Poll indicates that politics tilt views on economy – The Boston Globe

How does the economic forecast look to Massachusetts voters? That increasingly depends on whether they identify with Democrats or Republicans.

A new poll released last week by The MassINC Polling Group found a growing divide on economic outlooks between supporters of Republican US Senator Scott Brown and those of Brown’s Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren.

Sannicandro: A chance to expand the bottle bill – Wicked Local Westborough

Elizabeth Warren, Scott Brown neck and neck for US Senate seat in new poll – The Boston Globe

Another poll on the Massachusetts Senate race, released this afternoon, puts Senator Scott brown and Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren in a dead heat, with Warren holding a 40-38 lead.

The MassPulse Quarterly Poll of 500 residents aged 18 or older, conducted by The MassINC Polling Group, was the rare poll done in the depths of summer, between July 19 through July 22.

Senate passes Updated Bottle Bill; Eldridge a co-sponsor – Hudson Sun

The Updated Bottle Bill, which would expand the state’s 5-cent deposit on beer and soda containers to include water, juice and sports drinks, was passed by the Senate last week as an amendment to the Senate Jobs Bill.

Despite enjoying support from 77 percent of the public in a recent MassINC poll, endorsements from 208 cities and towns, and the support of more than 385 state businesses, the bill has been stuck for years and was never brought up for a vote in the Senate or House until last Thursday, according to Eldridge’s office.

Sen. Eldridge Announces Senate Passes the Updated Bottle Bill – Northborough Patch

The Updated Bottle Bill, which would expand the commonwealth’s 5-cent deposit on beer and soda containers to include water, juice and sports drinks, was passed by the Senate last week as an amendment to the Senate Jobs Bill, announced State Senator Jamie Eldridge, a strong supporter and co-sponsor of the bill.

Despite enjoying support from 77 percent of the public in a recent MassINC poll, endorsements from 208 cities and towns, and the support of over 385 Mass businesses, the bill has been stuck for years and was never brought up for a vote in the Senate or House until last Thursday.

Senate race becomes Bay State’s most expensive – NECN

Fund-raising has not been a problem for Massachusetts’ U.S. Senate candidates Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren. Donors both in and out-of-state have been padding their campaign coffers, with more than $46 million infused into the race through the end of June.

According to the new MassINC Pulse Quarterly poll, Warren has a two percent lead over Brown – 40-38 percent – a statistical dead heat.

Gaming pick reaction misjudged, emails say – The Boston Globe

The newly created state gambling commission badly underestimated public reaction to the fact that Carl ­Stanley McGee, the man tapped to be executive director of the new panel, had been ­arrested in 2007 in a sexual ­assault on a 15-year-old boy, ­internal e-mails show.

The e-mails, obtained by the conservative blog ­RedMassGroup and given to the Globe, show that the commission’s public relations consultant predicted in one e-mail that the allegations “will be no more than a paragraph deep into an otherwise extremely favorable story about Stan.”

In late April, public relations consultant Karen Schwartzman drafted a background summary of the allegations against ­McGee and concluded McGee’s history would probably not pose a problem for the fledging commission, as long as the public relations were “managed.”

Schwartzman could not be reached last night, but ­CommonWealth Magazine quoted her as saying that she did not have complete information at the time she predicted little controversy from the ­McGee appointment.

Academic offers grim outlook for gaming in Massachusetts – Burlington Union

The most enticing casino games might involve cards, dice and flashing lights, but in academic Robert Goodman’s telling, the spread of gaming across the country has been more like a collapsing string of dominoes.

“The more that this happens in Massachusetts, the more it’s going to happen in Rhode Island and Maine and all the surrounding states,” Goodman told reporters outside the Massachusetts Gaming Commission meeting on Tuesday, saying “New Hampshire is very likely to argue for several casinos.”

An unabashed critic of the gaming industry, Goodman wrote “The Luck Business” and has debated gaming with casino proponent Congressman Barney Frank in the pages of Commonwealth Magazine.

