Popular culture is filled with sympathetic characters who provide food for our tables, from Ernest Borgnine’s lonely butcher in the 1955 film Marty and the sweet-tempered grocer Mr. Hooper on […]
Robert David Sullivan
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Statistically Significant
Illustrations by Travis Foster CURBS ON TEEN DRIVING PAY OFFMore restrictions on driving by 15- to 17-year-olds have significantly reduced traffic deaths in that age group, according to a recent […]
Posted inEconomy
Bread winners
The business of making things is still strong in much of central Massachusetts, as well as parts of the Merrimack Valley and the southeastern region of the state. But curing […]
Posted inEconomy
Flying solo
Additional research by Eric Wagner The self-employment sector is often depicted as a haven for nonconformists, so maybe it’s appropriate that there seems to be an infinite number of ways […]
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Florida dreaming
Illustrations by Elizabeth RockIn The Rise of the Creative Class, economist Richard Florida wrote that gays are good for a region’s economy. In his new book, The Flight of the […]
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Statistically Significant
Illustrations by Travis Foster GREEN CARS MAY HIT GLASS CEILINGHybrid cars, which are partly powered by electric batteries and thus burn less gasoline, are surging in popularity, according to automotive […]
Posted inPolitics
A Toast to the General Court
Illustration By Nick Galifianakis We don’t know for certain that the Massachusetts Legislature was the state’s most exclusive speakeasy during Prohibition. True, contraband liquor was stored in the basement of […]
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Past their prime
According to 2003 estimates from the Census Bureau, 126 of the state’s 351 communities (shaded on the larger map below) are now short of their population peaks. In some cases, […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Sense of Loss
Population drop may have been a fluke, but slow growth has its costs By Robert David Sullivan Coming at the end of a year when Massachusetts had more than its […]
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Statistically Significant
Illustrations By Travis Foster CREEPING UP TO HUB HOME PRICESAccording to the National Association of Realtors, the Boston housing market stood out for not registering double-digit percentage increases in home […]
Posted inEconomy
Risk takings
Dozens of state governments are increasing their dependence on revenues from lotteries and casinos, but even without slots and table games Massachusetts is near the head of the pack. In […]
Posted inEconomy
Two and a half decades of Prop. 2 1/2
Souce: Massachusetts Municipal Association (www.mma.org); state Department of Revenue, Division of Local Services (www.dls.state.ma.us)This year marks the silver anniversary of Proposition 2½, the property tax cap passed by voters in […]
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Statistically Significant
Illustrations by Travis Foster WOMEN IN THE OFFICE, MEN IN THE CLASSROOM According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Massachusetts ranks second in the percentage of employed women who […]
Posted inEducation
Classroom cash
It takes a lot of dough for Massachusetts to be nothing special in terms of staffing its public schools, according to the country’s largest teachers’ union. The National Education Association […]
Posted inPolitics
A walk through four centuries of Boston politics
SADLY BOSTON’S DUCK Tours do not pass what former House speaker Thomas Finneran is said to have called “the best goddam bar in the world.” To find such landmarks, it […]
Posted inPolitics
Half the battle
Some 50 percent of all Massachusetts voters will get to choose between Democratic and Republican candidates for state representative this fall, thanks to the “Team Reform” slate of GOP contenders […]
Posted inPolitics
Field of battle
For the first time in more than a decade, voters in most Massachusetts communities will see a Republican candidate for state representative on their ballots this fall. (Also see State […]
Posted inEconomy
Split-level personality
In 1980, Republican presidential nominee Ronald Reagan, running against Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter, asked voters, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” Note that he said “you,” […]
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Statistically Significant
Illustrations by Travis Foster Getting our Irish upHere’s another way in which Massachusetts is different from the rest of the nation. The US Census Bureau reported this summer that German […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service
CommonWealth Forum totes up assets and opportunities
INTRO TEXT “Asset inequality” is a major reason why African-Americans continue to lag behind white Americans in terms of homeownership and education, agreed several speakers at the latest CommonWealth forum, […]
Posted inPolitics
Bay State Nation
Read responses to this article. When the first President Bush ran for re-election in 1992, he cautioned the electorate against voting for a governor from Arkansas. “We do not want […]
Posted inEconomy
Who profits from federal spending
The Big Dig notwithstanding, Massachusetts is one of the biggest losers in the tax-and-spend game run by the federal government. According to the Washington, DC-based Tax Foundation, in fiscal year […]
Posted inPolitics
No-party animals
Source: Elections Division, Massachusetts Secretary of State’s Office (www.sec.state.ma.us)As of February, 49.8 percent of Massachusetts voters were unenrolled in any party—a slight drop from the February 2000 high point of […]