• Expert: Most public pension plans are solvent for the next 20-30 years

    WORCESTER — The public pension system cannot be sustained, but it can be fixed. That was the consensus of panelists this morning at a forum sponsored by The Research Bureau and the Rappaport Institute at Harvard's Kennedy School. The discussion was held at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences.

  • 3 city employees get Green Awards for public service

    WORCESTER — Three municipal employees were honored last night with Thomas S. Green Public Service Awards at La Maison Francaise at Assumption College.

    The awards are given annually by The Research Bureau for outstanding contributions to public service. Receiving the awards were Ronald Brown, Department of Public Works and Parks; Louise Clarke, Worcester public schools, and Officer John Mahan, Police Department.

  • Above and beyond: City workers honored for excellence

    Congratulations to the three city employees who are this year’s recipients of The Research Bureau’s Thomas S. Green Public Service Award.

    They are:

    •Ronald Brown, working foreman for the Department of Public Works and Parks;

    •Louise Clark, grants development specialist for Worcester public schools; and

    •John Mahan, a longtime city police officer.

  • Communities facing shortfalls look to health care for savings

    WORCESTER — The state and the city are looking toward health care savings to help with budget shortfalls in the coming fiscal year.

    Jay Gonzalez, state secretary of administration and finance, said yesterday controlling health care costs, which make up 40 percent of the total budget, is crucial as Massachusetts emerges from the recession that has decimated revenue.

  • State finance boss predicts cuts to local aid

    While the governor's new budget will not have any new taxes, that doesn't mean Massachusetts residents won't feel the pain of state spending – or lack of it – in the coming fiscal year.

  • 8½ fantasy

    The Education Association of Worcester’s demand that teachers in the Worcester Public Schools receive an 8.5 percent raise over three years in return for modest concessions on bearing a greater share of their health care costs reminds us of another 8 1/2. That would be Italian director Federico Fellini’s famous movie, an autobiographical romp that mixes fantasy and reality until the viewer isn’t sure what the man was thinking.