The Standard-Times reports on Supreme Judicial Court arguments around Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson's practice of charging inmates $5 a day for his hospitality. Lawyers for a prisoners' rights group […]
Bay State sheriff defends his right to bill inmates
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Uncategorized
Harvard panel, Boston police chief Davis discuss the Gates controversy
That human beings profile one another isn’t surprising. But when certain social, class, and cultural norms and values collide during confrontations between police and civilians, those instincts sometimes take on […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
An ethics dilemma: Do as I do or do as I say?
What would be the official reaction if someone had a court date for a speeding ticket but showed up a couple days later, maybe as much as three weeks after […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
It’s the teachers, stupid
Our cover story in the new issue of CommonWealth explores the outmoded, industrial-model teacher policies that are holding our schools back. It is increasingly clear that teachers are the key […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, The Download
School facts not friendly to Menino, but that’s not the biggest problem
The troubled state of the Boston public schools is Mayor Tom Menino’s Achilles’ heel. The woeful performance of the schools has surfaced over and over during the mayoral campaign, including […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Patrick gets the ultimate insult on Martha’s Vineyard
The Vineyard Gazette reports that a delegation from the island is miffed at how difficult it is to meet with the governor to discuss their concerns about the Cape Wind […]
Posted inEducation
School facts not friendly to Menino, but that’s not the biggest problem
The troubled state of the Boston public schools is Mayor Tom Menino’s Achilles’ heel. The woeful performance of the schools has surfaced over and over during the mayoral campaign, including […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
What Gateway Cities need to do to attract biotech firms
Gateway Cities officials today got a roadmap for attracting biotech companies from an executive of a company that moved to Massachusetts from Connecticut two years ago. Robert Cunningham, vice president of […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Fact-check: The US Senate debate
By Michael Jonas and Bruce Mohl The four Democratic candidates for US Senate met last night at the John F. Kennedy Library in Dorchester in the first formal debate of […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Full disclosure
It’s a simple equation: Transparency is only as good as the access available to public documents. But simple doesn’t always mean easy. Despite living in an age when a click […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Pappas plans to build film studio in Southie
South Boston developer Tim Pappas says he wants to build a movie studio in South Boston that would cater to the production companies coming to Massachusetts to take advantage of the […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, Opinion
Ed reform erosion
in 1993, the state passed an education reform law with a funding formula that closely followed proposals I developed with the late Jack Rennie and the Massachusetts Business Alliance for […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Public spaces, private rules
many government agencies are quietly redefining themselves as private, nonprofit businesses. Citizens are learning that, at some agencies, public accountability laws no longer apply, or never existed. Our proven tools […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Economy, The Download
This Side of Tax Paradise
A terrific new essay in The American Scholar analyzes F. Scott Fitzgerald's tax returns and is a startling reminder of how much the average American's relationship with the IRS has […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Last-minute bets in the Boston mayoral race
The Phoenix's David Bernstein notes that Boston Mayor Tom Menino is doing very well among late contributors: I was fascinated to see that Tom Menino just had a banner fortnight […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Massachusetts not so great this year, say public planners
Massachusetts was shut out of the American Planning Association's annual "Great Places" list, released earlier this month. But city and town planners don't have to go far to find inspiration, […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Can South Coast Rail qualify for stimulus funding?
Securing funds to offset the some of the costs associated with the $1.9 billion South Coast Rail project would be a significant coup not only for southeastern Massachusetts, but also […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Carpentry apprentices help nonprofits get real-world training
for david leonhardi, a union’s effort to increase its community service offerings has helped enhance his teaching. Leonhardi is an instructor at the New England Regional Council of Carpenters’ training […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
Towns offer space to keep popular RMV branches open
cities and towns across the Commonwealth are making the state an offer it can’t refuse: Free or low-cost public space for Registry of Motor Vehicles branches. To save $1.7 million […]
Posted inUncategorized
Census trends
next year’s us Census promises more drama than usual, thanks to some recent demographic twists resulting from the economic crash of 2008. For example, the latest estimates have the state […]
Posted inEducation
Graduate gap
by one measure, Massachusetts is easily the most educated state in the United States. Among our residents over 25 years old, 37.9 percent had at least a bachelor’s degree in […]
Posted inPolitics
Municipal workforces
just about every community in the Bay State is trying to make do with less, but there are huge differences in the sizes of their municipal payrolls in relation to […]