Junkies and wonks get their fill at annual Starting Line breakfast

1 Thursday, March 11, 2010 For those who take their coffee with a strong dose of political commentary, this year’s Starting Line event, hosted by CommonWealth magazine, was a double espresso. Beginning with the Brown election (“it’s still settling in”) to its impact on the governor’s race (“who benefits?”) to talk of a republican uprising

Majoring in something else

A recent Universal Hub post described a job opening at the Metro for a reporter, which prompted me, for the umpteenth time, to be thankful that I decided against entering the field. It’s never a good sign for journalism majors when word of a newspaper hiring a reporter makes the news.  It only serves as

Politics is good business at Ch. 5

In the media, we like to think there’s a bright line between the advertising and news sides, sort of a “church and state and never the twain shall meet” wall. But it appears with the retrenchment of traditional media outlets in political coverage and trying to hold onto readers and viewers, that may be changing,

Carr, Braude sing same tune

Howie Carr and Jim Braude are about as far apart on the political spectrum as you can get, but both of them are singing the same song about the state’s probation service. Carr, the Boston Herald columnist and WRKO talk-show host, has now written two columns dealing with what he calls the “world class hackerama”

Creative economy roundtable shows economic development is fine art

1 Friday, March 5, 2010 MassINC has argued that the benefits of economic development spending should be quantifiable in order to justify taxpayer investment. But we recognize that this is challenging work. Measuring impact requires time, and sensitivity to the different channels through which economic development investments contribute to long-term growth.  At a recent creative

Mitt and African-Americans

If former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney runs for president again, maybe he should just avoid all contact with African-Americans, for these encounters rarely turn out well for him.  In January 2008, Romney provided one of the most cringe-inducing moments of the entire presidential contest when he posed with some African-American school students in Jacksonville, Fl.,

MassINC questions efficacy of film tax credit as jobs generator

Testimony continues organization’s scrutiny of tax incentive programs MassINC Research Director Benjamin Forman testified today on House Bill H3854, “An Act to Protect Massachusetts Taxpayers and Essential State Services,”  calling the state’s film industry tax credit program “well intentioned, but unjustified given the relatively few jobs generated by hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer

Reading habits tough to break, especially today

In the midst of a painful strike at the Daily News in 1990, we in management launched an afternoon edition to try to boost sales in the city, while we battled distribution and retail sales problems.  Our competitor, the New York Post, a morning paper like the flagship edition of the News, had once been

Not a wrap: Why the legislature should pull back on the film tax credit

MassINC Research Director Ben Forman testified today before the Joint Committee on Revenue regarding the fate of the state’s film tax credit, which grants tax breaks to moviemaking companies that shoot in Massachusetts.  The incentive costs taxpayers approximately  $125 million annually, and the Massachusetts legislature is considering capping the measure. Thank you Chairman Kaufman, Chairman

It’s never easy with the T

Sometimes it’s worthwhile to pull the curtain back on the struggles reporters go through in trying to get information one would normally assume would and should be public. Mike Beaudet over at Fox Undercover WFXT-TV (Channel 25) has a post on his blog about a testy correspondence he had with MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo. The
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