George Donnelly

It can’t be any fun to want to be a loyal backer of President Biden, only to look at the ground and realize you are standing on quicksand. Such has been the situation of Gov. Healey, who is watching the migrant crisis suck the oxygen out of her administration, and whose primary option is to complain. Then […]

Earlier this week two Boston cops arrived at the scene of a melee outside of the AMC movie theater by the Common where 150 teens were on the street. One cop was dragged to the ground and kicked; another was put in a chokehold. Ultimately four teens and two 12-year-olds were arrested. Order was restored, […]

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu knows that abundant and effective communication is critical in managing a metropolis, which explains her new role as an author — and so far, a prolific one — on the Substack platform. Why let the media muddle the message when you can go directly to the people? Her latest missive is something of a […]

What is it about having leeway to miss a deadline that inspires so many to blow past it, in effect borrowing more time and energy from the victims of the procrastination? It’s only human, after all, when you know the option to kick the can down the road is there. And when there are 200 humans […]

Are we a commonwealth or a collection of headstrong duchies, each determined to make its own rules? That is one question that arises from Andrew Brinker’s very interesting Boston Globe story about leaders in Middleborough, Mass. thumbing their nose at new zoning requirements designed to generate more housing in communities with MBTA access.  When it […]

Massachusetts is a proverbial fat cow, having fed on the sweet grass of excess tax revenue and federal relief funds. So fat that the domestic beast can barely walk across a field and is dying to be milked. Should lawmakers share the bounty of the cow with their constituents or anticipate that the fields may […]

Happy Monday, and please do stay vigilant for any random UFOs in your area. Meanwhile on firm ground, Massachusetts is adapting to almost total one-party rule. Voters historically have liked a check against Democratic Party dominance, which in part explains the ascent of Bill Weld, Paul Cellucci, Mitt Romney and Charlie Baker despite meager Republican […]

When former Speaker Bob DeLeo and his deputies moved to eliminate a short-lived reform effort limiting the number of terms House Speakers could serve, the Herald and others were quick to dub him Speaker for Life. Now comes Senate President Karen Spilka’s Ways and Means chair Michael Rodrigues, proposing that the Senate remove the bonds […]

We aren’t the types to whine about the occasional obtuseness in the Legislature, but we are mystified from time to time. One such head-scratcher: the lack of action on so-called home equity theft. Massachusetts is among several states that allows municipalities and private companies to seize excess equity from homeowners during the foreclosure process. But […]

It’s that time of year when a lot of smart people gather to predict the unpredictable: state tax revenue for the upcoming fiscal year. The consensus revenue hearing is scheduled for tomorrow (11 a.m. Room A-2), bringing together House and Senate budget chiefs Aaron Michlewitz and Michael Rodrigues, newly appointed Administration and Finance Secretary Matt […]