Summer 2013

Summer 2013

A can-do attitude

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.

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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(...)

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Poverty sprawl

Uncategorized

Poverty sprawl

More poor now live outside urban centers

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INNER CITY SLUMS along with isolated rural outposts, have long defined our concept of poverty in America. Whether it is endless blocks of urban deprivation or a dilapidated house with a sagging porch in a remote corner of countryside, this is what forms our picture of poverty. Lying between the two is suburban America, the(...)

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Moving backwards

Education

Moving backwards

Common Core jeopardizes ed reform

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I AGREE WITH Commissioner Chester that some around K-12 education are enthusiastic about Common Core. Washington, DC-based trade groups like the Council of Chief State School Officers, the National Governor’s Association, Achieve, Inc., as well as federal and state administrators, tend to be big fans of Common Core. But it is worth remembering that noted(...)

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Educating for the 21st century

Education

Educating for the 21st century

Massachusetts showed leadership in adopting the Common Core State Standards

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THIS SUMMER MARKS the 20th anniversary of the Commonwealth’s landmark Education Reform Act of 1993. That law ushered in a new era of clear, measurable academic standards for all students that were aligned to an accountability system that holds students, schools, and districts accountable for results. In return, the state committed to investing billions of(...)

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All aboard for the Cape

Transportation

All aboard for the Cape

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WHEN MICHAEL DUKAKIS was governor, passenger trains ran to Cape Cod.  So it should come as no surprise that one of the Bay State’s biggest mass transit boosters took the first Cape Flyer run out of Boston’s South Station on Memorial Day weekend. Dukakis and his wife Kitty travelled to Buzzard’s Bay to visit Kitty’s(...)

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SJC to clerks: Do your job

Politics

SJC to clerks: Do your job

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THE STATE’S HIGHEST court has set a new standard for clerk-magistrates: Do your job. In an unanimous opinion in May, the state Supreme Judicial Court set a precedent by terminating Barnstable District Court Clerk-Magistrate Robert Powers for failing to perform to expected standards and, when he did show up for work—often late—bullying staffers and members(...)

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Your cash ain’t nothing but trash

Transportation

Your cash ain’t nothing but trash

Do all-electronic tolls violate state laws?

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THE STATE’S DEPARTMENT of Transportation is planning to convert the Tobin Bridge to all-electronic toll collection next year, but that effort may run afoul of some laws on the books. The state is planning to require drivers to get E-ZPass transponders to reduce back-ups at the tolls and cut staffing costs, but the change would(...)

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Plugging into Canada

Environment

Plugging into Canada

Canadian hydro appears to be a good fit for New England, but should it be treated as renewable?

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RHODE ISLAND GOV. LINCOLN CHAFEE steps up to the podium at a conference of power grid geeks in Boston and says what everyone is thinking. The region is becoming overly dependent on natural gas to run its electricity plants and needs to diversify its power portfolio. Coal and oil are out of the question because(...)

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Booting up

Economy

Booting up

Can Holyoke’s massive, new high-speed computing center help turn the Paper City into a technology hub?

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MICHAEL FELD IS moving his small tech company from Northampton to Holyoke. That’s not a big deal on its own for Holyoke, but it will be a very big deal if it’s a sign of things to come. Feld, the chief executive officer of VertitechIT, a 21-employee technology firm specializing in telecommunications, information technology services,(...)

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