Story Archives of 'Massachusetts'

Back in 1905, gas stations were the newest thing. The first one in the world was built that year in St. Louis, Mo. These days, of course, there isn’t really anything special about a gas station. The latest U.S. census found there are more than 117,000 of them across the country. But a brand new station in Massachusetts has people buzzing again, because this one offers something most don’t - hydrogen.

The first hydrogen fueling pump in the country opened four years ago, at a gas station in Washington D.C. This week, number 62 opened at the hydrogen-power research and development company Nuvera, in Billerica, Mass. The first car that filled up there is part of the Hydrogen Road Tour - a first-ever convoy of fuel cell cars traveling cross-country to show consumers and politicians, that after long years in the lab, hydrogen technology is ready for the road.

Producer Shannon Mullen stopped by the grand opening earlier this week, and she has this story for Word of Mouth's "next green thing" series, which looks at the ways people and organizations are trying to make the world a greener place.

(Photo by Dave Barger)

Two years after Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney signed a bill requiring all Bay State residents to buy health insurance, the number of uninsured has fallen dramatically. But the costs are mounting, to the tune of three hundred million dollars. We’ll look at what's worked, what hasn’t and what the Granite State can learn from its southern neighbor.

Guests

• Alice Dembner, former reporter for the Boston Globe
• Jonathan Gruber, professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and member of the Board of the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority
• Jim Squires, president of the Endowment for Health and former State Senator; he played an instrumental role in establishing the Matthew Thornton Health Plan, New Hampshire’s first HMO

New Hampshire’s Lottery loses some of its own customers where it competes head to head with the Massachusetts lottery.

This only adds pressure to the state’s effort to try and raise more money from the games.

But luring customers back to New Hampshire may be a very difficult way to raise more cash.

New Hampshire Public Radio’s David Darman has more.

If Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has his way, casino gambling will be on the Bay State’s political agenda this year.

The Governor has proposed bringing three huge casino resorts to Massachusetts, and he’d like one of them to be located in the Greater Boston area.

Coincidentally, New Hampshire lawmakers have also been looking at proposals to allow video slot machines at Rockingham Park in Salem.

But it’s not clear what affect a Boston area casino would have on the Rockingham plan.

Author Susan Cheever's book, American Bloomsbury, explores the lives and times of the writers who floated in and out of Concord, Massachusetts, during the 19th Century. They include Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Margaret Fuller. The unlikely grouping of anti-establishment thinkers in the placid New England town set the stage for intertwined tales of romance and even some hostility. Susan joins us to talk about her work and what drew her to it.

***This interview originally aired January 2, 2007***