Opinion

Report on Boston school assignment plan is troubling

Education

Report on Boston school assignment plan is troubling

Leaders owe answers on how they’ll address equity issues

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THE FINDINGS OF the recent Boston Area Research Initiative report on equity in the Boston Public Schools assignment plan – the Home Based Assignment plan – were for the most part not too shocking for anyone who has followed school assignment politics in Boston for the past five years. The report finds, in short, “that(...)

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Something’s new this year at UMass Boston

Full Disclosure/ Education

Something’s new this year at UMass Boston

40% of freshman class will be living in dorms

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NEXT WEEK, as students return to University of Massachusetts Boston, a number of them will do something no one has done in the school’s history: Live on campus. For the first 53 years of its history, UMass Boston students commuted to campus by bus, T, or car. This year that will change. Approximately 1,000 students(...)

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Lawmakers have more work to do on energy

Plugging In/ Energy/ Environment

Lawmakers have more work to do on energy

We need access to more natural gas

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AS IT ALWAYS DOES, the summer’s legislative session on Beacon Hill concluded with a flurry of activity, ending with a number of bills sent to Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk on everything from a sales tax holiday to automatic voter registration. For all our progress, one area where work isn’t finished is energy. Massachusetts has shown(...)

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Meehan puts students, faculty last

Education

Meehan puts students, faculty last

UMass president refuses to bargain with Lowell adjunct profs for better wages and benefits

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MARTY MEEHAN’S FAILURES as president of the University of Massachusetts system have been big news lately. A controversial land grab to benefit Amherst at the expense of other campuses and a no-confidence vote by UMass Boston faculty were just the start. Now, he’s facing another controversy at UMass Lowell, where he was chancellor before taking over the entire system.(...)

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Quebec hydro isn’t a good fit for Mass.

Plugging In/ Energy/ Environment

Quebec hydro isn’t a good fit for Mass.

We need closer-to-home renewables that actually reduce emissions

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MASSACHUSETTS ELECTRIC DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES submitted long-term hydro electricity supply contracts to the Department of Public Utilities for review recently. The Massachusetts Sierra Club believes strongly that these contracts are not the right way to get the regional clean energy we all need. Here are four reason why importing electricity from Quebec via a transmission line(...)

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Cities can clean up the transportation sector

Energy/ Environment

Cities can clean up the transportation sector

Policies for more EVs, less driving improve health and air quality

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TRANSPORTATION IS THE largest source of carbon pollution in the Commonwealth, producing 40 percent of climate-disrupting greenhouse gas emissions. Cities and towns can play an important role in leading the way to a clean transportation future. How? By helping residents drive less, and switch to electric vehicles when they must continue to drive. While the(...)

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Enviro group: Hydro contract bad for Maine, Mass.

Plugging In/ Energy/ Environment

Enviro group: Hydro contract bad for Maine, Mass.

Tells DPU project will harm landscape, won’t reduce emissions

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Below is an edited version of testimony delivered by to the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities on contracts to purchase hydro-electricity from Hydro-Quebec via a transmission line being built by Central Maine Power in Maine. THE CENTRAL MAINE POWER proposal is bad for the people of Maine and Massachusetts, our economies, and our environment. CMP’s(...)

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A prescription for closing the democracy gap

Politics

A prescription for closing the democracy gap

To bolster participation, citizens need to know how government works

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AMERICA is facing a democracy gap. With just a few months until the mid-term elections, only three in five registered voters can correctly answer whether there is an election for US Senate taking place in their state. A similar number knows their state has two elected senators. However, when asked, just over half can name(...)

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We need CBO-like scoring of state health care bills

Health Care/ Politics

We need CBO-like scoring of state health care bills

Beacon Hill should tap expertise of Health Policy Commission

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WHEN I WAS A MEMBER of the Massachusetts House of Representatives back in the 1990s, I learned about the concept of continuous quality improvement, or CQI, as a way to improve any process – including medical care – using a rigorous data driven approach. CQI seemed good to me and a natural fit in my(...)

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A missed healthcare opportunity

Economy/ Health Care

A missed healthcare opportunity

Legislature's failure to pass reform endangers survival of smaller hospitals and facilities

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MASSACHUSETTS MISSED AN opportunity to address some of the most crucial healthcare challenges facing the state when the Legislature failed to reach agreement on a sweeping reform bill this session. It’s disappointing, particularly because the reforms thoughtfully formulated over the past several months are vital to many of our local communities, hospitals, workers, and patients.(...)

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