AS COLLEGES OFFER more and more courses online, school officials are scrambling to come up with innovative ways to prevent cheating by students taking tests and other assessments remotely. It’s […]
Students, schools play cat and mouse with online cheating
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
Lexington lawmaker looks to the people for tax boost
REP. JAY KAUFMAN has been a reliable member of the House Democratic caucus’s progressive wing for more than 20 years. In the 1990s, he was part of a small band […]
Posted inHealth Care
State down to one elder ombudsman
THE MASSACHUSETTS ELDER AFFAIRS office, which had been using two ombudsmen to respond to complaints from the 14,000 people in the state’s 237 assisted living facilities, is now down to one. […]
Posted inEconomy
The politics of patents
THE WAY BOSTON UNIVERSITY President Bob Brown sees it, the Massachusetts economy is fueled by a pipeline of innovation running from the state’s great research universities to start-up companies. University […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion
Dealing fairly with pretrial detainees
IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, but there is a tested way to improve the fairness of our justice system while saving taxpayers money and lowering crime. The solution […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
No time to go wobbly on One Care
BACK IN 2008, when I was working in the US Senate on national health reform, a delegation of 20 business leaders from the New England Council visited Capitol Hill to […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Helping those with brain injuries
MASSACHUSETTS IS A WORLD LEADER in emergency, acute, and acute rehabilitation medical care. Our colleges and universities conduct advanced research on cognition and intelligence, and are home to some of the […]
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
Pilgrim nuclear plant to close in 2019
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE PILGRIM NUCLEAR POWER STATION in Plymouth will shut down by June 1, 2019, its owners announced Tuesday morning, citing “poor market conditions.” Pilgrim owner Entergy Corporation […]
Posted inUncategorized
Letters, Fall 2015
INSTANT RUNOFF VOTING NOT WORKING IN CAMBRIDGE James Sutherland’s article on Instant Runoff Voting (“A Democracy Worth Paying For,” Summer ’15) points out that turnouts in Cambridge run higher than […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Has the Lawrence school receivership run out of steam?
TEN YEARS AGO, engulfed by Katrina, New Orleans was the site of almost unimaginable loss of life, with entire neighborhoods, including the city’s entire network of neighborhood schools, laid […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Salary not the only yardstick of college success
THE RECENTLY RELEASED FEDERAL College Scorecard caused a stir among both the news media and university leadership. The US Department of Education ranked their data by student federal loan recipients’ […]
Posted inGambling, The Download
Globe in the middle of casino fight
The Boston Globe found itself in the middle of a legal fight this week. The newspaper broke the news on Wednesday that Wynn Resorts had filed a libel lawsuit against “an […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service
Baker pushes for more charter schools
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER REIGNITED a debate on Thursday that has vexed and divided Democrat and Republican lawmakers in recent years, proposing an expansion of charter schools […]
Posted inGambling
Wynn’s challenge beyond Massachusetts
WYNN RESORTS, facing a series of legal and regulatory challenges to its proposed $1.7 billion casino in Everett, is also facing financial challenges as a company. The Las Vegas firm’s […]
Posted inGambling, The Download
Fantasy sports come to grips with reality
The argument over whether playing fantasy sports for money is legal is long-past settled. Congress, under heavy lobbying from professional sports leagues, gave a specific carve-out for fantasy leagues to operate […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Gallup chief clarifies horse race polling decision
POLITICO REPORTED Wednesday morning that Gallup will not track the so-called “horse race” in this year’s presidential primary, and would not commit to doing so in the general election. The […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
MBTA’s alcohol ads trial balloon deflating fast
The MBTA needs every dollar that it can get, but probably not the ones from ads for “demon rum.” Several years ago, a youth-led, public health coalition lobbied MBTA general […]
Posted inHealth Care
Partners head points finger at state
THE HEAD OF Partners HealthCare System on Tuesday pointed the finger at state regulators, saying the tight rein they have on hospitals is as much to blame for rising health care […]
Posted inHealth Care
Healey: “Stronger interventions” may be needed
ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY says big disparities in prices paid to health care providers continue to hamper efforts to control health care costs, a situation that might call for more […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Hassan takes on Ayotte in NH
New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan made it official on Monday: She’s running for the US Senate seat currently held by Republican Kelly Ayotte, setting up a high-stakes battle next year between two […]
Posted inHealth Care
Baker one of the experts consulted by Health Policy Commission
THE STATE’S HEALTH POLICY COMMISSION on Monday began taking testimony from a variety of experts on health care cost trends, and one of them was Gov. Charlie Baker. Baker, the […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
More charter schools are not the answer
IT SEEMS THAT the debate over charter schools is once again heating up in Massachusetts. Proposed legislation by Gov. Charlie Baker, a lawsuit on behalf of students denied charter seats, […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Patrick Kennedy comes clean
Patrick Kennedy wears his heart on his sleeve, his manner far more confessional than calculating. That said, his timing couldn’t be better. The youngest child of Ted Kennedy has written […]
Posted inThe Download
Bergantino steps down, NECIR stays on the case
Nonprofit investigative journalism is hard to do and even harder to finance over time. The New England Center for Investigative Reporting, based at Boston University, has found something like journalism’s […]