Slim DiNuccios Poll

No pollster on the Massachusetts scene today has the ability to get under the skin of the state’s electorate in the way Edwin “Slim” DiNuccio does. Part seer, part savant, […]

With the publication of American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence last year, MIT professor Pauline Maier established herself not just as one of the nation’s leading scholars in the […]

I have been a strong supporter of certification tests for teaching candidates, and continue to be. So, many people were curious about why I rejected Governor Cellucci’s plan to test […]

Imagine the following: The Commissioner of Public Health issues a report that a substantial minority of pediatricians are deficient in their understanding of basic anatomy and childhood illnesses. While many […]

As the high cost of housing started to squeeze families out of desirable suburbs 30 years ago, the state responded with a landmark law that became known by a pointed […]

It’s a fundamental question, whether the subject is welfare reform, affordable housing, or the minimum wage, but it rarely gets answered to anyone’s satisfaction: How much money does a family […]

The general public may not have noticed it in the rush of roll calls that marked the end of the legislative session in July, but advocates for the needy sure […]

Here is a case of journalistic fraud. Some may consider it a minor case. It involves highly questionable practices in the coverage of election-year politics, but it was hardly remarked […]

“I love showing people what we’ve done,” announces our fast-moving, fast-talking tour guide, Jeanne DuBois, director of the Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation, “because it’s really exciting.” A 52-year-old soccer […]

Over the Bourne Bridge and down Route 151 a few miles, then a stone’s throw from a weathered wood sign bearing the legend “Land of the Wampanoag,” is the stylish […]

Two years ago, Johnny Ramirez and his family seemed unlikely candidates to become homeowners in a west-of-Boston suburb. They had come to Framingham from the Dominican Republic seven years earlier, […]

Get a glimpse from the driveway, and you’ll think Tom and Lisa Ragan have it made in Marlborough. They live with their three children in a sprawling clapboard house surrounded […]

Changing Places: Rebuilding Community in the Age of SprawlBy Richard Moe and Carter WilkieHenry Holt, New York, 1998, 276 pages.Home From Nowhere: Remaking Our Everyday World for the 21st CenturyBy […]

On a sticky summer afternoon, Easthampton is quiet, the traffic fluid, and the trees heavy with lush green foliage. Two years earlier the town looked notably different. In the spring […]

The nation is in the midst of a home-buying boom, pushing homeownership rates across the country to record highs. After a small decline in the mid- to late-1980s, the percentage […]

Rep. Daniel Bosley, a Democrat from North Adams who is known around the State House as a master of public policy, has a complaint: “No one covers all the serious […]

As we were finishing work on this issue of CommonWealth, the governor’s race had gone into a post-primary, pre-election lull, national politics remained stuck on the Clinton-Lewinsky-Starr sex scandal, and […]

Ariving home from my family’s vacation week in Truro, I sensed something was wrong. Not that anyone was complaining. My children were snug in the backseat, the elder cocooned between […]

Editor’s note: The following book proposal was found by one of our correspondents on his way to work one morning crossing Boston Common. He found it on a park bench, […]

Most campaign finance reforms, including the euphemistically named “Clean Elections” proposal, revolve around some aspect of government funding. Some people are irresistibly drawn to government as the solution to any […]

Massachusetts has an historic opportunity to lead the country in enacting far-reaching campaign finance reform that addresses what ails the body politic: big money in politics, and voter apathy. On […]

The stuffed elephant hat gets your attention, but it’s the dozens of campaign buttons that pinpoint Jeanne Matatall as a true-blue Republican. President Nixon–Now More Than Ever… Vote Volpe for […]

What would you say are your chances of being polled? Very likely. Somewhat likely. Slim to none. No opinion. The fact is, if you have a telephone and the poll […]