Gov. Deval Patrick says he wants to double the number of charter school seats in Massachusetts. But there's a big difference between a proposal and a policy or state law […]
Duncan jumps the gun on Massachusetts charter school boost
Posted inArts and Culture, Uncategorized
Free labor market
INTRO TEXT when caroline huang remembers her first job out of graduate school, tension creeps into her soft-spoken voice even now, almost 20 years later. The speech recognition scientist went […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
No magic bullet
gov. patrick, the Boston Globe, MassINC, the Boston Foundation, the business community, and President Obama are all supporting charter schools as a key step toward school improvement, but a careful […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
A new prescription
before the year is out, Congress and the Obama administration will try to do for the entire nation what only one state, Massachusetts, has been able to do for its […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Untouchable turf
You know that municipal governments are in dire financial straits when they start looking to tax-exempt properties — schools, hospitals, and other nonprofit institutions — for new revenue. Many colleges […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Bay State Banner gets loan, draws attention to nonprofit
An obscure nonprofit corporation today made good on Boston Mayor Thomas Menino's promise to loan $200,000 to the Bay State Banner, a weekly newspaper targeted to the African-American community. The board of […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Patrick fights to keep DC outpost
The Boston Herald's Dave Wedge reports today that the Patrick administration is trying to keep its Washington, DC office going even after the Legislature took away its funding. The reaction […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
No cheerleading for convention centers
The Next American City’s Josh Stephens offers a skeptical assessment of gargantuan convention centers such as Boston’s BCEC, described as looking “like the starship Enterprise in drydock, with a titanium […]
Posted inEconomy, Transportation
Back tracking
INTRO TEXT UPDATE: The MBTA has announced plans to replace ties on the Old Colony line.
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Time saver
in 2008, the state of Utah was facing a number of compelling issues. Utility costs were rising, but there was no funding available to retrofit public buildings. Our government workforce […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Cancel their bill
it’s an issue that has received only limited media attention, so it may come as a surprise to most Massachusetts residents that a single telecommunications corporation — Verizon — has […]
Posted inUncategorized
Correspondence
Special ed story was a rehash of blame game After closely reviewing your cover story regarding special education in Massachusetts (“Spending Spiral,” CW, Spring ’09), I was dismayed to find […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
Towns seek more power to curb health care costs
The state of Massachusetts, facing a multibillion-dollar budget gap, plans to cut $86 million from its health insurance spending this fiscal year by unilaterally raising the percentage of premiums paid […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, State House News Service
Hub youth work to bring civics class back to public schools
It’s civic engagement at its finest. Like most students, Boston youth organizer Katherine Garcia, 16, had never designed a curriculum for a high school course. Roy Karp, executive director of […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Health Care, Politics
Boston health inspectors ease up on eatery grades
The city of Boston is doing away with failing grades for most of the restaurants that don’t measure up on health inspections. Thomas Goodfellow, assistant commissioner of the health division […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Bad hand for Lottery poker
Amid much fanfare and looking to cash in on the then-growing poker craze, the Massachusetts Lottery introduced its $10 Texas Hold ’Em instant ticket with a $10 million grand prize […]
Posted inPolitics
Statistically significant
Illustrations by Travis Foster follow the money to beacon hillLegislative elections nearly always go to the candidate with more money, and the candidate with more money is almost always an […]
Posted inPolitics
Disclosure is the best policy
It was grafifying to see the Legislature pass tax credit transparency legislation as part of the state budget, but it was disappointing that lawmakers opted for the “lite” version. The […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Uncategorized
Did Al Sharpton save the Cambridge Police Department?
Did the prospect of dealing with Al Sharpton prove to be the catalyst that propelled the Cambridge Police Department, the Middlesex District Attorney's Office, and Harvard University professor Henry Louis […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
The facts on tax credits and movie star salaries
In commenting on a recent post about Gov. Deval Patrick's efforts to cap how much of a movie star's salary would qualify for the state's film tax credit, reader Donald McGlaughlin said […]