Archdiocese, city spar over buildings – The Eagle Tribune

In a city where public schools are among the worst in the state, recent efforts to open new charter schools and reduce a waiting list that is at least 2,200 kids long have run into a wall: the Catholic Church.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is refusing to sell several churches and schools it has closed in Lawrence to buyers who would open charter schools in the buildings, fearful that the new schools would compete with the last of the Catholic schools still operating in the city.

The church policies were first described by Commonwealth Magazine last week.

Polls indicate support for gay marriage – Seacoastonline.com

The fate of a same-sex marriage initiative on the ballot in Maine this November comes down to numbers. Two polls conducted in recent months indicate 55 percent or more of all Mainers favor the initiative, an amount slightly higher than national polling, which indicates 51 percent of Americans do not oppose same-sex marriage.

A June poll by MassINC Polling Group for WBUR in Boston showed 55 percent of Mainers favor passage of the initiative while 36 percent oppose.

‘There aren’t any earth-shattering events in July’ — the value of summertime polling – Bangor Daily News

The public polling available so far in Maine’s U.S. Senate race and other ballot contests has been infrequent — at least when compared to the daily polls that track movement in the presidential race.

But if there’s one thing to note about the handful of polls taking stock of Maine politics in recent months, it’s that they’ve been remarkably consistent, regardless of the pollster.

In the two days following last month’s primary, a survey done by the MassINC Polling Group for Boston public radio station WBUR found a wide lead for independent Angus King over Charlie Summers and Cynthia Dill, the former governor’s Republican and Democratic rivals for Maine’s open U.S. Senate seat.

Tax breaks for housing

Half of public employers and about one-third of private companies now offer plans that limit their workers’

Children’s Hospital survey finds employers using limited, tiered networks to cut costs – Boston Globe

Half of public employers and about one-third of private companies now offer plans that limit their workers’ access to expensive hospitals and doctors, but many are confused about how these plans work, according to a survey and focus groups commissioned by Boston Children’s Hospital…

Children’s hired MassINC [Polling Group] to survey 225 Massachusetts-based employers…so it could understand what type of information employers are using to make coverage decisions. 

Early poll shows wide lead for King, edge for same-sex marriage

Former Gov. Angus King has a wide lead over his Democratic and Republican rivals in Maine’s U.S. Senate race, and supporters of same-sex marriage have an edge in their November contest, according to a new poll released Monday…

King, an independent who was Maine’s governor from 1995 to 2003, had 50 percent support in the poll, which was conducted by the MassINC Polling Group for the Boston public radio station WBUR.

MPG Poll: “King Holds Wide Lead in Maine” – National Journal

Independent Angus King is a strong favorite to succeed popular Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, leading the respective party nominees by a wide margin, according to a new poll released on Monday…

The poll was conducted by Boston-based MassINC Polling Group. Likely voters were interviewed on June 13 and 14 — the two days immediately following last week’s primaries.

New Poll Indicates Support for King, Same-Sex Marriage in Maine – Maine Public Broadcasting Network

A new poll takes the temperature on how Mainers are feeling about the race for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Olympia Snowe, same-sex marriage, and other issues after last week’s primary…

The poll also asked voters whether they support same-sex marriage. Fifty-five percent of respondents supported, 36 percent opposed. That’s a 19-point lead, and pollster Steve Koczela, [president of the MassINC Polling Group], says he thinks the referundum will likely pass in November, given other poll results.

MPG Poll: “Angus King Heavy Favorite To Replace Sen. Snowe” – WBUR

A new WBUR poll shows former Maine Gov. Angus King as the heavy favorite to replace retiring Republican U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe. Current poll numbers have King, who is running as an independent, with 50 percent of likely voters, Republican Secretary of State Charlie Summers with 23 percent, and Democratic state Sen. Cynthia Dill with 9 percent.

