WHETHER STATE LEADERS will consider unwinding some of the key pillars of education reform in Massachusetts is far from certain. What is clear is that critics of the state’s school […]
Debating state takeover of school districts
Posted inEducation
Debating state takeover of school districts
WHETHER STATE LEADERS will consider unwinding some of the key pillars of education reform in Massachusetts is far from certain. What is clear is that critics of the state’s school […]
Posted inEducation
Time to end the state’s ‘test and punish’ accountability system
ALL STUDENTS, not only the most privileged, need and deserve an education that provides the knowledge and skills most needed in today’s global, diverse, and technological world. Massachusetts should be […]
Posted inEducation
State looks to limit cellphones in schools
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE STATE’S K-12 education department is encouraging districts to restrict or ban students’ cellphone use in schools, possibly moving toward a statewide mandate in the future. […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Like Goldilocks, Glynn trying to fashion ‘just right’ T board
CommonWealth Magazine · Like Goldilocks, Glynn trying to fashion ‘just right’ T board
Posted inEconomy, Government, Marijuana
Social consumption cannabis plans get a retooling
IT’S BEEN SEVEN YEARS since Massachusetts legalized recreational marijuana, but there’s still a lengthy road ahead before someone can sit down in a cannabis cafe, pop an edible or break […]
Posted inThe Download
Quebec, like Mass., facing electricity challenges of its own
The rumblings from Quebec sound ominous, but officials at Hydro-Quebec say the provincial utility’s power supply contract with Massachusetts is rock solid. The contract was signed more than four years […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment, Opinion
We must pursue a real plan for net-zero emissions by 2050
AS THE COMMONWEALTH moves forward with its ambitious mandate to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, it’s essential that we have a real plan for implementing a real solution. Failure to adopt a […]
Posted inEnergy, Government
Quebec, like Mass., facing electricity challenges of its own
THE RUMBLINGS from Quebec sound ominous, but officials at Hydro-Quebec say the provincial utility’s power supply contract with Massachusetts is rock solid. The contract was signed more than four years […]
Posted inEnergy
Healey seeking $250m for grid upgrades
THE HEALEY ADMINISTRATION announced on Monday that it has filed an application for $250 million in federal matching funds to help build connections to the power grid in Massachusetts for […]
Posted inState Government, State House News Service
Healey names Gobi director of rural affairs
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE SEN. ANNE GOBI will leave the Legislature to fill a newly created post in the Healey administration, triggering a special election in the central Massachusetts district […]
Posted inThe Download
Like Goldilocks, Glynn trying to fashion ‘just right’ T board
When “snowmageddon,” an unprecedented succession of blizzards, shut the MBTA down in 2015, Beacon Hill created a five-person Fiscal and Management Control Board to right the organization. Control was the […]
Posted inTransportation
Like Goldilocks, Glynn trying to fashion ‘just right’ T board
WHEN “SNOWMAGEDDON,” an unprecedented succession of blizzards, shut the MBTA down in 2015, Beacon Hill created a five-person Fiscal and Management Control Board to right the organization. Control was the operative […]
Posted inEconomy
Mass. economic growth slows, projected to go negative
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MASSACHUSETTS SQUEAKED OUT a smidgen of economic growth in the first quarter of 2023, slowing substantially from its late 2022 growth rate, and analysts are predicting […]
Posted inEducation
End discriminatory admissions policies in vocational schools
SHOULD AN EIGHTH-GRADE student with a low grade-point average and/or low attendance, due to feeling disengaged from the school and curriculum, be excluded from enrolling in a Massachusetts vocational high […]
Posted inEconomy
State economic development plan must include entrepreneurs of color
STATE LAW REQUIRES the governor to present the Legislature with an economic development strategy every four years. Crafted with input from a council of business and civic leaders, these plans […]
Posted inOpinion
A creative imagining of the Emancipation Group statue
IN THE SUMMER of 2021, I wrote an opinion piece for CommonWealth with suggestions on what to do with the city’s Emancipation Group statue, the one showing Abraham Lincoln with […]
Posted inEconomy, Gambling, Opinion
An online lottery will hurt Main Street retailers
LOCALLY OWNED retail stores are rightfully up in arms about inclusion of an online lottery in the House fiscal 2024 budget. As demonstrated through testimony before the Legislature’s Joint Committee […]
Posted inEducation
Student loan ombudsperson is working, let’s fund it
IN TODAY’S UNPREDICTABLE economy, the future of nearly 1 million student loan borrowers in Massachusetts is particularly precarious. Combined, they owe a whopping $31.7 billion in student loans. Their fate […]
Posted inEducation
Childcare helps power our economy
ELECTRICITY. WATER. Internet access. To this list of fundamental services that enable us to have a strong and growing economy, we’d add another critical service: childcare. Over and over again, […]
Posted inThe Download
Attention turns to Arroyo’s role in Rollins scandal
Rachael Rollins wasn’t sending out text messages into the void. City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo was answering. Two scathing reports on Rollins’s conduct as US attorney showed that she crossed all […]
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice, Politics
Attention turns to Arroyo’s role in Rollins scandal
RACHAEL ROLLINS wasn’t sending out text messages into the void. City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo was answering. Two scathing reports on Rollins’s conduct as US attorney showed that she crossed all sorts […]
Posted inOpinion
Why stopping the super PAC ballot question is important
ON JANUARY 21, the famous Supreme Court decision of Citizens United vs the FEC celebrated its 13th anniversary, but here in Massachusetts the efforts to undermine this expansion of our […]
Posted inTransportation
‘Red flags’ in budget worry MBTA Advisory Board
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE CITIES AND TOWNS that help fund the MBTA are concerned it will be “impossible” to restore pre-pandemic service levels and that the agency might need to […]