USA Today has a cool set of maps based on county-by-county population trends from 2000 through 2007. The most striking thing is that Kansas and other Great Plains states are […]
What’s the matter with Kansas now?
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Holyoke goes back to the garden
Corby Kummer writes about Nuestras Raices, a community gardening program in the "Gateway City" of Holyoke, in the new issue of the Atlantic magazine. Read Kummer’s piece, but also check […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
Fudging high school graduation rates
Fans of The Wire already know how police departments cook crime stats. Today the New York Times reports on how school systems use fuzzy math to come up with graduation […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Arkansas cracks down on high interest “payday loans”
Via Governing.com, the attorney general of Arkansas is ordering the shutdown of 156 "payday lending outlets" that make personal loans, with extremely high interest rates, against a borrower’s future paychecks. […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Which Washington Street?
The Boston Globe’s Maria Cramer reports that police responded to a homicide call by going to the wrong Washington Street. The mistake underscores the confusing nature of Boston’s road patterns, […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Fever-induced presidential campaign questions
I’m home sick today, perhaps because my body can’t deal with the sudden halt in presidential debates and primary returns, but I do have two fever-induced questions about the Democatic […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Subway use up 3 percent nationally, down 8 percent in Boston
Ridership numbers for the year 2007 were posted yesterday by the American Public Transportation Association, which noted that trips on public transit totalled 10.3 billion in the US, or 2.1 […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Milford cracks down on flashers
Danielle Ameden at the Milford Daily News reports that the Massachusetts town of 28,000 is cracking down on "flashy" signs such as the one at Dunkin’ Donuts on South Main […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Download
Hateful geography
Today’s Washington Post illustrates a census of hate groups in the US, compiled by the Southern Poverty Law Center in Alabama. The group claims that the total has risen from […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The 10 Regions of Democratic primary politics
The chart below shows how the two leading Democratic presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, have been faring in our 10 Regions of US Politics. The figures include all […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, The Download
Who can change the Electoral College map?
Michael Barone says that an Obama/McCain match in November could radically change the red vs. blue map of 2000 and 2004. The Boston Phoenix’s Steven Stark is more skeptical that […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Six more weeks of pointless arguing?
You can’t open a browser this morning without stumbling onto some election analysis, so I won’t go over the minutiae from the exit polls from Ohio and Texas. But it […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Completely unsubstantiated VP speculation
There’s chatter about Clinton and Obama (presented here in alphabetical order) forming a unity ticket to bring this interminable Democratic primary campaign to a close, the problem being that both […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Disasters on the horizon?
Slate.com’s Daniel Gross discusses the high number of natural disasters — that is, snowstorms, tornados, and the like that are declared disasters by the federal government — during presidential election […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
As the Bay State crumbles
Governing magazine and the Pew Center for the States give Massachusetts a "C" in their annual Management Report Card. Only New Hampshire and Rhode Island got lower grades for how […]
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Gaming the casino job numbers
Today’s Boston Sunday Globe features a front-page story by Sean Murphy questioning the Patrick administration’s claim that 30,000 construction jobs would be created if the governor’s proposal for three casinos […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, The Download
Pioneer Institute: Spend more on public colleges!
Well, maybe that’s not exactly their point. UPDATE: Steve@Pioneer claims in our Comments section that Pioneer was actually trying to point out that Massachusetts has a heavy public debt, not […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Lay of the land: Ohio Democratic primary
Though Ohio isn’t quite as kaleidoscopic as Wisconsin, its voting patterns in Democratic presidential primaries is pretty colorful. And, as in Wisconsin, the political diversity of its major cities often […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Happy Town Eating Day!
Norwich, Vermont, is trying to increase attendence at its daylong series of public meetings this Saturday by providing snacks and lunch: "We only ask that you sit with someone you […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Obama’s Massachusetts problem
When he first uttered it in an earlier debate, it could be passed off as slip of the tongue. But after last night’s debate, it became hard to ignore: Barack […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
New Mexico: Land of Enchantment for businesswomen?
March is Women’s History Month, and the Census Bureau is marking the occasion by bundling data on gender differences in education, job earnings, voting participation and the like. One report […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Pew’s Religious Census
In other demographic news, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life today released its massive U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, which is based on 35,000 respondents from every conceivable affiliation. […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Stupid spending: Everybody does it?
Elizabeth Kolbert writes in The New Yorker about all the ways we don’t behave as rational consumers. According to "behavioral economists" (as opposed to the old-fashioned economists who believe that […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Baby boomers may be knocking off too early
USA Today’s Sandra Block writes that Baby Boomers may be making a big mistake by retiring at 62, the first year they’re eligible for Social Security benefits:…millions of the oldest […]