ATHOL–Cable-access television broadcasts of town meetings, board of selectmen sessions, and other municipal gatherings usually attract few viewers, even when they are repeated endlessly at all hours of the day […]
In Athol school committee follies reveal community division
Posted inUncategorized
Where are they now A quiz
A scavenger hunt for political has-beens Whatever happened to …? That is the question. They were once movers and shakers in the byzantine world of Bay State politics. But now […]
Posted inOpinion, Uncategorized
Its easier to manage care than expectations
The principal challenge to scientific medicine is no longer discovering new cures but affording new discoveries. Modern medicine represents an awesome, ever-expanding repertoire of life-saving and life-enhancing diagnostic, surgical, and […]
Posted inHealth Care, State House News Service
Michael Dukakis and Jerome Grossman MD discuss competition regulation and relationship in health care
It has been said that if the health care system in this state, and in this country, is in crisis, it has been in crisis for 25 years. And during […]
Posted inUncategorized
Counterpoint
I am a democrat. A little “d” democrat. I think democracy is a good thing. A clear-eyed, educated, and informed public went to the polls on November 3, 1998 and […]
Posted inUncategorized
Argument
I am proud to be a Democrat. I contribute to other Democrats who run for office. I do not contribute to Republicans as a rule. I don’t contribute to people […]
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The vanishing T token
The world of high technology has transformed Massachusetts economically. Could fare collection at the T be the next inroad for electronica? Thanks to an overhaul this year in the way […]
Posted inUncategorized
Summer school scenes
Like a lot of other students in the Boston public schools this past summer, 15-year-old Christine Dihigo needed a little push. By her own admission, Christine, a self-confident girl with […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Revolvingdoor prisons
Urban anti-crime activists say they have two groups of people to worry about in the coming years: the large cohort of youngsters now aging into their teenage years and the […]
Posted inUncategorized
Pay hike for prosecutors
The Legislature may have granted the wish of the Commonwealth’s assistant district attorneys for more pay, but in doing so law makers have opened a budgetary Pandora’s box for their […]
Posted inUncategorized
Tapped Out
The signs posted all over town proclaimed, “Water Ban in Effect.” But it was hard to take them seriously. July in Massachusetts was unusually cool and wet, and Franklin, an […]
Posted inEducation
Education reform for adults
Meet young Dale Hollingsworth and don’t be surprised if Matt Damon’s Good Will Hunting comes to mind. Like the hit film’s title character, the attractive, charismatic 25-year-old spends his days […]
Posted inPolitics
CPR for the GOP
Despite national ascendancy and a 10-year hold on the governor’s office, Massachusetts Republicans seem weaker than ever. We asked diagnosticians from both ends of the political spectrum how to revive […]
Posted inPolitics
McDonoughs adventures in politics and political theory
Experiencing Politics: A Legislator’s Stories of Government and Health CareBy John E. McDonough University of California/Milbank Memorial Fund, Berkeley, 2000, 336 pages.Several years ago, I worked in Congress on a […]
Posted inEducation
Hoff Sommers and the war between the sexes
The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism is Harming Our Young Men By Christina Hoff Sommers Simon & Schuster, New York, 2000, 253 pages. The War Against Boys is an […]
Posted inUncategorized
No parking in Amherst
AMHERST — This is a town that prides itself on the elevated nature of much of its civic discourse. Amherst town meeting regularly takes stands on issues of high philosophical, […]
Posted inUncategorized
Ethically challenged in Randolph
RANDOLPH-The state’s conflict-of-interest law provides little wiggle room for volunteer members of town boards, as two Randolph officials found out this year–the hard way. In June, Philip Nelson, a landscaper […]
Posted inEducation
Adult educational attainment
Massachusetts residents are among the country’s best educated, but not everyone is prepared for a knowledge-driven world. Bay State adults rank fourth in college education, with 31 percent holding a […]
Posted inUncategorized
How to avoid sentencing scandals
The furor over Superior Court Judge Maria Lopez’s sentence of Charles Horton to home confinement and probation for abducting a child and sexually assaulting him at the point of a […]
Posted inUncategorized
The daddy track
A little time off at birth doesn’t solve the working-parent dilemma So Tony Blair is back at the office, his parental leave fading into memory. The arrival of little Leo […]
Posted inUncategorized
Robert Putnam on the decline of civic life
IF ANYONE HAS ever put to the test Andy Warhol’s famous thesis that everyone is accorded 15 minutes of fame, it is Robert D. Putnam. A former dean of the […]
Posted inHealth Care
Understanding the health care crisis that isn’t but could be
At a regional health forum in March, House Speaker Thomas Finneran bluntly told an audience of 300, “I do not believe our health care system is in crisis.” During a […]
Posted inUncategorized
Counterpoint
There are two separate components to our current housing problem–the need for “affordable housing” and the equally important need for housing that can be made affordable. The distinction might be […]
Posted inUncategorized
Argument
During a two-week period this spring, 27,000 low-income households in Massachusetts applied for federal housing vouchers to help pay their rent. They joined at least 60,000 families already waiting for […]