King, who served as governor of the state from 1995 to 2003, benefits from a large advantage in name recognition and a 60 percent favorability. By comparison, 71 percent of voters did not offer an opinion of Dill and 57 percent did not rate Summers…

The WBUR poll of 506 likely Maine voters has a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points and was conducted by the independent think-tank MassINC Polling Group between June 13-14.

Committee buries bottle bill in study, outraging supporters – Boston Globe

Supporters of expanding the bottle deposit law to cover more types of beverages were outraged by a committee vote Thursday morning that will probably torpedo the proposal until January, when the next legislative session begins…

A January 2011 poll by MassINC showed that 77 percent of respondents supported expanding the bottle bill. The support came from Democrats, Republicans, and unaffiliated voters. The bill’s strongest support was Boston and its inner suburbs, where respondents backed it at an 83 percent clip. Even respondents in the least popular region, Boston’s outer suburbs, backed the proposal at a 68 percent rate.

Parents support school improvement plan, poll shows – Boston Globe

More than two-thirds of Lawrence public school parents support the school reform plan recently announced by a state-appointed receiver, and 80 percent support the “significant involvement” of charter public schools in helping to turnaround underperforming district schools, according to a new poll sponsored by the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association (MCPSA) and conducted by The MassINC Polling Group.

Last month, the receiver, Jeffrey Riley, announced a plan to overhaul the city’s struggling schools that included lengthening the school day, improving instruction for English Language Learners, making it easier to dismiss ineffective principals and teachers, and inviting highly successful charter school operators to take over the management of the city’s worst schools and launch an alternative high school.

The poll, the first of its kind to gauge opinions on the plan, showed widespread support among public school parents for the receiver’s reforms.

Flyover sought to ease proposed Suffolk Downs casino traffic – Boston Globe

Suffolk Downs would build a two-lane flyover on the northbound side of Route 1A to relieve one of its most consistent bottlenecks, as well as add lanes, lights, and other improvements around the track to help carry the traffic created by its proposed casino resort, track officials said Friday…

Former secretary of transportation James Aloisi had already panned the idea of a flyover as “an eyesore and a band-aid that will not solve the current congestion on Route 1A from the airport to Bell Circle,’’ in a commentary published Thursday by CommonWealth Magazine. He advocated a redesign and reconstruction of Route 1A between Logan Airport and Bell Circle and much more emphasis on public transportation.

Beacon Hill leaders stifle debate among legislators – Boston Globe

It won’t come as a bolt from the blue that freewheeling debate, robust dissent, and meaningful roll call votes have become endangered species on Beacon Hill…

But it is one thing to know in the abstract that the proceedings of the Massachusetts Legislature have little in common with the civics-class version of “How a Bill Becomes a Law.” It is something else to actually measure the disparity. That’s what MassINC, the nonpartisan Boston think tank, did this spring in CommonWealth, its quarterly magazine.

A boost for RTAs – Berkshire Eagle

MassInc, a nonpartisan Boston-based think tank, reported at a forum hosted Friday at BRTA headquarters that while Regional Transportation Authorities (RTAs) receive about one-third of their budget from the state, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority receives 57 percent of its budget from the state…

MassInc offered two revenue-generating proposals to benefit RTAs, one involving a payroll tax and a second, preferable option linked directly to transportation.

New method could enhance BRTA funding – Berkshire Eagle

A report by MassInc., a nonpartisan nonprofit from Boston, suggests that implementing one of two new regional funding streams would allow the state’s 15 regional transportation agencies that include the BRTA to receive the additional money they need to provide services that promote economic growth…

Berkshire County currently receives $1 for every $20 in sales tax revenue that goes out of the region to pay for the MBTA, which is the lowest ratio in the state, said Ben Forman of MassInc.

“We’re over-investing in Boston,” Forman said, “and under-investing in the RTAs.”

Poll: Scott Brown, Elizabeth Warren still tied in Mass. Senate race – Patriot Ledger

U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and likely Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren remained locked in a tight contest despite the recent controversy over Warren’s claims of a trace of Native American ancestry.

