No parking in Amherst

By Mary Carey 0 Comments Dec 1, 2000

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, not to mention international, import. Amherst was the second municipality, after Oakland, Calif., to endorse a boycott of products from Nigeria. Town meeting took an(...)

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Ethically challenged in Randolph

By Andrew Nelson 0 Comments Dec 1, 2000

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 who was also a member of the town’s Landscape Review Board, agreed to pay a $1,750 fine to the State Ethics Commission–the biggest fine levied(...)

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Where are they now A quiz

By Elizabeth Thorarajoo 0 Comments Dec 1, 2000

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 they are off the radar screen. They had clout, savvy, even–some of them–longevity. Today, they value their hard-earned (and well-deserved) obscurity. But CommonWealth tracked them(...)

Education

Adult educational attainment

By CommonWealth Staff 0 Comments Dec 1, 2000

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 bachelor’s degree or higher. But for those holding a high school diploma, the state falls to 18th, with nearly 15 percent of adults lacking that(...)

Uncategorized/ Opinion

Its easier to manage care than expectations

By Jon Kingsdale 0 Comments Dec 1, 2000

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 pharmacological inventions. American medicine is quite literally the envy of the world. In the 20th century, it has contributed to a doubling of life expectancy(...)

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How to avoid sentencing scandals

By Robert Keough 0 Comments Dec 1, 2000

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 screwdriver has, as usual in allegations of judicial “softness” on criminals, veered off in the wrong direction. Calls for the judge’s removal from the bench(...)

Health Care

Michael Dukakis and Jerome Grossman MD discuss competition regulation and relationship in health care

By Robert Keough 0 Comments Dec 1, 2000

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 that crisis, it is fair to say, more people have gotten better care and more successful treatment for a variety of ills–many of them incurable(...)

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Counterpoint

By David Donnelly 0 Comments Dec 1, 2000

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 cast a binding vote to enact the Massachusetts Clean Elections Law by a two-to-one margin. More than one million voters understood the need to overhaul(...)

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Argument

By Daniel E. Bosley 0 Comments Dec 1, 2000

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 who have views that are not in line with mine or whom I do not support. However, under the so-called Clean Elections Law, I am(...)

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The vanishing T token

By Richard Just 0 Comments Dec 1, 2000

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 the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is funded, the Boston-area transit agency is making some changes. For one thing, the fares have gone up-the first across-the-board(...)

Fall 2000