Christie has lost more than weight since the GW Bridge back-up

If Chris Christie runs for president,  do we agree that "I'll get the country moving again" won't be his campaign slogan? But such a campaign, if it ever happens, is a political lifetime away.  A more immediate concern to the Tony Soprano of politicians  is whether there will be more revelations regarding what he knew about the …

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What will it take to protect kids from abuse?

This week, Attorney General Martha Coakley is responding to the disappearance of 5-year-old Jeremiah Oliver of  Fitchburg while supposedly under state supervision by presenting a proposal to form a child protective division within the Department of Children and Families.  Jeremiah's disappearance went on for months and was eventually made public, not by DCF but by his sister telling school …

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Walsh celebrates community at swearing-in

New is good.  New is exciting.  New is full of promise.  That seemed the mood at Boston College today when Martin Joseph Walsh was sworn in as the 54th mayor of Boston, the  first new Boston mayor inaugurated in the 21st century. Public ceremonies like inaugurations are supposed to bind together in shared values all …

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Catching up on movies

For much of the year, my husband and I debate whether a movie is worth seeing on a big screen or relegated to Netflix. But our winter holiday tradition is to binge on in-theater movies during the last 10 days of the year. Friends have asked me what I liked, and so here goes. We believe what …

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Headlines to hope for in 2014

Each year, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial page editor Tom Waseleski prepares for the New Year an aspirational list of headlines.  For several years, I have shamelessly borrowed the idea and herewith present my own suggestions, with precious little expectation that we will see them atop newspapers, magazines or teasing newscasts in 2014.  Please send your own in the …

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2014 Mass. gubernatorial primaries up for grabs

Today's papers announced the latest entrant in the 2014 race for governor: a Tea Party challenger to Charlie Baker for the Republican nomination. Mark Fisher, a Shrewsbury resident and newbie at electoral politics, runs a metal manufacturing company. His website has a family photo album and an issues list that starts and ends with eliminating Turnpike tolls.  …

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Hubie: 80 and going strong!

The marquee of the Citi Center for the Performing Arts, still known as the Wang, was lit up on Wednesday evening.  In bold colors and a dominating photo it read "Hubie80!"  For years now, Boston has known that "Hubie" is Hubie Jones, a man who has made an incomparable impact on this city. He came …

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Elizabeth Warren: too much too soon?

Elizabeth Warren insists she is not running for President, most recently this past Sunday on Channel 5's On the Record program. This is a good thing.  There's been too much  bandwagon buzz about a possible Warren presidential candidacy, with even estimable Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi quick to portray Warren as a contender. Such effusiveness is getting …

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MGM Resorts chief shows the house is in control

MGM Resorts International Chairman and CEO James J. Murren was the house controlling the game in his speech Thursday to the Boston College CEO's Club.  As with all CEO's Club luncheons, the event invitation promised remarks plus opportunities for questions and answers, but Murren went on for so long that there was no time for …

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To clap or not to clap

Presidents have their social secretaries to tell them when to applaud during a White House concert. The rest of us, President Obama says, are on our own. But some of today's rigid rules need rethinking. Last Saturday night at the Boston Symphony, Peter Serkin  performed brilliantly as soloist playing  the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2.  The first movement …

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