Students, schools play cat and mouse with online cheating

Colleges look for innovative ways to stem distance learning cheating

By Colman M. Herman Higher Education and Adult Learning, Technology 1 Comment Oct 13, 2015

AS COLLEGES OFFER more and more courses online, school officials are scrambling to come up with innovative ways to prevent cheating by students taking tests and other assessments remotely. It’s often a game of cat and mouse. One undergraduate student at Northeastern University says he took an online marketing course from a professor who tried(...)

Economy/ Politics

Lexington lawmaker looks to the people for tax boost

Kaufman says voters should weigh in on hike for millionaires

By Gabrielle Gurley Massachusetts Legislature, Taxes and Budget Issues 0 Comments Oct 13, 2015

REP. JAY KAUFMAN has been a reliable member of the House Democratic caucus’s progressive wing for more than 20 years. In the 1990s, he was part of a small band of liberal lawmakers who clashed regularly with then-Speaker Tom Finneran — and found themselves relegated to legislative Siberia as a result. But Kaufman found his(...)

Health Care

State down to one elder ombudsman

Single employee serves more than 14,000 assisted living residents

By Colman M. Herman State Government, Taxes and Budget Issues 0 Comments Oct 13, 2015

THE MASSACHUSETTS ELDER AFFAIRS office, which had been using two ombudsmen to respond to complaints from the 14,000 people in the state’s 237 assisted living facilities, is now down to one. One ombudsman took a buyout offered by the Baker administration this summer and Elder Affairs is not currently planning to fill the vacancy because of(...)

Economy

The politics of patents

Washington infighting centers on trolls and risk

By Shawn Zeller National Politics 1 Comment Oct 13, 2015

THE WAY BOSTON UNIVERSITY President Bob Brown sees it, the Massachusetts economy is fueled by a pipeline of innovation running from the state’s great research universities to start-up companies. University professors discover something and patent it. They then license their idea to firms that can bring it to market. Even if no one gets rich,(...)

Criminal Justice/ Opinion

Dealing fairly with pretrial detainees

Using risk-based assessments, we could improve justice, lower crime, and save taxpayers money

By Jane Wiseman Courts 0 Comments Oct 13, 2015

IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, but there is a tested way to improve the fairness of our justice system while saving taxpayers money and lowering crime. The solution is to make data-driven decisions about individuals who get arrested to determine which ones should remain in jail while awaiting trial and which ones should(...)

Health Care/ Opinion

No time to go wobbly on One Care

Program has hit hurdles, but we need to stay the course

By John E. McDonough State Government, Taxes and Budget Issues 3 Comments Oct 13, 2015

BACK IN 2008, when I was working in the US Senate on national health reform, a delegation of 20 business leaders from the New England Council visited Capitol Hill to offer advice. The group’s leader was Charlie Baker, then Harvard Pilgrim Health Care’s CEO. I recall his one recommendation: “You have to do something about dual(...)

Health Care/ Opinion

Helping those with brain injuries

Long-term housing and fitness programs offer promise

By Peter J Noonan Taxes and Budget Issues 0 Comments Oct 13, 2015

MASSACHUSETTS IS A WORLD LEADER in emergency, acute, and acute rehabilitation medical care. Our colleges and universities conduct advanced research on cognition and intelligence, and are home to some of the greatest thinkers in their fields. Our physicians, hospitals, and medical institutions are on the leading edge of disease research and treatment. Yet until recently, the Commonwealth(...)

Uncategorized

Letters, Fall 2015

By CommonWealth Staff Municipal Government, Transportation 0 Comments Oct 13, 2015

INSTANT RUNOFF VOTING NOT WORKING IN CAMBRIDGE James Sutherland’s article on Instant Runoff Voting (“A Democracy Worth Paying For,” Summer ’15) points out that turnouts in Cambridge run higher than in Boston, but that’s not particularly useful information. A comparison with teeth is Cambridge’s 72-year history of IRV-style voting, where you will find decades-long, steadily(...)