Boston Business Journal – Boston World Partnerships shuttered

Commonwealth Magazine reported Thursday that Boston World Partnerships, an economic development networking company, is shutting down.

Norwich Bulletin – Rick Holmes: Can’t we just be friends?
Congressional leaders met with President Barack Obama on Friday at the White House, where they took the next steps in the dance of power that will shape the history of the next two years.

As Bruce Mohl and Sam Obar recall in a recent issue of CommonWealth magazine, Massachusetts governors and leaders of both parties in both houses of the Legislature have been meeting nearly every Monday afternoon for more than 20 years.

South Coast Today – Gateway Cities propelled Warren over Brown in Senate race

Boston Mayor Tom Menino’s voter-turnout machine got much of the credit for propelling Elizabeth Warren past Sen. Scott Brown last week, but the focus on Boston obscures a much more significant shift in support in the state’s Gateway Cities.

Brown swept his way into the Senate in January 2010 by making strong inroads into cities outside Boston that Democrats had traditionally carried by wide margins.

Masslive.com – Letters to the Editor: Holyoke mayor misses chance on casinos

If pie-in-the-sky were a marketable commodity, Holyoke’s Mayor Alex Morse would be the hands-down winner of the Commonwealth Magazine’s pro-versus-con casino debate (reprinted in the Republican on Oct. 14).

Boston Globe – Mass. tax hike on the table for roads and transit

Nearly six years after a bipartisan commission sounded the alarm about a transportation system in a crisis so severe that it carried a shortfall of nearly $1 billion a year, Governor Deval Patrick will ask lawmakers to solve the problem with a plan that includes higher taxes.

But the MassINC poll revealed that 71 percent believe the transportation red ink is a result of “waste and mismanagement,” not insufficient funding — a belief at odds with conclusions of an array of analysts, activists, and policy makers.

Governing Magazine – 11 Cities in Massachusetts Band Together to Solve Urban Ills

Lowell, Mass., is less than 30 miles from Boston, but economically, demographically and educationally, the two cities are much farther apart. The former mill town where Jack Kerouac was born has a stubbornly high unemployment rate, more than one-third of its population is either poor or working poor and less than one-quarter (23 percent) of its residents has some level of college education. Compared to Boston with its highly educated population and robust and diversified economy, Lowell is clearly second tier.

Boston Globe – Drug lab crisis calls out for corrections reform

The scandal at the state drug lab and the pending release of hundreds, possibly thousands of prisoners, is an uncomfortable reminder of the way we operate our criminal justice system even in the absence of a crisis.

In order to break this costly cycle, we need to reexamine the Commonwealth’s policy on incarceration. For over a year, the non-partisan think tank MassINC has been organizing a group of criminal justice and civic leaders to develop a blue state model for the kind of sentencing and corrections reform already achieved in many red states. The Criminal Justice Coalition will take on the issues with research, policy analysis, and public education.

Worcester Telegram & Gazette – Champion for Gateway Cities

Recently, MassINC announced plans to redouble its effort to bring focus and attention to Gateway Cities like Worcester with the launch of a new Gateway Cities Innovation Institute. Working together with many partners, MassINC has taken “Gateway Cities” from a simple term in a 2007 research study to a collaborative movement with the potential to bring about deep and meaningful change.

Boston Globe – Republican side ready for a big party in Boston

The sliders and pretzels have been ordered. Boston cover band Sweet Tooth & the ­Sugarbabies is on the bill. All Mitt Romney’s party at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center needs now is a victory.

Google and think tank MassINC are cohosting a nonpartisan party at Legal Harborside on the third-floor rooftop.

Boston Innovation – Analyze the Presidential Election & Online Trends in Real-Time With Google in Boston

We live in a time when information about what is happening all around the world pours in more rapidly from a plethora of social media streams than most of us can soak in.

As the votes come in on a national and local level, Google, in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassINC), will be dissecting the latest trends and search results while watching the Presidential race unfold in real-time on two giant screens.

