Cashing in

The state paid more than $100 million in settlements and judgments since 2005, but officials are tight-lipped about why.

By Jack Sullivan State Government 0 Comments Apr 15, 2014

CommonWealth has obtained all settlement and judgment payouts by the State Comptroller from Fiscal Year 2005 though the second quarter of Fiscal 2014. Click here for the data, which includes the name of the agency against which the claim was made, the amount paid, and the recipient. Every year, the Massachusetts Legislature sets aside about(...)

Health Care

Free agency

As the industry consolidates, health care networks scramble for control of primary care doctors and their patients

By Bruce Mohl 0 Comments Apr 15, 2014

Dr. Richard Dupee chats with a patient after an examination. Dr. Richard Dupee is old school. Instead of rushing from one examining room to the next as fast as he can, the 68-year-old Dupee is the type of primary care doctor who does a checkup and then lets the patient get dressed and come into(...)

Education

Doing well and good

With an unusual restructuring, a Billerica education publishing company has been able to thrive – and stay true to its mission

By Michael Jonas Elementary and Secondary Education 0 Comments Apr 15, 2014

CALL IT A textbook case of serendipity. A few years ago, Frank Ferguson, then in his early 80s, reluctantly began considering the fact that he would not be able to run Curriculum Associates forever. The Billerica-based educational publishing company he helped launch in the late 1960s was doing well. But Ferguson lamented the idea that(...)

Politics

Threading the needle

For Massachusetts Republicans, it’s an increasingly narrow path to victory. The party’s two best hopes for major office this fall are plotting very different paths to try to get there.

By Paul McMorrow Elections, State Government 0 Comments Apr 15, 2014

In his second run for governor, Charlie Baker is focusing heavily on crossover issues that appeal to independents and Democrats. Charlie Baker bounds into the Charlestown Knights of Columbus, where the once and future savior of the Massachusetts Republican Party finds a hall stuffed full of shamrock balloons and voters clad in green sweaters. Baker(...)

Economy/ Education/ Opinion

To fill our talent pool, fix remedial education

With so many students arriving unprepared, state colleges need flexibility to help them succeed.

By Richard M. Freeland Employment, Higher Education and Adult Learning 0 Comments Apr 15, 2014

jonathan was trying. But his professor, Mike Williamson of Middlesex Community College in Lowell, could see the student’s frustration mounting as he worked, once again, to conquer Algebra 1. He’d placed into the remedial math course based on his standardized college placement exam. And now, he couldn’t get out. Eventually, to Williamson’s frustration, Jonathan gave(...)

Politics

Harsh history lessons

Constitutional office looks like a great springboard to becoming governor, but no statewide officeholder has been elected to the state’s top job in almost 60 years. Voters may be telling us something.

By Michael Jonas Elections, State Government 0 Comments Apr 15, 2014

IT’S HARD TO HEAR as the chatter bounces off the bare tile floor of the crowded VFW hall in Ipswich. The Democratic town committee is holding its annual breakfast on a sunny Saturday in early February. Local party activists have turned out in droves, and not for the chafing trays of scrambled eggs and bacon(...)

Rolling the Dice/ Gambling/ Opinion

Spring 2014 Editor’s note

Casino questions

By Bruce Mohl 0 Comments Apr 15, 2014

the massachusetts gaming Commission has a tough choice to make in awarding the Greater Boston casino license. The two finalists, Mohegan Sun and Wynn Resorts, are both strong companies, pledging to create 4,000 jobs and pump more than $1 billion into their projects. Yet, as our Conversation package with the leaders of the two companies(...)

Transportation

A can-do attitude

A recounting of the race to build the nation’s first subway is as much about American bravado as it is about a transformative transportation project.

By James Aloisi 0 Comments Apr 15, 2014

The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry that Built America’s First Subway By Doug Most New York: St. Martin’s Press 404 pages once upon a time, before the invention of the internal combustion engine and before Henry Ford perfected the mass production of affordable automobiles, transit was king. It was a brief(...)

Opinion

Spring 2014 correspondence and updates

By CommonWealth Staff 0 Comments Apr 15, 2014

South Coast Rail good for environment Your article in the winter issue of the normally balanced CommonWealth magazine (“South Coast Rail worries environmentalists”) misses the mark badly. It relies solely on two individuals who have been perennial critics of the plan and does not even attempt to include a more neutral perspective. The fact is(...)

Politics

The guiding hand

Though largely unknown outside the world of politics, Mindy Myers has helped three current New England senators win office.

By Shawn Zeller National Politics 0 Comments Apr 15, 2014

mindy myers has never called New England home, but she’s nevertheless left her political mark on the region. The 37-year-old Washington insider has run the successful election campaigns of three sitting New England senators—Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island (2006), Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut (2010), and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts (2012). Myers is just as comfortable(...)