Fairhaven marked a point of no return for Charlie Baker early on election night. The South Coast town, with a September unemployment rate of 10.2 percent, went narrowly for Republican […]
Robert David Sullivan
Posted inArts and Culture, Politics
Backwater of the universe
Banned in Boston: The Watch and Ward Society’s Crusade against Books, Burlesque, and the Social Evil By Neil MillerBoston, Beacon Press, 209 pagesIt’s easy to be smug when you live […]
Posted inPolitics
Deval on the defense
Four years ago, the Democratic Party reached a new apex in Massachusetts with the landslide election of Deval Patrick as governor. And the demographics seemed to portend further happy days, […]
Posted inUncategorized
Party registration by town 2008
As of fall 2008, the last time that the secretary of state’s office released town-level data, independent voters (technically, “unenrolled” voters), made up a slight majority of the Bay […]
Posted inPolitics
Political preview 2010
the surprise election of Republican Scott Brown as US Senator in January (get complete town-level results here) was only the beginning of what promises to be a tumultuous year of […]
Posted inEconomy
Raised stakes
any debate over the possible arrival of casinos in Massachusetts (see “Ka-ching”) has to take into account how much we already rely on the state lottery, and whether scratch ticket […]
Posted inUncategorized
Redefining parents
by traditional definitions, the percentage of children living in “single-parent” households has risen steadily over the past few decades, both nationally and in Massachusetts. One measure is the share of […]
Posted inUncategorized
Entrances and exits
Each year, the state’s Department of Public Health releases two thick reports on vital statistics: Massachusetts Births and Massachusetts Deaths. To mark the new year, we’ve culled some of the […]
Posted inEconomy
Going it alone
According to data released late last year by the US Census Bureau, “nonemployer businesses”—mostly consisting of just one person, working full or part-time— have been on the rise, at least […]
Posted inPolitics
The wild, wild west
the Massachusetts GOP is gazing longingly at 1990, the last time that anti-incumbent fever put one of their own — Bill Weld — in the governor’s office. And Charles Baker, […]
Posted inPolitics
Municipal workforces
just about every community in the Bay State is trying to make do with less, but there are huge differences in the sizes of their municipal payrolls in relation to […]
Posted inUncategorized
Census trends
next year’s us Census promises more drama than usual, thanks to some recent demographic twists resulting from the economic crash of 2008. For example, the latest estimates have the state […]
Posted inEducation
Graduate gap
by one measure, Massachusetts is easily the most educated state in the United States. Among our residents over 25 years old, 37.9 percent had at least a bachelor’s degree in […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Untouchable turf
You know that municipal governments are in dire financial straits when they start looking to tax-exempt properties — schools, hospitals, and other nonprofit institutions — for new revenue. Many colleges […]
Posted inPolitics
Statistically significant
Illustrations by Travis Foster follow the money to beacon hillLegislative elections nearly always go to the candidate with more money, and the candidate with more money is almost always an […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Statistically significant
Illustrations by Travis Foster bay state farms get fruitful and multiplyAre “buy local” campaigns helping to preserve the state’s small farming sector? New data from the US Department of Agriculture […]
Posted inUncategorized
End of an exodus
Only a couple of years ago, many of us fretted about the Bay State’s declining population. (See “A Fading Dream?”, Civic Sense, CW, Fall ’06.) We didn’t realize that something […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Patrick vs. Cahill
UPDATE: State Treasurer Tim Cahill is running for governor as an independent, not as a challenger to incumbent Gov. Deval Patrick in the Democratic primary. Still, this CW map from […]
Posted inPolitics
Statistically significant
Illustrations by Travis Foster bridgewater’s town meeting bottoms out One of the largest communities in the Bay State that’s still governed by open town meetings may soon make the switch […]
Posted inUncategorized
Staying put
With so much attention given to the business of selling houses (and, now, losing houses to banks), it may be easy to forget that few Americans actually change residences in […]
Posted inEconomy
Emptied nests
Failed mortgages are almost always more common in lower-income areas, but in the current housing crisis, all of the Bay State’s foreclosure hotspots are in communities with relatively low home […]
Posted inPolitics, Transportation
Statistically Significant
Illustrations by Travis Foster Commuter trains to nowhere Increased commuter-rail service is a key component of “smart growth,” but not all train stops allow for car-free living. Some are simply […]
Posted inPolitics
Free riders
Massachusetts, once known for its raucous politics, now ranks last in the nation in the percentage of voters with a choice as to who represents them in the State House. […]