The view from $10m up

What the ultra-luxury invasion of Downtown Crossing means for Boston

By Bruce Mohl Growth and Development 1 Comment Apr 10, 2017

Research assistance by Michael Malpiede BOSTON’S DOWNTOWN CROSSING has always been a crossroads, a place where subways, streets, and people from all walks of life intersect. Foot traffic tended to be heaviest during the day, with the area emptying out at night after the stores shut down. But that’s starting to change. Emerson College and(...)

Economy/ Education

Voc-tech tension

Massachusetts vocational schools are a big success story, but are they shutting out those who might need them most?

By Michael Jonas vocational-technical education 4 Comments Apr 10, 2017

Photographs by Mark Ostow KELSEY CLARK, A SENIOR at Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School, is showing a visitor work from her graphic design portfolio. There is a pointillism-style poster she drew for an assignment to promote a rock concert (she says it left her practically drawing dots in her sleep). A brightly(...)

Drugs/ Economy

Holyoke’s mayor isn’t afraid of pot

Alex Morse sees potential for urban farming in his old city’s mills

By Ted Siefer business, Economy, Gateway Cities, Legal marijuana, Medical marijuana, Urban farming 2 Comments Apr 10, 2017

Photographs by Mark Morelli OUTSIDE HOLYOKE CITY HALL is a stone fountain that once gurgled with water, offering a more wholesome substitute for alcohol to “a thirsty humanity,” as the inscription reads. Erected in 1901, the monument was one of several put up by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union around the country as part of(...)

Health/ Health Care/ Technology

Death of a cancer lab

Once-thriving publicly funded research program driven into bankruptcy by questionable characters

By Jack Sullivan Cancer research, Courts, Health Care, Nonprofit, Taxes and Budget Issues, Technology 1 Comment Apr 10, 2017

FEW PLACES HAVE the resources and brain power to match Boston when it comes to biomedical research, including the search for effective ways to treat and prevent cancer. Internationally renowned hospitals, combined with some of the leading universities in the world, make the region a magnet for top researchers and the funding that fuels their(...)

Tracking Transportation/ Politics/ Transportation

The evolution of Stephanie Pollack

Why a life-long Democrat became one of Charlie Baker’s biggest backers

By Bruce Mohl Governor Baker, Massachusetts Department of Transportation, MBTA, State Government, Stephanie Pollack, Taxes and Budget Issues, Technology 2 Comments Apr 10, 2017

Photographs by Frank Curran STEPHANIE POLLACK AND Charlie Baker are the odd couple of Massachusetts politics. Pollack is short and Baker is tall. She’s a lifelong Democrat and he’s a lifelong Republican. She supported Deval Patrick in 2010; Baker was running against Patrick during that race. She’s a progressive with a history of pushing higher(...)

Politics

Steve Lynch’s balancing act

Is the lunch-bucket Democrat out of step with his own party?

By Shawn Zeller Congress, Democrats, Election 2018, Massachusetts politics, National Politics, President Trump, Steve Lynch 3 Comments Apr 10, 2017

NO ONE WOULD question the wisdom of a gambler who put money on US Rep. Stephen Lynch securing another easy win next year. Still, the odds are changing a bit, in part because the demographics of his district are changing and the Democratic Party in Massachusetts is moving away from him to the left. Since(...)

Politics

The road less traveled

Distance from Boston is an obstacle to statewide office

By Jack Sullivan Beacon Hill, Elections, State Government 0 Comments Apr 10, 2017

GREATER BOSTON IS the breeding ground for the state’s top politicians. Going back to 1900, three out of every four constitutional officers came from within 25 miles of Boston. Go out 50 miles, and the percentage rises to 85 percent. Most analysts say the state’s political axis tilts toward Greater Boston because that’s where the(...)

Environment

Judy Grinnell’s river rehab

After a decade overseeing Hoosic River Revival, she is stepping away

By Linda Enerson Environment 0 Comments Apr 10, 2017

Photograph by Frank Curran What’s the Hoosic River Revival all about? The Hoosic River trickles through downtown North Adams within old, concrete, inaccessible flood control chutes that protect the city but don’t provide any other advantages. Our goal is to create a 21st century system that restores the river to a more natural state and(...)

Health Care

Red states dodge a Medicaid bullet

Under-the-radar attempt to repeal entitlement unlikely to go away

By Edward M Murphy Congress, Health Care, MassHealth, Medicaid, National Politics, President Trump, Republicans, Taxes and Budget Issues 0 Comments Apr 10, 2017

REPUBLICANS IN WASHINGTON couldn’t cobble together enough votes in March from their own party to repeal and replace Obamacare. President Trump learned that health care is more complicated than he thought and quickly put the Affordable Care Act in his rearview mirror. House Republicans, who had symbolically voted dozens of times to repeal the ACA,(...)

Health Care

Bending the Medicaid cost curve

Massachusetts is betting big on accountable care organizations

By John E. McDonough and William Seligman Accountable Care Organizations, Congress, Health Care, MassHealth, Medicaid, Obamacare, Taxes and Budget Issues 0 Comments Apr 10, 2017

IN A WILDLY uncertain national health care environment, something new, audacious, and risky is happening in MassHealth, the Medicaid program that provides health coverage to 1.9 million people who are poor, elderly, and persons with disabilities in Massachusetts. Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration is betting that an emerging health care delivery and payment model, called “accountable(...)