This long-overdue school desegregation lawsuit may provide the push we need to change the conversation from cross-district enrollment to place-based revitalization of urban neighborhoods.
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
Limits on local cooperation with ICE more urgent than ever
Sanctuary policies like the PROTECT Act have been the subject of public rancor and misunderstanding over the past year. These debates, though, often miss what sanctuary policies do – and what they do not.
Posted inOpinion
Cranky, perhaps. But Barney Frank’s accessibility and honesty were a breath of fresh air.
Frank was consistently accessible, ever quotable, always on the record, and honest to a fault.
Posted inOpinion
Mass. environmentalists have lost the plot on energy affordability
People can want offshore wind, solar, storage, hydro, geothermal, efficiency, and new technology – while also supporting natural gas as an affordable and reliable bridge to that transition.
Posted inOpinion
Massachusetts must stop separating siblings in foster care
IN NOVEMBER 2024, when I launched Kicking It Together, a soccer program for kids in foster care, I hoped it would be a fun, recreational outlet for children going through […]
Posted inOpinion
What does $1.7 billion get you in the Boston Public Schools? Abysmal student achievement and declining results.
A majority of Boston students are unable to read or do math at grade level. In a district spending $1.7 billion a year, it should be unconscionable to rest on good intentions without the ability to show real results.
Posted inOpinion
Massachusetts should join the 43 states that allow psychologists to provide telehealth therapy across state lines
Competing priorities and legislative inertia are the only reasons Massachusetts has not caught up to the other states that have already taken this step to enhance access and continuity of behavioral health care.
Posted inOpinion
Hampshire College, as we know it, is closing. We still think it has a future.
The question is no longer whether Hampshire’s existing financial model is viable—it is not—but whether what remains can be guided through a structured transition rather than resolved through rapid liquidation.
Posted inOpinion
The Health Policy Commission is concerned about health care costs — but powerless to do much about it
It was created in 2012 as part of legislation aimed at containing health care costs, but not vested with much authority.
Posted inOpinion
Voting Rights Act ruling can harm belief in fair representation, even in bluest states like Massachusetts
Civic participation is shaped as much by trust as it is by policy. That’s why leadership at the state level must be proactive, visible, and unequivocal in the face of federal rulings that set us back.
Posted inOpinion
Norwood Hospital was done in by inadequate state regulations. Here is the fix.
Massachusetts has shown it knows how to prevent the next Norwood-like crisis. The question is whether it will build the tools to help the communities already living through one.
Posted inOpinion
In Boston police shooting and LaGuardia tragedy, strikingly different approaches to the ‘decisive moment’
If we learn to look, every “decisive moment” can teach us what came before it, what lay beneath it, and what we can do beyond it to prevent recurrence.
Posted inOpinion
In charging Boston police officer with manslaughter, Suffolk DA ignored broader framing mandated by US Supreme Court
Under the Constitution, the question is not whether the officer was ultimately right. The question is whether a reasonable officer, confronted with the same tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving circumstances, could have perceived an immediate threat and responded in this way.
Posted inOpinion
I want statues of saints at my church, not at my police station
Installing two larger-than-life Christian saints to loom over the entrance of our public safety building sends a clear message to non-Christians.
Posted inOpinion
AI is coming to schools. Teachers need time to debate its use, experiment, and figure out how it fits in
THERE’S A CERTAIN feeling right before summer camp ends. It’s the feeling that through the new friendships, conversations, and activities, you’ve met a revised and better version of yourself. You’re […]
Posted inOpinion
Massachusetts promised community-based care for those with serious mental illness. Budget cuts could undermine that.
In April 2024, the state signed on to the Marsters v. Healey settlement, a federal court-enforced agreement to transition at least 2,400 residents with serious mental illness and other disabilities out of nursing facilities and into community settings over eight years, backed by projected investments exceeding $1 billion.
Posted inOpinion
Legislature should impose limits on harmful book bans in state libraries
MASSACHUSETTS HAS A rare opportunity to strengthen the public’s ability to freely debate ideas, a foundational democratic concept under attack at the local, state, and national levels. Passing “An Act […]
Posted inOpinion
Healey and lawmakers are overreaching with proposed social media restrictions for children
The bill’s goal is to protect children, but in practice it restricts younger users’ access to lawful online content. Courts have repeatedly made clear that protecting minors does not give the government a generalized power to limit what people can read, view, or say.
Posted inOpinion
No time for timidity on clean energy
As fuel prices surge from the war in the Middle East and residents demand relief from their monthly bills, now is the time to deliver clean energy and energy efficiency solutions for the people of Massachusetts.
Posted inOpinion
We’ve lived in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. Here’s why we’re fighting to ‘Raise the Age.’
Too often, young adults in the criminal justice system are told the second they reach 18 that their mistakes are who they are rather than something they can learn from. We know this is not true.
Posted inOpinion
Here’s how we could build market-rate housing units in Boston that cost $100,000
Proven construction methods already exist to build housing at much lower cost than standard methods. What is missing is a strategy that aligns these elements into a system that actually produces entry-level homeownership.
Posted inOpinion
Massachusetts has a once-in-a-decade chance to stop predatory electric suppliers
The bill’s consumer protections would move Massachusetts from having some of the weakest safeguards for residential electricity customers to some of the strongest.
Posted inOpinion
An Earth Day call to action against dangerous rollback of federal environmental protections
The EPA’s Endangerment Finding has served as the backbone of action under the Clean Air Act to limit pollution from motor vehicles, the nation’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. The Trump administration axed it.
Posted inOpinion
Hampshire College’s demise is another blow to creative, outside-the-box options in higher education
It’s another sign of the higher ed consolidation, in which wealthy schools and those that deliver a traditional and often vocationally driven curriculum have a big advantage.