Masslive.com – Commentary: Gateway Cities Innovation Institute hopes to tap synergy of collaboration to bring about deep and meaningful change
Last week, MassINC announced plans to redouble its effort to bring focus and attention to Gateway Cities like Holyoke and Springfield with the launch of a new Gateway Cities Innovation Institute.

Eagle-Tribune – Brown confident about prospects in Merrimack Valley

Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown expressed confidence yesterday in his prospects in the Merrimack Valley, an area key to his securing a full term in November.

Recent polls have shown Warren with a slight lead, including a new poll released yesterday by WBUR and MassINC that showed Warren with a 48-43 percent lead, with 7 percent undecided.

GoLocal Worcester – NEW: Warren Leads by 5 in Latest Poll

Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren leads incumbent Republican Senator Scott Brown by 5 points, 48 percent to 43 percent, in the highly-contested Massachusetts Senate race, according to a WBUR and MassINC Polling Group survey released Wednesday.

Worcester Telegram & Gazette – Looking deep inside political polls

Buried deep within the guts of today’s complex, detailed and ubiquitous political polls, astute poll readers can find “crosstabs,” lesser categories of polling information that nonetheless provide important insight into voters’ preferences at more granular levels such as geography, age, educational background, and so on.

Let’s take a look at the Massachusetts poll of the day, for example, the WBUR poll of 516 likely voters in the Scott Brown-Elizabeth Warren U.S. Senate race and the President Obama-Mit Romney presidential race, conducted by the non-partisan MassINC Polling Group Oct. 21-22.

Boston Globe – Elizabeth Warren leads Scott Brown by 5 points in latest US Senate race poll

Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren leads Republican incumbent Scott Brown in the latest poll of their US Senate race.

A WBUR survey released today had Warren at 48 percent and Brown at 43 percent, a 5 percent gap that exceeds the poll’s 4.4 percentage-point margin of error.

It was a reversal of a similar survey earlier this month, which found Brown ahead by 4 percentage points.

“The last poll that we did happened to coincide with would have to be described as the worst week of the entire campaign for Democrats,” pollster Steve Koczela told the radio station. “It was right after the first presidential debate, where President Obama gave what would have to be described as a pretty lackluster performance.”

Eagle-Tribune – A female focus

Candidates stress women’s issues in Senate race home stretch

In two polls released earlier this month conducted by WBUR and MassINC, Warren led Brown among women by 51 percent to 40 percent, similar to the margin in a University of Massachusetts-Amherst poll. A poll released Oct. 11 by Public Policy Polling showed Warren with a greater lead among women, 58-38.

Huffington Post – Elizabeth Warren Maintains Momentum in Massachusetts, Poll Shows

Elizabeth Warren has a 5-point lead over Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) according to a MassINC/WBUR poll released Wednesday.

The results show Warren recovering from the down-ballot effects of President Barack Obama’s poor performance in the first presidential debate, as well as benefiting from her own debate performance, MassINC pollster Steve Koczela said. MassINC’s last poll, taken from Oct. 5-7, showed Brown ahead by 3 points — the only survey since September to show him with a lead.

Peabody Patch – Warren Up in Polls, Herald Endorses Brown: Who’s Winning?

Democrat Elizabeth Warren is up by five points over incumbent Republican Scott Brown in the latest WBUR/MassINC poll of the Massachusetts senate race.

RTT News – Warren Jumps Back Into Lead In Massachusetts Senate Race

Democrat Elizabeth Warren has jumped back into the lead in the volatile Massachusetts Senate race against Republican Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., according to a WBUR poll.

The poll, conducted for WBUR by the MassINC Polling Group, showed Warren with a 48 percent to 43 percent lead over Brown among likely Massachusetts voters.

WBUR – Pollster: Warren Cutting Into Brown’s Lead Among Independent Voters

A new WBUR poll shows Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren back out in front of Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown in the race for the U.S. Senate.

