Massachusetts

There's a big Massachusetts Senate election coming up in less than a week, #mapoli fans. The Scrum asked all seven candidates to come in for a sort of political speed-dating session, and five joined in the fun.

Our crack roundtable—or scrumtable, if you will—tackles some of the biggest headlines in #mapoli and beyond.

Our usual order of business around here at The Scrum is to ask #mapoli a lot of questions. But this week, we kept is simple: what's on your holiday wish list this year?

During last night's 11th-hour debate on a measure to reform the state's public records laws to increase transparency, the House's Democratic majority voted down a motion to increase its own transparency. The vote wasn't a surprise inside the halls of the State House, but it may have ramifications next year if a powerful conservative nonprofit group has anything to say about it.

Is the new Massachusetts state budget a major setback for organized labor? The Scrum sits down with Massachusetts AFL-CIO president Steve Tolman to talk about the Pacheco Law and the MBTA, the Olympics, and how to meet the love of your life on the commuter rail.

How does a kid from Cambridge who went to good schools and had friends and teachers who loved him go on to co-stage the Boston Marathon bombings?

On the day Deval Patrick takes the "lone walk" out of the State House, The Scrum podcast gives Patrick his final report card and reflects on Charlie Baker's taste in music. 

It's a milestone edition of the Scrum podcast--the first installment to feature a candidate for office and the first installment to feature a former professional athlete.