On the issue of economic inequality, Americans are of two minds. On the one hand, we value opportunity over security, balancing a meager safety net (compared with other developed countries) […]
Sociologist Thomas Shapiro says that a lack of assets, not income, is holding African-Americans back
Posted inEconomy, Politics
The state budget should focus on outcomes not allocations
Since 2001, Gov. Mitt Romney and the Legislature have cut spending by almost $3 billion. While also raising taxes and fees, the state has reduced Medicaid services, eliminated health insurance […]
Posted inEconomy
Downtown Bostons Greenway is still up in the air
INTRO TEXT By the time this article appears, an agreement may finally be in place about how to govern and maintain the 27 acres of downtown land now opening up […]
Posted inPolitics
Charles Euchner leaves big shoes to fill at the Rappaport Institute
It may have been a native son of Cambridge who proclaimed all politics is local, but that has not always seemed the guiding principle at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. […]
Posted inEconomy
Cape Cod’s tourism industry shudders at a cap on worker visas
INTRO TEXT Every summer, Chuck Rigg, owner of The Commons, in Provincetown, counts on an influx of Jamaican workers to staff the 19th-century hotel and bistro he operates with partner […]
Posted inPolitics
Beavers get the upper hand after wildlife traps become taboo
INTRO TEXT Damned if they do–and dammed if they don’t. That’s how lawmakers feel about their attempts to modify a voter-approved ban on wildlife traps, even though a burgeoning beaver […]
Posted inEducation
Worcester’s Wonder
When it comes to guessing the communities with the highest MCAS scores in the state, a lot of towns beginning with the letter “W” might come to mind–Wellesley, Weston, Winchester. […]
Posted inEconomy
Blue collar blues
Economist Paul Harrington has lots of data about manufacturing employment in Massachusetts, and all of it is ugly. In 1984, about 670,000 people were employed in making things, or about […]
Posted inPolitics
Rhode Island’s secretary of state takes an expanded view of civics
One early November morning last year, when the rest of their Woonsocket High schoolmates were sleeping late or otherwise enjoying a cherished day off for teacher conferences, 17 students from […]
Posted inUncategorized
Without a hitch
Unmarried couples remain a relative rarity in Massachusetts, according to the 2000 US Census. Of the 1.33 million households headed by self-described couples, only 130,919 are headed by unmarried partners. […]
Posted inPolitics
A Boston Globe summer series was narrative journalism at its best
Editor’s note: This article has been updated since the print (and pdf) version went to press.When the Pulitzer Prizes were announced April 5, the folks on Morrissey Boulevard had reason […]
Posted inEducation
A hard look at education accountability in the wake of No Child Left Behind
No Child Left Behind? The Politics and Practice of School AccountabilityPaul E. Peterson and Martin R. West, editorsWashington, DC, Brookings Institution Press, 340 pages. In January 2002, President Bush signed […]
Posted inEconomy
Robert Greenstein and the Center on Budget get hawkish on the federal deficit
Earlier this year, when President Bush proposed his budget for fiscal 2005, it surprised no one that the administration’s spending plan was denounced by the Center on Budget and Policy […]
Posted inPolitics
Devens inches closer to becoming the states newest municipality
DEVENS–Leslie Doolittle and Eric Edwards loved their townhouse the day they moved there in May 2002, but within a year they were ready for something bigger. They looked no further […]
Posted inUncategorized
New inductees for the state’s endangered species list, carefree men and worried women, a treasure trove of data from the Pioneer Valley, New York Citys complaint hotline, Bostons enthusiasm for the arts, Amazon’s nailing of local reading habits
Swan song for the twilight moth?State wildlife officials are singing the blues over the Twilight Moth, believed to be near extinction in Massachusetts. They’re proposing to add the moth, last […]
Posted inUncategorized
The Bay States march up the State of Caring Index
Massachusetts became a kinder and gentler state during the 1990s, at least according to the United Way of America’s State of Caring Index, which was updated last December and includes […]
Posted inPolitics
State of the State speeches accentuate the positive
A State of the State address is no time for bad news, unless it’s your first year as governor and you have predecessors to blame. “This is a government with […]
Posted inPolitics
School-kids steamroll pols on Beacon Hill
Do you think we need an official state color? If certain Bay State schoolkids named Amber, Ashley, Brittany, and Brianna have their way, it won’t be long before we have […]
Posted inEconomy, Health Care, Opinion, Politics
Rising medical costs could upend state government
Read responses to this article When we speak of balance in government, the typical reference is either to the intricate separation of powers inherent in our constitutional democracy, or to […]
Posted inUncategorized
Letters
I have read the Conversation with bankruptcy expert Elizabeth Warren in the recent issue of CommonWealth magazine (“Doubling Down,” Fall 2003). In short, let me say it was fantastic. It […]
Posted inEconomy, Health Care
Economist David Cutler says increased life expectancy comes at a price and we havent figured out how many more years we want to pay for
Harvard economist David M. Cutler’s new book, his first, has a catchy, if somewhat threatening, title: Your Money or Your Life. The subtitle promises “strong medicine for America’s health care […]
Posted inPolitics
Let towns have more power and regional planning may follow
In Massachusetts, the birthplace of town meeting, no civic value is more sacred than the idea of home rule. By the term “home rule,” people generally mean the right of […]
Posted inHealth Care
Counterpoint
In recent months, a growing number of public officials here in the Commonwealth and across the country have proposed schemes for city and state governments to import prescription drugs from […]
Posted inHealth Care
Argument
Can we talk honestly for a minute? Prescription drug prices are exorbitant. Drug companies defend their high prices–in particular, for the brand-name drugs they advertise incessantly on our televisions –by […]