According to the poll, conducted by MassINC Polling Group on Oct. 21-22, Warren leads brown by five points, 48 to 43 percent.

WBUR Poll: Warren Leads Brown By 5

A WBUR poll of 516 likely Massachusetts voters (PDFs — topline, crosstabs) finds Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren leading Republican U.S. Sen Scott Brown, 48 percent to 43 percent.

The poll, conducted Oct. 21-22 by the MassINC Polling Group, has a 4.4 percent margin of error.

Masslive.com – Gateway Cities Innovation Institute: Western Massachusetts residents tapped to contribute to statewide conversation
The Gateway Cities Innovation Institute might sound like just another project at just another think tank, but to the community leaders named as fellows to the Institute this week, it represents a chance to have a voice.

Fall River Herald News – GUEST OPINION: New institute devoted to Gateway City growth and renewal

Last week, MassINC announced plans to redouble its effort to bring focus and attention to Gateway Cities like Fall River with the launch of a new Gateway Cities Innovation Institute. Working together with many partners, MassINC has taken “Gateway Cities” from a simple term in a 2007 research study to a collaborative movement with the potential to bring about deep and meaningful change.

PBS Newshour – Gwen’s Take: Why Binders and Big Bird Don’t Matter

It’s all personal. Watching the candidates for president circle each other in their town hall cage match this week, I was reminded that this is all that matters in politics.

Steve Koczela, the president of the MassINC Polling Group, said voters he surveys want the answers to just two big questions. “Who’s going to stand up for me when they’re in the Senate?” And “Who agrees with me on key issues?”

Worcester Telegram & Gazette – Business briefs
Gateway innovation
Independent think tank MassINC announced the creation Wednesday of the Gateway Cities Innovation Institute, a Boston-based institute dedicated to revitalizing former manufacturing centers that it terms Gateway Cities.

Fall River Herald News – New institute to help revitalize Fall River, fellow gateway cities
MassINC, a Boston-based independent think tank, announced Wednesday the creation of the Gateway Cities Innovation Institute, an entity dedicated to revitalizing former manufacturing “gateway” communities like Fall River and New Bedford.

Masslive.com – Boston-based think tank creates new institute to revitalize struggling mid-size cities like Springfield, Holyoke and Lowell

Boston-based think tank MassINC on Wednesday launched a new center dedicated to revitalizing former manufacturing centers such as Springfield and Lowell, cities struggling to woo new business as they grapple with chronic issues of crime, poverty and unemployment.

The so-called Gateway Cities Innovation Institute is designed to help Springfield and other mid-size cities that shoulder a “disproportionate share of the state’s social and economic challenges” tap into their “enormous potential,” MassINC officials said in a news release.

Lowell Sun – Gateway Cities partnership seen boosting Lowell

Onetime booming manufacturing cities, such as Lowell and Fitchburg, have an official new friend following Wednesday’s launch of a new independent think-tank aimed at bolstering their educational and economic development.

The Gateway Cities Innovation Institute, created by the nonprofit, MassINC, was introduced to municipal officials, state politicians and the public at a rollout held at the Statehouse.

Sentinel & Enterprise – Gateway Cities initiative holds promise for Fitchburg
Onetime booming manufacturing cities, such as Lowell and Fitchburg, have an official new friend following Wednesday’s launch of a new independent think tank aimed at bolstering their educational and economic development.

Worcester Telegram & Gazette – Worcester, Fitchburg get Gateway Cities designation
Independent think tank MassINC today announced the creation of the Gateway Cities Innovation Institute, a Boston-based institute dedicated to revitalizing former manufacturing centers that it terms Gateway Cities.

The 11 cities the institute will focus on are Worcester, Fitchburg, Brockton, Fall River, Haverhill, Holyoke, Lawrence, Lowell, New Bedford, Pittsfield and Springfield. (The Legislature classifies 24 cities as Gateway cities, and that list includes Leominster.)