It’s the kind of steaming-hot day that can make even the most good-natured person cranky, but Rosie Mavrogeorge graciously invites a stranger inside her drab, wood-frame apartment building when asked […]
Urban Renewal
The Color of Justice
When it comes to drug cases, Judge Sydney Hanlon knows what she’s looking at. As presiding justice of Dorchester District Court, she runs Boston’s busiest community court, with 8,636 criminal […]
Mending Town Gown
Evan Dobelle knew that Trinity College had an image problem when he took over as president in 1995—that’s why he was hired. But the perspective of a hotel doorman helped […]
Big Man On Campus
Here he is at the State House, it’s that time of year, and he just can’t help himself. After quoting the Roman statesman Seneca-“Loyalty is the holiest good in the […]
Two views of suburbia
Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American DreamBy Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff SpeckNorth Point Press, New York, 2000, 256 pagesPicture Windows: How the […]
Where were their neighborsand elected officialswhen the Foxborough trailerpark residents needed them
The special town meeting in Foxborough on December 6 was a civic gathering unlike any other in the town’s history. A tent and heaters were set up outside Foxborough High […]
Civic Engagement
In his new book, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam attempts to quantify what he views as the crumbling character of American civic […]
Holyoke teens take control of their neighborhood
It’s a quarter to five on a Friday afternoon and Holyoke Mayor Michael Sullivan is talking on the telephone about the problems facing young people in his city. There’s a […]
This is only a test
It’s springtime, which has come to mean not only balmy weather and blooming flowers but MCAS testing in our public schools. In April, fourth-, eighth-, and 10th-graders took their tests […]
The Trouble With Harry Potter
What gets lost in the shift from books to screen and merchandise? The magic. My mother would have loved Harry Potter. This might not seem like much to J.K. Rowling, […]
A Fair Share for Continuing Education
In the evening, after a long day at work, an estimated 35,000 adults attend classes at Massachusetts community colleges, trying to further their education and their careers. These students take […]
Ted and Nancy Sizer on Schools and Morality
Schools teach more than reading, writing, and arithmetic. And we’re not just talking electives. In the way teachers and administrators conduct themselves, in the work they do and don’t do, […]
Saving Homeowners From Unscrupulous Lendersand Themselves
“Don’t Borrow Trouble.” That’s the slogan of the City of Boston’s new program to educate consumers about loan scams and unethical lending practices that could cost them their homes. Given […]
Counterpoints
Most taxpayers would agree that it is desirable to reduce the Massachusetts income tax rate to 5 percent, especially given a state income tax burden that is one of the […]
Argument
The current economic outlook and spending controls could enable the Commonwealth to accommodate further multi-year tax cuts, if approved by the voters in November 2000, within a balanced budget.” I […]
The Speaker Who Might Be Mayor
It was a harmless, if immodest, musing in his high-school alma mater’s alumni magazine that first cranked up the political rumor mill about Speaker of the House Thomas Finneran’s next […]
Playing The Budget Surplus Game
Last year’s endless budget impasse demonstrated that it can be just as tough to decide how to spend an abundance of state revenue as it is to parcel out budget […]
Mario Faces Deportation
When Armando Baptiste walked into Dorchester District Court last summer, he was hoping to settle accounts with the law and get on with his life. Indeed, not eager to draw […]
Fortune Teller Deregulation
It takes more than a crystal ball, a set of tarot cards, and some New Age music to make it as a psychic in Massachusetts. State law requires all fortune […]
Fighting Crime Doesnt Pay
It was Tom Campbell’s dream to be a prosecutor. He lived that dream for six years, joining the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office straight out of Northeastern Law School in […]
Exporting Clout
For most lobbyists, mystery is the name of the game. After all, how do you justify those high hourly fees to corporate clients if getting your way on Beacon Hill […]
Bragging Rights For College Towns
Apparently, the title “University Capital of North America” is one worth tussling over. So far, a three-way international wresting match for bragging rights has developed among Boston, Montreal, and now […]
The Acid Test
At an event like the annual winter meeting of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, discussions of school safety or finance issues are as commonplace as the coffee-and-danish breakfast. But […]
Teaching to the Test
Inside Massachusetts public schools, MCAS has become a cyclone whose fury knows no bounds. In just two short years, the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System has whipped up a mixture of […]
