https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC6C_NSWO-o Fordham Institute’s Robert Pondiscio and Massachusetts education blogger Jennifer Berkshire talk with CommonWealth magazine’s Michael Jonas about the opt-out movement in which students are refusing to take standardized tests.
CW video: Opting out
Posted inHealth Care, The Download
The hidden cost of having health insurance
U.S. News & World Report is out with its annual index on health insurance and its impact on the economy. To the surprise of few, many of the costs are declining […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Time for action on MBTA
A FOG OF CONFUSION threatens to obfuscate the hard, persistent facts that ought to dominate our thinking about how to restore and rejuvenate our public transportation system. That confusion comes […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Clinton, Warren, and Sanders: It’s complicated
Elizabeth Warren has so far resisted every appeal from her progressive fanbase to get into the 2016 race for president. Some refuse to believe that her “no” is genuine, which […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Scott: State should take over the MBTA
“THE MBTA NEEDS to be put out of its misery.” That’s the diagnosis from Beverly Scott, the former general manager of the MBTA. The MBTA doesn’t need a fiscal and […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Mass. once again playing catchup on energy
RIGHT NOW, IT SEEMS LIKE Massachusetts remains on the slow boat to natural gas pipeline expansion, which is impacting prices for customers and reliability for power generators. The region needs […]
Posted inEconomy
Boston wages outpace rest of nation
Private sector workers in the Greater Boston area saw their wages and salaries increase 3.9 percent over the last year, the highest increase among the nation’s 15 largest metropolitan area […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Pollack says dissolving T was considered
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE SWEEPING ASIDE THE AGENCY that oversees metro Boston’s transit system and reassembling the bureaucracy was a path considered and rejected by a gubernatorial advisory panel, though […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Tom Brady’s politics
Ever since Tom Brady skipped the New England Patriots’ White House visit late last month, there has been endless speculation on talk radio and in print about why the team […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Rosenberg and DeLeo at odds — again
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE ANOTHER RIFT has opened between the House and Senate, this time over whether senators can consider changes in tax policy when they debate their annual state […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics
Baker opposes lifting net metering cap
THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION, siding with electric utilities over solar developers and environmental groups, is recommending no expansion of a key state solar subsidy until a more cost-effective program to harness […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Download
Conservative hypocrisy on police unions
In the charged atmosphere surrounding the debate on race and policing in American cities, nuance and fresh perspective have often been in short supply. That made Ross Douthat’s column in Sunday’s […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, Transportation
Dissecting the T’s land deal with Wynn
THE FIGHT for the eastern Massachusetts casino license ended more than seven months ago, but it feels like the battle is still raging. Boston, Somerville, Revere, and Mohegan Sun are all […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, State House News Service
Chief of Lowell campus gets top UMass job
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AFTER TOUTING HIS FUNDRAISING capabilities and pledging to make diversity a priority, UMass Lowell Chancellor and former Congressman Martin Meehan was chosen by the University of […]
Posted inArts and Culture, The Download
Iron Man run off by reporter
Robert Downey Jr.  was talking up the new Avengers movie in London when his TV interviewer suddenly started asking him questions about his past drug use, his politics, and his father. Downey […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
GOP not pushing for House roll calls
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HOUSE REPUBLICANS THIS WEEK repeatedly opted not to support requests for roll call votes on several controversial budget amendments, prompting one outspoken GOP rep to question […]
Posted inThe Back Story, Transportation
T report misses mark on absenteeism numbers
ONE OF THE MOST ALARMING figures to come out of Gov. Charlie Baker’s MBTA panel report earlier this month was 57. That’s the average number of working days that T […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion, Politics
Medical marijuana: What’s taking so long?
WHEN LISA COLEÂ puts her 6-year old-daughter Maddie to bed at night she worries that she might die. So far she has survived epilepsy, but her cognitive development is severely delayed […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Baker takes conventional approach to change
The honeymoon between Gov. Charlie Baker and the public is not at an end but the realities of the forced marriage between Baker and Democrats are starting to bubble up […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
We need a different type of power grid
FOR MANY NEW ENGLANDERS, last winter highlighted the drawbacks of our existing energy system. We are tired of cold seeping in around windows, power outages and work stoppages from storm-damaged […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
Baker puts convention center expansion on hold
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE PLANNED $1 BILLION expansion of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center has been frozen indefinitely by Gov. Charlie Baker, whose administration on Wednesday expressed deep […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, State House News Service, The Download
Boston asks the Baltimore question
A dead black man, peaceful protests, and then riots. The “could it happen here?” syndrome has gripped Boston again with the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore. Gray’s death in police custody […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service
State takes control of Holyoke schools
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HOLYOKE PUBLIC SCHOOLS will be taken over by the state, after the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted 8 to 3 Tuesday to authorize the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download, Transportation
Pushing back on Baker’s T reform
Lawmakers began pushing back against the Baker administration’s MBTA reform plan on Monday, questioning the need for a special T control board, raising doubts about unspent capital funds, and suggesting […]