Fall 2014

Fall 2014

Opinion

Fall 2014 Editor’s note

Names and faces

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a former editor of mine often used to remind me that names sell newspapers. What he meant was that people like to read about interesting people. At CommonWealth, we sometimes forget that adage, focused as we are on issues of policy. But we didn’t forget with this issue; it’s full of stories about some of(...)

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Politics

Boston’s grass roots

Jim Vrabel offers a rich history of community organizing in Boston told through the voices of the activists of the 1960s and 1970s who helped shape the city

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A People’s History of the New Boston By Jim Vrabel Amherst, University of Massachusetts Press 288 pages history is replete with the stories of the mighty and powerful. Jim Vrabel’s latest book, A People’s History of the New Boston, tells another story. Vrabel, a former newspaper reporter and longtime community activist who has worked for(...)

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Opinion

Fall 2014 correspondence and updates

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UMass endowment story off mark CommonWealth Magazine was correct in pointing out that the University of Massachusetts endowment has grown dramatically, from $38.5 million in 1995 to today’s nearly $750 million. But the article’s premise that the university’s investment strategy has been overly conservative in today’s financial markets defies the facts and misses what is(...)

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Politics

Giant slayer

Mike Firestone, the 31-year-old campaign manager behind Maura Healey’s runaway win in the Democratic primary for attorney general, talks strategy.

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You’ve guided the successful campaigns of newbie candidates such as Deval Patrick, Elizabeth Warren, Boston city councilor Michelle Wu, and now Maura Healey. What’s your secret? It’s all about doing the same direct, person-to-person voter contact that’s been done for 150 years in American campaigning, but doing it smarter. If Maura was going to be,(...)

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Politics

Updating his resume

Deval Patrick looks back as he prepares for life after Beacon Hill

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DESPITE EIGHT YEARS as governor and rampant speculation that he some day will run for president, Deval Patrick still thinks of himself as a kid from the South Side of Chicago. That self-image, in many ways, is the connecting thread that runs through the core of Patrick’s being. It has shaped his personal and political(...)

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Education

UMass system racking up patents

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the university of massachusetts is emerging as a powerhouse research institution, ranking among the world’s elite in turning ideas into patents. The five-campus UMass system received 57 patents in 2013, ranking it 37th in the world. In 2012, UMass ranked even higher, but received only 54 patents. The University of California was the top patent(...)

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Transportation

Tapping driver phones for traffic updates

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recognizing that drivers need real-time information about the road ahead, state transportation officials are preparing to spend $10 million over the next year building out a high-tech system to provide time-and-distance traffic updates to Massachusetts drivers. A pilot program using portable electronic signs to provide the traffic updates on some of the state’s busiest highways(...)

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Economy

Boston’s PILOT program lagging

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three years after the city of Boston launched a concerted effort to convince 49 of its largest nonprofit landholders to voluntarily make payments to the city in lieu of taxes, the program appears to be losing steam. The amount of money the city is collecting continues to rise, but the increase is due primarily to(...)

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Health Care

More grandparents raising their grandchildren

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lori fortin of Athol thought the joys and stresses of raising kids were behind her, but when her daughter got caught in the undertow of opiate addiction, Fortin found herself once again changing diapers, seeking out playgroups, and ultimately gaining custody of her grandchildren through probate court. Fortin is just one of thousands of grandparents(...)

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Politics

Probation verdicts to end pensions

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When former Probation commissioner John J. O’Brien and two of his top deputies return to court on November 12 for sentencing, they’re not just facing the potential loss of their freedom for their convictions on mail fraud and racketeering. They also will see their monthly pensions disappear. State workers convicted of crimes related to their(...)

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