Polling data released on Thursday by the MassINC Polling Group show Warren, a Harvard Law professor and consumer advocate , with 43 percent of voter support to Brown’s 41 percent.

The survey of 438 registered voters had a margin of error of 4.7 percent.

MassINC poll shows Sen. Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren in tight race – Springfield Republican

A new poll conducted by MassINC shows Republican Senator Scott Brown slightly behind his chief Democratic rival Elizabeth Warren in the Massachusetts Senate race.

According to the survey of 438 registered voters conducted between April 25-28, Warren is leading over Brown 43 percent to 41 percent among the general population, although the difference in within the poll’s margin of error, which is 4.7 percent…

Catholics preferred Brown over Warren 46 percent to 39 percent, but overall Christian voters choose the candidates at a comparable rate. Voters who identify as atheists or agnostic preferred Warren by a large margin.

“These poll numbers show that the so-called Catholic vote continues to be significant, but has several sub-components,” said Steve Koczela, president of the MassINC Polling Group.

Koczela noted that slightly less than half (44 percent) of Massachusetts voters identify as Catholic, a quarter as another Christian denomination and 20 percent “none”, atheist, or agnostic.

Report finds Steward Health Care System in the red – Boston Business Journal

An independent consultant hired by Rhode Island state regulators has painted an alarming financial picture of Steward Health Care System, the privately held chain operator that is aggressively buying up New England community hospitals.

Commonwealth Magazine obtained the report by consultants Enterprise Management Corp., and published some of the details contained therein, which Enterprise called financial “red flags.”

Experts: Fall River behind in economic recovery, but there’s hope – Fall River Herald News

A poll released Wednesday by the nonpartisan MassINC Polling Group reported a consumer confidence index of 79.2 for the second quarter of the year, up slightly from the prior quarter but a large improvement over October 2011, when it was 59.6.

In the poll, 41 percent said the next 12 months will bring good times for businesses, compared with 37 percent who said bad times are ahead. A year ago, only 22 percent said they predicted good times ahead.

“People expect the next year to be better for them but haven’t seen things get better just yet,” said Steve Koczela, the president of the MassINC Polling Group, which conducted the survey. “At the macro level, residents see improvements under way. But they are still waiting for things to get better at home.”

Our Opinion: Speed, extent of hospital mergers needs close watch – Patriot Ledger

A looming shift in health care continues to feed a frenzy of hospital mergers and acquisitions, raising questions about whether the debt being incurred poses a threat to patient care.

The most aggressive buyer to date has been Steward Health Care System, which has bought hospitals in Quincy, Brockton, Taunton and now Stoughton, where it has agreed to acquire New England Sinai Hospital for $40 million…

The financial strain this expansion can exert on a parent company was examined this week in a story by Commonwealth magazine about Steward’s plan to buy two Rhode Island hospitals.

The magazine reports that documents tied to the regulatory review in that state show that Steward reported a net loss of $56.9 million and a negative cash flow of $32.9 million in fiscal 2011 and had a working capital shortfall of $43.6 million.

Commercial food waste to be banned – Boston Globe

State environmental officials are preparing to ban hospitals, universities, hotels, large restaurants, and other big businesses and institutions in Massachusetts from discarding food waste in the trash beginning in 2014, ameasure that in coming years they hope to extend to homes as well.

Officials said the proposed rules, designed to save space in landfills and reduce emissions of gases that trap heat in the atmosphere, will make Massachusetts the first state with such a comprehensive prohibition on commercial food waste…

The new disposal rules come as the Patrick administration faces criticism for falling behind in its efforts to blunt the effects of climate change. A recent report by MassINC, an independent Boston think tank, found the state is on track to fall about a third behind its goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.

MassINC: Consumer confidence holds steady – Boston Business Journal

Consumer confidence among Massachusetts residents has remained roughly even in the second quarter, the Boston Business Journal reports, citing newly released data from The MassINC Polling Group (MPG).