Alan Wirzbicki

4 weeks ago | bostonglobe.com | Alan Wirzbicki

Alien: Take us to your leader. Earthling: Um, why do you ask? Just out of curiosity. Alien: Isn’t that what we’re supposed to ask for? It says it right here in the travel guide. Earthling: Well, ordinarily, yes, but —Earthling: Look, our leader’s not into aliens, and I’m not totally sure he’d understand you’re not that kind of alien. Earthling: See, that’s only going to make it worse. Alien: We’ve come 120 light-years for this visit, you know. Earthling: I’m sorry.

1 month ago | bostonglobe.com | Joan Vennochi |Alan Wirzbicki |Carine Hajjar

On Monday, Mike Kennealy, a former adviser to the state’s most recent Republican governor, Charlie Baker, announced his candidacy for governor in the 2026 election. A well-known figure in Republican politics and a favorite of the moderate Baker camp, he faces two stiff challenges: first, winning the Republican primary, where conservative voters tend to dominate, and second, taking on the incumbent Democrat, Governor Maura Healey. Can he do it? Three Globe Opinion writers have thoughts.

1 month ago | bostonglobe.com | Alan Wirzbicki

Delivery drivers clogging streets has become a fact of life in Boston. Some parts of it, anyway: If you’re scratching your head wondering what the fuss over a new city ordinance regulating delivery companies is about, then lucky you. But if you live anywhere close to a restaurant that does lots of takeout business — as many now do since the pandemic — you’ve probably seen lines of delivery cars double-parked in front, drivers recklessly weaving in and out of traffic, unsafe u-turns, etc.

1 month ago | bostonglobe.com | Alan Wirzbicki

It’s not written in stone that projects like South Coast Rail, which finally opened under gloomy skies last week after about 30 years of planning and delays, have to take so long. Lawmakers can speed up the process — and there finally seems to be some momentum to do so.

1 month ago | bostonglobe.com | Alan Wirzbicki

A new crop of state-by-state ranking purports to show how Massachusetts is doing on roads compared to other places. I’ve read through three of them, and the broad takeaway is… don’t take rankings too seriously. Let’s start with Consumer Affairs, which last month ranked states “analyzing metrics including rural and urban road roughness and traffic fatalities.”Massachusetts ranked #38 — weighed down, apparently by the condition of its urban roads, 30 percent of which were deemed in poor condition.