Domestic Policy

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An education funding formula, hailed as a breakthrough, faces its critics

For years, Rhode Island was one of just two states in the union without a funding formula for its public schools. And then, for a time, it was the only state with that dubious dis-tinction.
Fuzzy math
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | June 25, 2010

Spookin' the horses

Move over, Freddy Krueger. Here come the real scary monsters: Libby Mitchell and Paul LePage.
Scary trumps stupid every time
By AL DIAMON | June 18, 2010

Layers of buying local

When we drink a glass of organic milk, or eat organic pork sausage with our organic scrambled eggs, it’s easy to forget what goes into securing that “organic” label.
Going green
By DEIRDRE FULTON | June 11, 2010

Preparing for June 8

Stuckey vs. Vincent, Capron vs. Sharif, and Barkley vs. Dini
Candidate breakdown for districts 114. 116, and 119
By DEIRDRE FULTON | May 28, 2010

Hire us now, Ms. Gist!

Wow! Bow-wow! How do we get a job to write a speech for state education commissioner Deborah Gist for a cool $10,000?
Will tap dance for free!
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | May 28, 2010

Heck of a Guy

Scott Brown’s stunning victory in January’s special US Senate election continues to reverberate through Massachusetts politics.
Despite a history of illiberal views and a boorish reputation, Guy Glodis enters the Democratic state convention unscathed
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | May 28, 2010

Bragdon vs. Trevorrow, Greens, District 120

Charles Bragdon and Anna Trevorrow vie in the East End legislative race
Primary 2010
By DEIRDRE FULTON | May 21, 2010

Can the Netroots triumph in Rhode island?

Stories of State Representative David Segal’s nascent, underdog run for Congress invariably make a nod to the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. And rightly so.
On the Hustings
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | May 21, 2010

An immigrant song

Arizona has declared war on Mexico. SB1070, the incendiary new immigration bill signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer, has set off national boycotts, lawsuits, protests, and denouncements.
What we can learn from our neighbors to the south
By DAVID KISH | May 14, 2010

Review: 8: The Mormon Proposition

While we were getting decriminalized weed in Massachusetts, a large segment of the population was reeling from the devastating passage of Proposition 8 in California.
Sheds a sad light on Prop 8
By CHRIS FARAONE | May 07, 2010

Cape Wind: It’s Complicated

Thousands of years ago, the terrain beneath what is now Nantucket Sound was dry, and populated by the ancestors of the Wampanoag people, who continue to revere it.
Obama gave the project a green light, but now the real fight begins.
By VALERIE VANDE PANNE | May 07, 2010

Murdoch mishegoss

Never mind that Rupert Murdoch is shelling out better than $2 billion to buy Metromedia’s seven TV stations. Never mind that he’s then turning around and reselling Boston’s WCVB-TV, Channel 5 to the Hearst Corporation for an astounding $450 million.
The new brand of gonzo journalism
By DAVE O'BRIAN | May 07, 2010

Library woes

In an attempt to save four Boston Public Library branches that are slated to close due to budget shortfalls, some state legislators from Boston have threatened to block all state funding the library receives if it shutters any of its 26 branches.
Plus, Arizona declares war on immigrants
By EDITORIAL | April 30, 2010

Stars, bars, and open arms

The first thing I noticed when pulling into the Preble Street parking lot on Back Cove for last Sunday’s open-carry firearm event, which had been organized to encourage Mainers to legally wear their guns in public, was the Confederate flag.
Flags + Guns Dept.
By RICK WORMWOOD | April 30, 2010

Cover the boobs; leave the guns at home

Spring has barely started, and I was expecting a few of the usual seasonal assaults to the eyeballs.
Diverse City
By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | April 30, 2010

Truthlive | Patience

Consider Patience a penance for Seattle-based producer Jake One, who recently laced the soundscape for Philly coke-rapper Freeway’s remarkable Stimulus Package.
IM (2010)
By CHRIS FARAONE | April 23, 2010

Springtime for Militia

I’m scrubbing my armpits in the campground bathroom at Fort Hunt Park in Virginia. It’s taken more than 20 hours for me to get here for today’s firearm-friendly Restore the Constitution rally, which is supposed to commence shortly.
Gun nuts from around the country converge upon the murder capital of the nation, Washington, D.C.
By CHRIS FARAONE | April 23, 2010

Fed up and low down

Just kidding. Of course they’ll lose.
For once, the beleaguered taxpayers of Maine can’t lose
By AL DIAMON | April 23, 2010

Bully pulpit

While I understand, appreciate, and respect the First Amendment and our right to speak freely, in the case of bullying, Harvey Silverglate makes a dangerous assumption that “civilized people, even teenagers can intuit the difference between protected spe
Letters to the Boston editor, April 23, 2010
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | April 23, 2010

Shaking up the school system

Rhode Island education commissioner Deborah Gist’s take-charge style could make a winner of a state that often seems destined to fail. But critics say her free-market approach won’t work.
The Reformer
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | April 23, 2010

Financial Reform Proposals

"You broke asshole"
Big Fat Whale
By BRIAN MCFADDEN | April 23, 2010

A wind farm — and a governor’s legacy — hang in the balance

With Governor Carcieri’s second and final term coming to an end, it is time to think about the “L” word — legacy.
Not Easy Being Green
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | April 09, 2010

Lynch’s left flank

US Representative Stephen Lynch has held Massachusetts’s ninth congressional district since 2001 — a fact that has irritated the state’s liberals ever since.
The Southie Congressman may have pushed progressives too far this time.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | April 02, 2010

Extremist Fail

A political story could literally not contain more irony than the story of the USA PATRIOT Act and its effect on the modern extremist right-wing movement.
Letters to the Portland Editor, April 2, 2010
By PORTLAND PHOENIX LETTERS | April 02, 2010

Hallelujah!

The Democrats won and the Republicans lost. That, in a nutshell, is the bottom line.
Health-care reform is a new high-water mark
By EDITORIAL | March 26, 2010

Two and fro

It can be easy to get wrapped up in Portland’s pop and rock scene, the singalong stuff you hear in the clubs and on the radio.
Kolosko and Dimow’s Border Crossings
By SAM PFEIFLE | March 26, 2010

Tanked

The term "think tank" looks as if it signifies something impressive.
A few guppies short
By AL DIAMON | March 19, 2010

Pot bill progresses in Augusta

At the end of February, Topsham became the latest Maine community to consider moratoriums on medical-marijuana dispensaries in the wake of last November's election.
C'Mon Doc ...
By DEIRDRE FULTON | March 12, 2010

Two great flavors

"When I said that I wanted to use 'What We Do' as a single," Freeway explains, "people said it couldn't happen because it didn't have a hook. You know how the rest of that one goes."
Freeway and Jake One team up to lay it down
By CHRIS FARAONE | February 19, 2010

Baldacci, Dems raise broad-based taxes

Despite numerous repeated claims that he and his party will not raise "broad-based taxes" while attempting to solve Maine's decade-old budget disaster, Democratic governor John Baldacci and legislative Democrats have done exactly that, and are now expa
What Promise? Dept.
By JEFF INGLIS | February 19, 2010

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