Economic crises are social accelerators—things that were abstractly understood as trends are suddenly new and crushing realities. Twenty-five years ago, while the “Massachusetts Miracle” of growth charmed a generation of […]
Overcoming tough times
Posted inOpinion
Jobs held hostage by housing
Like new england Patriots victories, high housing costs became matter of fact in Massachusetts over the last decade. As we rebuild from the Great Recession and the housing bubble that […]
Posted inEducation, Environment, Health Care
Correspondence Fall 2010
MY MRI COST $7,200 Your article, “Overexposed,” in CommonWealth’s summer edition was superb. It revealed so many of the failures and successes of our medical system.I have only one thing to […]
Posted inPolitics
Big citizen
Alan Khazei stepped into the spotlight last fall when he ran in the special election race to fill Ted Kennedy’s seat in the US Senate. But the high-profile race was […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
Advice to the governor: Tough medicine
Click here for more advice for the governor Health care spending is back at the top of the agenda in Massachusetts, and addressing it must be a top priority of […]
Posted inEducation, Health Care, Politics
Advice to the Governor: Think smart
Click here for more advice for the governorDuring a painful recession, gubernatorial candidates make too many promises about fixing our near-term problems and too few commitments about the investments needed […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Advice to the Governor: Criminal justice overhaul is overdue
Click here for more advice for the governor Massachusetts’s criminal justice system is big, broken, and expensive. Our prisons are overcrowded and our young people continue to do harm to […]
Posted inEducation, Politics
Advice to the Governor: Push for higher standards
Click here for more advice for the governor Discussion of education issues in this year’s race for governor has often centered on the state’s recent decision to join the effort […]
Posted inTransportation
Time on T’s side
The MBTA and Massachusetts Bay Commuter Rail Company publish “report cards” showing the commuter rail’s performance and, by all accounts, the trains arrive when they are supposed to 95 percent […]
Posted inPolitics
Power is a money magnet on Beacon Hill
Money chases power on Beacon Hill, and there may be no clearer example of that relationship than the campaign war chests of state Reps. John Rogers and Charles Murphy.Rogers used […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Economy, Politics, State House News Service
Police scramble on Quinn pay
Police unions and individual officers are trying hard to save what’s left of the 40-year-old Quinn Bill with mixed success. Budget woes forced lawmakers to cut what was once a […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
On Beacon Hill, help is easy to find
Massachusetts lawmakers have pared back the size of the legislative staff in the midst of the current recession but the state still ranks as one of the most aide-heavy legislatures […]
Posted inEconomy
Feds taking aim at real estate fees; BRA seeks guidance
A novel real estate fee long collected by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and more recently by some private developers, is coming under fire from the federal government.The Federal Housing Finance […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
A business improvement district in Boston-finally
With city services cut and unlikely to rebound to pre-recession levels any time soon, Bostonians are stepping into the breach.Businesses in the Downtown Crossing area are banding together and voluntarily […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
Turnaround artist
Lisa Wong became a rising superstar in Massachusetts politics the moment she trounced a veteran Fitchburg city councilor and catapulted into the mayor’s office at age 28. The wonky daughter […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Raising the bar
Suzanne Bump’s campaign staff is antsy. It’s already an hour into the campaign event, a barbeque with Malden Democrats, and their candidate for state auditor is seriously lagging behind schedule. […]
Posted inEducation
False start
From tiny Roxbury Community College to the University of Massachusetts flagship school in Amherst, women run far behind men in nearly every measure of equal treatment.
Posted inPolitics
Milford split on driver’s licenses
Milford Police Chief Thomas O’Loughlin has voiced support for issuing driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants, but CommonWealth magazine’s Bellwether project indicates residents of his own town are split on the […]
Posted inHealth Care
Breathing easier
Izaeyah French of Dorchester is an energetic 7-year-old who loves kickball—and loves knowing asthma won’t keep him on the sidelines while other kids play. In the past, “my head would […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
North Andover sets Hollywood straight
By Gabrielle Gurley About two years ago, a Hollywood movie production company sought permission from North Andover Town Manager Mark Rees to film at a private home in a residential […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Tom Reilly’s personal endorsement
By Paul McMorrow The last time Charlie Baker trumpeted the endorsement of a celebrated defector, it didn’t go so well. After picking off Tim Cahill’s erstwhile running mate, Paul Loscocco, […]
Posted inHealth Care, The Download
Picturing what’s next in cutting health costs
By Jack Sullivan Paul Levy, president and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, has an insider’s take on an emerging trend in medical imaging that is having an effect […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Back story misses mark
Bruce Mohl’s opinion piece “Is Open Space in Danger?” misses the mark on the challenge to preserve land in Massachusetts.Thanks to the collaborative work of state environmental agencies and conservation […]