With Wednesday’s vote by the House, the Legislature is on track to establish casino gambling in the commonwealth. This bill calls for three Las Vegas-style resort casinos and one slots parlor. Passage seems certain, where other gambling bills proposed since 2007 all failed.

Ratings agencies say they are closely watching the credit-worthiness of cities and towns across Massachusetts and other states after a recent historic downgrade of the U.S. government's credit rating.

WORCESTER — The Research Bureau has released its eighth report on how the city is meeting its neighborhood goals.

The report, titled “Benchmarking Municipal and Neighborhood Services in Worcester: 2011” is available at www.wrrb.org

IN JANUARY, GOV. Deval Patrick filed a pension reform proposal that could save $5 billion over 30 years, through measures such as raising the retirement age and basing pension payments on an employee’s five highest years of salary, instead of the current three. The governor’s plan represents solid reform, but it doesn’t go far enough. Beacon Hill should take advantage of the unique opportunity created by the current budget crisis to transition state and local employees from a defined benefit to a defined contribution system.

‘Municipal budgets are much more than an itemization of revenues and expenditures,” states the Research Bureau’s report on Worcester’s budget for fiscal 2012. “They are an indication of priorities as well as challenges a community is encountering.”

Sen. Scott Brown’s address to the 26th annual meeting of The Research Bureau on Tuesday afternoon did not contain soaring oratory, political gaffes, or any bombshell announcements. As such it was most unlikely to lead a cable news broadcast or become the stuff of a viral video.

WORCESTER — U.S. Sen. Scott Brown yesterday assured several hundred people at The Research Bureau’s annual meeting that he loses no sleep over voting in Congress.

“If it increases taxes, increases the deficit, I’m not voting for it,” he told the audience at the DCU Center. “If it’s good for Massachusetts, creates jobs, I’m going to vote for it.”

The Research Bureau's May 18 report on storm water regulations in Worcester brings welcome clarity to a complex and contentious issue that has unnecessarily divided public officials and environmental advocates.

WORCESTER — Rex W. Tillerson, chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil, offered more than 1,100 Worcester Polytechnic Institute graduates a bit of advice yesterday that he received from a mentor as a young engineer more than 30 years ago.

A panel of retirement-benefit experts gathered in Worcester this morning concurred that the public pension system in Massachusetts is unsustainable, but fixable. "We're not Wisconsin or New Jersey, but the fact is we are wrestling with the same issues," said David Luberoff, executive director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston at Harvard University.