERS COMPETE IN COLLEGE CAFETERIAS It used to be a source of frustration in small towns in western and central Massachusetts that the contract for school milk would go to out-of-town dairies because the cost was lower. But over the past five years, Dining Services at the University of Massachusetts–Amherst (where I teach) has(...)

Politics

Needs improvement

By Robert David Sullivan State Government 0 Comments Apr 17, 2008

Here’s one report card that Massachusetts might want to hide: Governing magazine and the Pew Center on the States gave the state a “C” in their Grading the States report, released in early March. As the map below indicates, only New Hampshire and Rhode Island got lower grades for how well their state governments are(...)

Arts and Culture/ Uncategorized

Your town, USA

By James V. Horrigan 0 Comments Apr 17, 2008

walk into a bookstore almost anywhere in America and you’ll find a shelf full of thin paperback books with distinctive sepia-toned covers. Light on text, heavy on photos, numbingly similar in format and content, they’re volumes in Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series of local history books. Since 1994, Arcadia has put out more than(...)

Politics

Your blog of blogs

By Dan Kennedy Media and Journalism 0 Comments Apr 17, 2008

Illustration by Nick Galifianakis HERE’S WHAT Adam Gaffin finds frustrating. He’s in his car, heading for a meeting in Framingham, where he works in tech publishing. He’s got the radio tuned to WBZ. And news is breaking — a fire, a shooting, a derailment on the MBTA, whatever. What he’d like to do is park(...)

Uncategorized/ Opinion

Out of favor

By Birny Birnbaum 0 Comments Apr 17, 2008

in 2007, massachusetts Insurance Commissioner Nonnie S. Burnes announced the end of the auto insurance regulatory regime that had been in place for decades. Burnes proclaimed that the time had come for the state’s “fix-and-establish” method of auto insurance regulation to be replaced by “managed competition.” And she predicted consumers would see greater choice and(...)

Economy

Job seekers

By Robert David Sullivan Cost of Living and Consumer Affairs, Growth and Development 0 Comments Apr 17, 2008

UPDATE: The Bay State’s unemployment rate over the 2009 calendar year was 8.4 percent, far above the 4.5 percent that we found worrying in 2007. See the map below for 2009 town-by-town figures, or get the 2007 and 2009 data as an Excel spreadsheet or PDF. The highest unemployment rates in 2009 were in Provincetown(...)

Economy/ Politics/ Opinion

Beyond the box

By Stephen Kidder State Government, Taxes and Budget Issues 0 Comments Apr 17, 2008

government often uses task forces and special commissions in a somewhat dubious fashion — either as a graveyard for an initiative by burying it in endless analysis, or as a rubber stamp for the initiative by stacking the commission with allies who will provide ostensibly objective third-party support. So it was with some initial skepticism(...)

Uncategorized

Editors Note

By Bruce Mohl 0 Comments Apr 17, 2008

Sometimes you get lucky. I bumped into photographer Bill Brett walking through Downtown Crossing in January. He told me about his latest book project, which led to an interesting conversation with him about Boston and the chance to run a number of his new photos, including the cover shot of Morgan Freeman. Having a movie(...)

Spring 2008