Big sales for light readsIn any given week, as many as half of the nonfiction bestsellers in the US are health-related–with diet books the most common subgenre. That wasn’t always […]
Robert David Sullivan
Posted inEducation, Health Care
Insurance coverage in the workplace the spread of community health care centers college education and exercise heart disease cancer and asthma rates
Under coverage Massachusetts has one of the lowest percentages of people without health insurance, but it might do even better if more private employers picked up the tab. According to […]
Posted inUncategorized
Bed scores
Unlike Dunkin’ Donuts outlets, hospitals don’t necessarily mirror population trends. According to the most current figures provided by Bay State hospitals to the American Hospital Directory, staffed beds are relatively […]
Posted inPolitics
State of the State speeches accentuate the positive
A State of the State address is no time for bad news, unless it’s your first year as governor and you have predecessors to blame. “This is a government with […]
Posted inUncategorized
Without a hitch
Unmarried couples remain a relative rarity in Massachusetts, according to the 2000 US Census. Of the 1.33 million households headed by self-described couples, only 130,919 are headed by unmarried partners. […]
Posted inUncategorized
New inductees for the state’s endangered species list, carefree men and worried women, a treasure trove of data from the Pioneer Valley, New York Citys complaint hotline, Bostons enthusiasm for the arts, Amazon’s nailing of local reading habits
Swan song for the twilight moth?State wildlife officials are singing the blues over the Twilight Moth, believed to be near extinction in Massachusetts. They’re proposing to add the moth, last […]
Posted inUncategorized
The Bay States march up the State of Caring Index
Massachusetts became a kinder and gentler state during the 1990s, at least according to the United Way of America’s State of Caring Index, which was updated last December and includes […]
Posted inUncategorized
The possible benefits of predictable population growth
Population growth in the Bay State has been relatively predictable over the past half-century: no sudden spurts, no actual declines. The problems associated with population loss–labor shortages, falling tax revenues, […]
Posted inUncategorized
Where the odds favor single men, the Bay States mysterious budget a looming shortage of dentists, homeowners who stay put, a business-climate report card, whos buckling up
Temptation island? Single women who like the odds to be in their favor might consider moving to Nantucket. According to the Web site ePodunk.com, the island is the only county […]
Posted inEconomy
Commonwealth Forum ponders middle-class debt crisis
MUCH HAS BEEN WRITTEN about federal and state governments spending beyond their means, but many middle-class American households are also awash in red ink. At the Commonwealth Forum “Going for Broke: […]
Posted inUncategorized
Lodges and lattes
In our last issue, sociologist Theda Skocpol lamented the decline of fraternal organizations in America (“Civic Dissociation,” CW, Summer 2003), saying that such groups appeal to “people from a wide […]
Posted inUncategorized
Soft touches
Charities are advised to stay close to Boston–or head a bit to the west–when shaking their tin cans. The Catalogue for Philanthropy, a consortium of nonprofits that says it “promotes […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Uncategorized
A celebration of doing nothing
The Importance of Being Lazy: In Praise of Play, Leisure, and VacationsBy Al GiniRoutledge, New York, 176 pages. Al Gini is a guy I’d like to have by my side […]
Posted inUncategorized
The babyname hit parade newest census standings carcrash trends toting up cancer risks
What’s in a name?Here’s one more way that Massachusetts is out of step with the rest of the nation, courtesy of the Social Security Administration’s annual roll call of the […]
Posted inEconomy, Education
Spending on public higher education
Even before recent budget cuts, Massachusetts was considered a skinflint in the area of public higher education. According to the Center for the Study of Educational Policy, we ranked 48th […]
Posted inUncategorized
CarFree in Boston finally pulls into bookstores
INTRO TEXT After nearly a decade in the shop, Car-Free in Boston is back in service–and, for those who prefer their transportation public rather than private, not a moment too […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
The way we tax
With revenue diminishing due to the stock market downturn and rising unemployment rates, the Bay State is experiencing the same fiscal squeeze being felt nationwide. As states across the country […]
Posted inUncategorized
Everyone wants to write the definitive definition of the American Dream
In the beginning, there was land ownership. American colonists understood the concept, American Indians didn’t, and the result was a nation that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Now […]
Posted inEconomy
Household tax burden
How much of a burden are taxes in Massachusetts compared with other states? It all depends on how you make the comparison. In one common measure–total tax burden (state and […]
Posted inUncategorized
The conventional wisdom about Bostons image
Who stands for Massachusetts–Frasier or Spenser? Visions of conventioneers–and not Shriners in fezzes–are dancing in Boston heads. Mayor Thomas Menino wants to host the Democratic Party’s national convention in 2004, […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
State of the marital union
INTRO TEXT “Politics and marriage don’t really mix,” said Boston College political science professor Alan Wolfe at the June 18 Commonwealth Forum on “The State of the Union: Understanding Marriage […]
Posted inPolitics
Mapping Massachusetts Politics
Just as the candidates will tell you, there’s a clear choice to be made in this year’s gubernatorial election, but it’s not about them. Mitt Romney and the Democratic nominee […]
Posted inUncategorized
Walpole chats up the web
Walpole seems to be a place that won’t take no or yes for an answer. The town has had three elections in less than a year, all of them related […]
Posted inOpinion, Uncategorized
Keeping the faithful
If there ever was a separation of church and state in the newsroom–a certain kid-gloves treatment of churchly foibles–the raging controversy over clergy sexual abuse in the Boston Archdiocese has […]