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Harbor pilots billed 14,000 overtime hours last year. The port never checked.
Timesheets obtained through a records request show the same shifts claimed twice.
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Who is running for council in 2026: every candidate, district by district
Twenty-three candidates for nine seats. Free with a Ledger account.
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How a ferry fuel contract went to a company with no ships
Free to read this month: our investigation into the city’s largest no-bid deal.
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The arts council’s grant audit, and the galleries it never visited
An investigation for our culture desk: half the audited venues were empty storefronts.
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Council clears the way for a second harbor bridge after a nine-hour session
The 6–3 vote ends a decade of studies. Construction could start in 2028 if the state matches the city’s share.
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Everything we publish, including Harbor Money and stories that cross both desks.
Ledger Reports
Data investigations for Gold members. Every report opens to everyone a year after we publish it.
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The port’s $90 million maintenance backlog, berth by berth
Ten years of inspection reports, mapped. Part of Harbor Money.
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Harborview’s pension gap is $1.2 billion. Here is how it grew.
Twenty years of actuarial reports in one chart. Part of Harbor Money.
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Every housing permit Harborview issued since 2015
Where the city built, where it did not, and how long the wait was.
Investigations
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Harbor pilots billed 14,000 overtime hours last year. The port never checked.
Timesheets obtained through a records request show the same shifts claimed twice.
-
How a ferry fuel contract went to a company with no ships
Free to read this month: our investigation into the city’s largest no-bid deal.
-
The arts council’s grant audit, and the galleries it never visited
An investigation for our culture desk: half the audited venues were empty storefronts.
City Hall
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Who is running for council in 2026: every candidate, district by district
Twenty-three candidates for nine seats. Free with a Ledger account.
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Council clears the way for a second harbor bridge after a nine-hour session
The 6–3 vote ends a decade of studies. Construction could start in 2028 if the state matches the city’s share.
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Ferry service to the islands will drop to hourly this winter
Island residents say the cut makes commuting to the mainland nearly impossible.
Business
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Inside Tidewater Power’s plan to raise rates three times by 2029
A filing obtained by the Ledger shows the utility wants staged increases to pay for grid hardening along the coast.
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Port automation deal would cut 300 jobs over five years, union says
The terms of the tentative agreement have not been made public. The Ledger has read them.
Technology
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We rode every bus line for a week to test the city’s new transit app
Arrival times were right four times out of five. Transfers are where it falls apart.
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Why Harborview’s startup boom is quietly turning into a bust
Layoff notices, empty offices and a funding drought: an analysis of two years of filings.
Science
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A small university lab just won the region’s biggest research grant. Here is what they are building.
Eleven researchers in a converted boathouse are trying to make quantum sensors cheap enough for ships.
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Volunteers have rebuilt a mile of oyster reef. The water is already clearer.
Recycled shells from forty restaurants are turning into habitat in the south bay.
Culture
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The arts council’s grant audit, and the galleries it never visited
An investigation for our culture desk: half the audited venues were empty storefronts.
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The Lowmarket night market is back, and it is bigger than ever
Sixty stalls, two stages and a rule that every vendor must live within ten miles.
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The Maritime Museum reopens with a hall built around a whale skeleton
Three years and $60 million later, the renovated museum keeps its oddest exhibit at the center.
Opinion
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Opinion: A second bridge is the right call, but not on that route
The council should keep the money and move the landing away from Lowmarket’s only park.
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Opinion: Why we are asking you to become a member
Most of what we publish stays free. Membership pays for the stories that take months.
Briefings
The day in five minutes, free with a Ledger account.
City guides
Where to eat, walk and wait for the ferry. Most guides are free.
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Where to eat in Lowmarket: a dumpling crawl
Six stops, all within ten minutes of the night market.
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Three walks on Fennel Hill, with the best views of the harbor
Stairs, gardens and a lookout most residents have never found.
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The Fennel Hill Saturday market, stall by stall
Free to read: the item’s own rule beats the neighborhood’s.
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The insider’s guide to Gull Island by ferry
Which boat to take, where to sit and what to skip. For Gold members.