Millionaires Ball

By Shaun Sutner 0 Comments Jul 25, 2006

After the Clean Elections fiasco, campaign finance laws leave politics to the rich and the long in office Summer 2006 gentlemen (and women), check your wallets. On your marks. Get set. Go. It’s off to the races, with a stable of millionaires dominating the 2006 campaign for governor and pouring an unprecedented amount of their(...)

Criminal Justice

The price of justice

By Robert David Sullivan 0 Comments Jul 25, 2006

despite its lower-than-average crime rate, Massachusetts ranks near the top in state spending per capita on the criminal-justice system. One reason is that the Bay State tends to spend more on all government functions, but the percentage of financial resources devoted to fighting crime is also high here. As of 2003, nearly one in seven(...)

Economy/ Politics

Statistically Significant

By Robert David Sullivan Ethics and Open Government, Taxes and Budget Issues 0 Comments Jul 25, 2006

Illustrations By Travis Foster hedging on pork futures Notwithstanding our fame as the site of the “Big Pig” tunnel project, the Bay State gets only scraps of pork from the federal government, according to Citizens Against Government Waste. The “taxpayer watchdog” group says that Massachusetts won $18.25 in “pork per capita” in fiscal year 2006,(...)

Economy

Devens advances toward independence

By Ray Hainer Growth and Development 0 Comments Jul 25, 2006

devens This former US Army base has turned into limbo for the 250 or so people who now live here. Depending on their address, they vote in Ayer or Harvard, two towns that contributed land for the base in 1917. Because the Devens community is too small to support its own school system, their children(...)

Health Care

DC think tanks have unpredictable reactions to the Massachusetts health care plan

By Shawn Zeller 0 Comments Jul 25, 2006

when edward kennedy ascended the State House steps in April to praise the Legislature’s passage of a bill that aims to ensure that every Massachusetts resident has health care coverage, the state’s senior senator appeared to be playing to type. Kennedy spoke in grandiose terms, praising Gov. Mitt Romney and State House leaders for setting(...)

Arts and Culture/ Economy

Anthony Flints This Land takes a whack at suburban sprawl

By Robert Keough Growth and Development 0 Comments Jul 25, 2006

This Land:The Battle over Sprawl and the Future of AmericaBy Anthony FlintBaltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 310 pages with gov. mitt Romney a self-declared lame duck, it is by no means too soon to begin discussing his legacy. Among the chattering classes, that topic is already inviting smirks of derision. As Romney engages in the(...)

Environment

Beyond Cape Wind

By Ian Bowles 0 Comments Jul 25, 2006

Filling up at the gas station for a weekend on Cape Cod has taken on new significance this summer as prices hover around $3 a gallon. High energy prices have long contributed to the cost of living and doing business in Massachusetts. But now, as the crunch seems to be getting worse, energy could represent(...)

Uncategorized

No brakes

By Robert David Sullivan Demographics 0 Comments Jul 25, 2006

if you thought the Bay State’s flat population growth meant more room for parking, forget it. According to the state Department of Revenue, the number of registered passenger vehicles in Massachusetts grew 6.6 percent from January 2000 to January 2005, while the number of people living here crept up by 1.1 percent over roughly the(...)

Politics

Maynard Highs radio station lives to broadcast another day

By Dan Kennedy Media and Journalism 0 Comments Jul 25, 2006

sometime around the middle of September a switch will be flicked, and the airwaves of Maynard will once again be filled with local music shows, community announcements, high school football games, and church services. This might seem unremarkable. After all, tiny WAVM Radio (91.7 FM) has been broadcasting from Maynard High School since 1974, and(...)

Criminal Justice/ Politics

Flirting with Disaster

By Gabrielle Gurley State Government 0 Comments Jul 25, 2006

Route 1, in Saugus, took a dipduring this May’s floods.Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald when disaster strikes, the planning that happened ahead of time means everything. With that in mind, shortly after taking office in January, Methuen Mayor William Manzi tapped former state secretary of public safety James Jajuga to study the city’s emergency preparedness.(...)