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No more free rides
Together we can? Apparently not when it comes to the Big Dig. There, toll collectors and Fast Lane transponders make a joke of Governor Deval Patrick's ubiquitous, winning campaign slogan.
A luxury hangover
NATICK - I spent an afternoon at the fancy end of the Natick Collection recently. People there seemed awfully happy to see me.
Change from the top down
What would you change about Boston? I'd like stellar high schools, public housing where kids aren't afraid to play outside, business and academic leaders more invested in the city's workings, a fire department as good as its best men and women, less thinly spread police force, more public art, livelier streets, and edgier architecture.
Act fast on ethics
Governor, let's lose the two-month ethics reform deep-think already. You can't afford to wait 60 days for a task force report before you start trying to pull Beacon Hill into line. A little urgency, please.
Trying out civic duty
MALDEN - The polling place was so crowded that the voters were practically on top of each other. They stood on tip-toe, peering at the head of the line, chatting to pass the time. Despite the delay, everybody was cheerful.
Unsolved mysteries
Dianne Wilkerson has finally given up her campaign to retain her Senate seat. Whether or not the senator resigns from office after the election on Tuesday, she will soon be gone.
Brazen betrayal
It's as if she was desperate to get caught. The feds say she shoved the cash into her bra and her pockets at restaurants right across the street from the State House. These are restaurants with big windows, restaurants full of people who work on Beacon Hill.
The McCain I knew
GOFFSTOWN, N.H. - I came here to see John McCain on Wednesday. I barely recognized him.
Adding injury to the insult
Last Wednesday night, somebody stole a bunch of computers from the ACORN office in Dorchester. Now the Boston branch of the 30-year-old national organization looks even more run-down than usual, with long white wires hanging forlornly from a hole in the wall where the thieves pulled out a burglar alarm.
Good moves on Greenway
If you want to see how great the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway can and should be, head down to Chinatown any day of the week.
Listen up, grown-ups
In a few weeks, the longest presidential campaign in the history of the universe will finally be over.
For sale: glass house
Since she lost the Democratic primary last month, State Senator Dianne Wilkerson and her supporters have been blaming Cambridge philanthropist Barbara Lee.
Rolling with the punches
WHITMAN - Watching Joseph Farias dancing on roller skates to Tony Bennett's "Stepping Out," at Carousel Family Fun Center on Sunday morning, I had two thoughts.
Who needs state taxes?
Come November, those stinking state taxes could be history. Libertarian Carla Howell has a heroic proposal on the ballot that would nix the Massachusetts income tax. Pull $12.6 billion from the state budget, she reckons, and those money-grubbing bums on Beacon Hill will shape up real quick.
A new year, an old agony
NORWOOD - Even though Israel Arbeiter has done this hundreds of times, his eyes are red and brimming.
Fighting for life
The first time he tried it, she managed to save him. In the fall of 1984, Debbie DiMasi heard a crash and found her brother in the bathroom, his arms bleeding from deep wounds.
A shadow in his dream
SOMERVILLE - Fortunato Conte's dream couldn't be coming true at a worse time. After 15 years laboring in other people's kitchens, scraping up savings, and barreling his way into as many culinary experiences as his jammed life could accommodate, the pastry chef now has his own shop.
Life without Giovanni
Even when it comes, sleep brings no relief to Daisy Colon. "Last night I dreamed somebody tied me to the bed, and I couldn't get free," she says. "The time was flying. The sun was going up and down, up and down, up and down. I was trying to call my mom, but all I could make was this noise."
An urban retreat
Monday was the kind of sparkling September day that makes you want to flee the cars and concrete for some quality time with nature.
A sobering price to pay
WOBURN - Two unraveled families sit in a bland, fluorescent-lit courtroom. The parents and their children hold each other, wiping away tears, trying to make it through another awful day.
A far cry from '04
A few short years ago, you nearly became the most powerful person on the planet.
Luck amid violence
NEEDHAM - Two years ago, Adut Ayuel was living in Kenya's sprawling, desolate Kakuma refugee camp with what was left of her family. Marauders had destroyed their house and killed her father, one of the hundreds of thousands lost to Sudan's decades-long civil war.
A mind club for girls
NEW BEDFORD - Tatshianna Pires loves school - especially math and spelling. She likes basketball and soccer and making fun foods at the Boys and Girls Club. Sometimes she finds her little brother annoying.