Local Politics

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Back in the saddle again

Phillipe, who gave up his decades-long co-authorship of this column several months back, made a shocking and unannounced return last week ...
Phillipe returns! Plus, road rage and the hell of war
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | August 06, 2011

Thomas Menino plans to run for mayor of Boston yet again

Tom Menino's final term as mayor? Don't bet on it.

Mark this down: Tom Menino, already the longest-serving mayor in Boston history, will run for re-election in 2013.
Here He Goes Again
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | April 29, 2011

The 13th Annual Muzzle Awards

A year and a half into the Age of Obama, we are learning a lesson we should have figured out long ago — that repression, once in place, is rarely rolled back all the way, and that liberals no less than conservatives are reluctant to give up power.
A look at the dishonorable enemies of free speech and personal liberty in New England
By DAN KENNEDY | July 02, 2010

Homophobe to headline Boston's GospelFest

Donnie McClurkin is one of gospel music's biggest stars. But McClurkin has also drawn fire for his homophobic sermons. Which makes him a curious choice to headline a City of Boston–produced event here later this summer, the annual GospelFest on City Hall
Gay Old Time Dept.
By NOAH SCHAFFER | June 25, 2010

Just hold it

To Portlanders, they're a familiar sight: out-of-town victims potty-dancing around town, pained expressions on their faces, one sip away from having polished off an iced coffee the size of a small child.
Portland loves its tourists, so why won't we give them relief?
By ANGELIQUE CARSON | June 18, 2010

Menino's money problems

David S. Bernstein’s article on the mayor’s feud with the firefighters and allegations that the city’s coffers are bigger than Mayor Tom Menino lets on is one of the only thoughtful treatments of this contract dispute to appear in the media.
Letters to the Boston editor, June 18, 2010
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | June 18, 2010

The Battle of Mission Hill

Oftentimes, inner-city dwellers who have to routinely phone police about disorderly neighbors fear retribution from gangbangers or drug dealers.
Town-versus-gown tempers are boiling over near the Northeastern campus, as residents charge the giant school with 'death by incrementalism'
By CHRIS FARAONE | June 11, 2010

Boston pols bail on Bank of America

In this time of political stridency, where everything is either red or blue, Boston City Councilors have found a potential purple issue that everyone can stand behind, be they radical lefties or Fox News worshippers.
Locovore Banking Dept.
By CHRIS FARAONE | June 11, 2010

Oil, oil, everywhere

It is not enough that British Petroleum’s wounded oil well in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico continues to bleed millions of gallons of viscous crude oil, killing marshes that could offer protection from future hurricanes, destroying habitats for m
BP’s latest eco-crime; City Council Pres. Mike Ross does the right thing; Scott Brown disappoints
By EDITORIAL | 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

Boston tucks away a $125 million windfall

As debate continues over the city’s finances — and whether the city of Boston can afford firefighters’ raises, branch libraries, community-center staffing, and other costs in tight times — the city is planning to quietly tuck away a one-time windfall of
More for Moneybags?
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | May 21, 2010

‘There are no rules’

On April 19, the Globe first reported that arbitrators had awarded the Boston firefighters union a 19-percent raise. By the next morning, both the Globe and the Herald were citing Menino administration figures of a $74 million cost.
The 11th-hour change
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | May 14, 2010

Mayor-Select Marie?

Tom Menino, just a few months into an unprecedented fifth term as Boston’s mayor, has raised eyebrows by hiring State Representative Marie St. Fleur of Dorchester to the newly created, $120,000-a-year position of chief of advocacy and strategic investmen
Some think that Tom Menino is anointing Marie St. Fleur as his successor, but he might just be serving himself
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | May 07, 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

Election attracting urine stains

For those who have felt that the entertainment value of Our Little Towne’s mayoral elections has been in serious decline since the Bud-I’s extended stay in New Jersey, look no further than the RIFuture blog.
Drama queens and vampire squids
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | April 23, 2010

The first Latino mayor?

Until recently, to talk about Angel Taveras was to talk about the future.
Angel Taveras’s moment suddenly arrives
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | April 16, 2010

Joe Paolino weighs a different kind of mayoral run

It had been rumored for some time.
The Independent
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | April 16, 2010

Unsexy Appeal

The annual “Unsexiest Men” survey (April 2) panders to and cultivates negative, cheap-shot male bashing.
Letters to the Boston editor, April 9, 2010
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | 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

Murph’s Last Grasp?

The ever-restless Stephen Murphy is at it again, running anew for state treasurer — just a few months after voters re-elected him to the Boston City Council.
Can Stephen Murphy rally his troops one last time, or is this stab at higher office his last?
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | March 26, 2010

Donkeys kicking Timilty

As if Democrats don't have enough problems with attacks from tea-bagging circus clowns, now one local pol is being targeted by fellow donkeys.
Governor's Council
By CHRIS FARAONE | February 19, 2010

Should non-citizens vote?

We Americans know we don't like taxation without representation in our democracy, but should we allow participation without naturalization?
Government Reform
By JEFF INGLIS | 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

What now?

Representative Patrick J. Kennedy's campaigns were always about something far larger than Rhode Island's First Congressional District, which snakes from Burrillville down through the Blackstone Valley and into Newport.
Kennedy's exit rewrites the political game book.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | February 19, 2010

The war over peace

In the early infancy of this five-week-old year, Boston has been rocked by four homicides and 10 non-fatal shootings. By the time this goes to print, there may well be more.
A decade after the 'Boston Miracle,' violent crime has again overtaken parts of the city. Can the miracle makers create a new peace?
By CHRIS FARAONE | February 05, 2010

Review: Petition

This distressing documentary explores a netherworld of individuals who have come to Beijing from all over China hoping that their grievances against their local governments will be heard.
A modern tragedy based on unchanging conflict
By CHRIS FUJIWARA | January 29, 2010

Starting to clear Maine’s broadband backlog

The biggest obstacle between Mainers and more, better, faster broadband Internet access is actually a very basic one: there's a lack of information about what kind of Internet service is already available where.
Mapping the Internet
By JEFF INGLIS | January 29, 2010

Aftershock

From the second that the Richter scale registered at 7.0 in Haiti, a desperate grief rippled through Hyde Park, Dorchester, and other corners of this region, which is home to the third-largest Haitian population in America.
More than 1500 miles from the epicenter of the Haitian quake, its effects rippled through Boston's teeming Haitian community
By CHRIS FARAONE | January 22, 2010

What’s next for Cicilline?

Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline rode into office seven years ago as the fresh-faced anti-Buddy. Bleach for a soiled City Hall.
After a couple of tough years — and some jabs from Buddy — how bright is his political future?
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | January 22, 2010

Green school. Red light?

Little girls and boys frolic on swing sets whittled from recycled beech wood.
At-large City Councilor John Connolly sets his sights on creating multi-million-dollar environmental academy.
By CHRIS FARAONE | January 08, 2010

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