The 4th Congressional District, represented by 12-term Democrat Barney Frank, snakes its way from the pricey Boston suburbs of Newton and Wellesley more than 50 miles south to the blue-collar […]
Offshore leave
Posted inEducation
Flunking out
What do we do about them?Julie Holly, a Winchendon mom, has put out Snickerdoodles and croissants, muffins and chocolate chip bread. Four other moms are seated around the table, but […]
Posted inPolitics
Bay State Nation
Read responses to this article. When the first President Bush ran for re-election in 1992, he cautioned the electorate against voting for a governor from Arkansas. “We do not want […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Environment
The fatal Mill River flood was distressingly predictable
In the Shadow of the Dam: The Aftermath of the Mill River Flood of 1874By Elizabeth M. SharpeFree Press, New York, 304 pages. Although floods still rank as major killers […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Environment
The cleanup of Boston Harbor was surprisingly triumphant
Political Waters: The Long, Dirty, Contentious, Incredibly Expensive but Eventually Triumphant History of Boston Harbor—A Unique Environmental Success StoryBy Eric Jay DolinUniversity of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, 356 pages. At a […]
Posted inEconomy
Who profits from federal spending
The Big Dig notwithstanding, Massachusetts is one of the biggest losers in the tax-and-spend game run by the federal government. According to the Washington, DC-based Tax Foundation, in fiscal year […]
Posted inPolitics
A Woburn native battles the Bowling Alone phenomenon
Many people at one time or another have read a book or article so engaging and compelling they vowed that once they finished it, they would get up and do […]
Posted inPolitics
No-party animals
Source: Elections Division, Massachusetts Secretary of State’s Office (www.sec.state.ma.us)As of February, 49.8 percent of Massachusetts voters were unenrolled in any party—a slight drop from the February 2000 high point of […]
Posted inPolitics
Outbreak of democracy
For the first time in its history, Boston is about to play host for one of the great spectacles of partisan politics, a national party convention. How fitting that this […]
Posted inEconomy
Public officials and business leaders put on a fullcourt press to save Bay State military bases
The nation is engaged in a tenuous campaign to rebuild and democratize Iraq. In Afghanistan, US soldiers continue to hunt for Al Qaeda terrorists. But back in Washington, the military […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Septic-tank rules cloud the real estate market in Orleans
ORLEANS—Twenty years ago, Augusta McKusick could step outside of her home on Ares Pond in Orleans and dig up as many clams as she liked. But no more. “They’re not […]
Posted inHealth Care
A patient weighs the costs of the health care wars
A survivor emerges from his health care warswithout answers I am named after my maternal grandfather, the medical examiner and sole doctor in a small Minnesota town. He died before […]
Posted inHealth Care
A doctor discovers the values of old-fashioned treatment
In caring for the elderly, low-tech can be cutting edge There are several ways to mark your way through Dorchester, Boston’s largest neighborhood. Savin Hill to Fields Corner to Codman […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Medical services must be rationed but in a sensible way
The federal government recently reported that health care spending has surpassed $1.5 trillion. Roughly 15 percent of our gross domestic product goes to health care, a far higher percentage than […]
Posted inHealth Care
Counterpoint
The proponents of a state constitutional amendment to establish an individual right to comprehensive health insurance, enforceable against the Commonwealth, have clearly given a lot of thought to the problems […]
Posted inHealth Care
Argument
It’s almost a cliché: The Massachusetts health care system is in crisis. Every stakeholder is unhappy. It is not a crisis of technology—new drugs, machines, and methods abound, so that, […]
Posted inHealth Care
On racial disparities, biggest gap is between talk and accountability
INTRO TEXT That there are big racial disparities in health care no one disputes. Blacks are less likely than whites to undergo bypass surgery. The time between an abnormal mammogram […]
Posted inHealth Care
Is fraud a hidden factor in the rise of health costs?
INTRO TEXT In the preface to the first edition of his 1996 book License to Steal: Why Fraud Plagues America’s Health Care System, Malcolm Sparrow states that of all the […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
Boston’s Tom Menino walks the walk on health policy
INTRO TEXT When John Auerbach was in charge of the state Department of Public Health’s AIDS program in the 1980s, Larry Kessler, the director of the nonprofit AIDS Action Committee, […]
Posted inHealth Care
First, do some good is the motto at this Berkshire agency
INTRO TEXT When Fran Alibozek of Adams learned she had colon cancer three years ago, she didn’t know which was more frightening, the fight she had ahead of her or […]
Posted inHealth Care
Needle bleaching makes clinic a sticking point in Fitchburg
INTRO TEXT With an influx of millions of dollars in state funding, a plan to revitalize Fitchburg’s sleepy downtown is in place. The urban renewal money is helping to build […]
Posted inHealth Care
Unmanaged care
LAST SUMMER, AFTER 17 years as CEO of Tufts Health Plan, Harris Berman traded in the rough-and-tumble life of an HMO executive for the quieter confines of academia. But as […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
Understanding Medicaid
When Christine St. Pierre was diagnosed a few years ago with diabetes, her doctor suggested it was time to give up living on her own. After all, she had already […]
Posted inHealth Care
Supply and Demands
Sitting on a Brighton hilltop like a fortress against disease, the beige brick edifice of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital stands out against the gray March sky. The driveway, which carves a […]