It has been a decade since Newton voters approved a Prop 2 and 1/2 override, and Mayor Setti Warren would like to change that. Accordingly, he has worked hard not to make the same mistake as did his predecessor, namely, going for an override before putting the Garden City's fiscal house in order and making sure …
Down time for Deval
A scant two weeks after Deval Patrick got to savor his friend Barack Obama's reelection, a victory in which he played an important role, the Massachusetts Governor has returned to his administration's realities on the ground. And the headlines aren't pretty. It wasn't bad enough that his administration, especially his public health officials and human services secretary, …
Boston students deserve more learning, less busing
This fall, after 27 months of bitter negotiations, the Boston Teachers Union accepted a contract providing new forms of teacher evaluation and remediation for under-performing teachers. At the same time, they turned thumbs down on extending the school day by 45 minutes. That's a pity because, if there's one things students need, it's more time in …
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Hope springs, at least for now
Congress returns to work tomorrow, and there are a few reasons to be hopeful that the two parties may be able to negotiate a solution to the fiscal crisis, the so-called fiscal cliff that looms ahead. House Speaker John Boehner has indicated that he would accept new revenues (elimination of deductions and exemptions if not an …
John Tierney: snatching victory from the jaws of defeat
Just as the Boston Herald was unable to sway voters with obsessively demeaning Elizabeth Warren as an affirmative action princess "Fauxcohontas," so too did the Boston Globe fail to run John Tierney out of office, using barrels and barrels of ink to repeat the slimy story alleging Tierney must have known about the money that wife …
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Warren victory a high point
Massachusetts finally did it! It elected a woman to the U.S. Senate. And what a woman she is! After a miserable campaign start, in which she turned off even her supporters by appearing too prim, preachy, professorial and sometimes suffocatingly earnest, Elizabeth Warren finally got it. As the campaign moved away from her disappointing handling of the nettlesome …
Election outcome clearcut; the future, not so much
Last night's outcome was clearcut and gratifying, but the future is as complicated as ever. President Obama performed beyond many expectations in the electoral votes, garnering nearly 100 more than Romney before final numbers are in from Florida. Obama carried all the swing states but North Carolina. He won among women, minorities and young people - everyone but whites, …
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Driven to tears by campaign excesses
I agree with this four-year-old child in Colorado, driven to tears by the election. Politico made public that National Public Radio apologized to this adorable child whose pain I share. I find I'm repeating to myself the NPR mantra of "only a few more days, only a few more days, only a few more days." I'm sick …
Leading newspaper wimps out on editorial endorsements
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has announced it will no longer endorse political candidates, except in some rare undefined instances. What a travesty! Let's face it. A newspaper or television station's endorsement of a candidate probably has little impact on how most people cast their ballots on the highest visibility races. But that newspaper or television …
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Obama wins on substance; Romney, on strategy
The Mitt Romney who showed up at last night's foreign policy debate agreed with President Obama on the majority of issues discussed and points raised. And, because the President has been dealing with them on the ground for nearly four years, he spoke with greater specificity, authenticity and authority. But, even though Mitt Romney did a …
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Marjorie Arons-Barron 