THE DECADES-LONG QUEST to produce inexpensive carbon-free energy from nuclear fusion is making tangible progress. There is much work ahead but recent research is bringing the elusive goal into clearer focus. Unfortunately, non-scientific barriers – political, funding, and management issues that won’t yield to the skills of the even the best physicists – have emerged […]
Edward M Murphy
Edward M. Murphy worked in state government from 1979-1995, serving as the commissioner of the Department of Youth Services, commissioner of the Department of Mental Health, and executive director of the Health and Educational Facilities Authority. He recently retired as CEO and chairman of one of the country’s largest providers of services to people with disabilities.
Posted inMicrophilanthropy
A personal form of charity
Microphilanthropy is an occasional feature that calls attention to small acts of generosity that people do for the benefit of others and highlights little-known needs that could benefit from generosity, even on a small scale. THE EXPLOSION OF electronic communication and content sharing have expanded the ways that charities seek donations. They can inexpensively ask […]
Posted inUncategorized
Fusion: The next big thing
GREATER BOSTON IS on a roll, propelled by innovation. The US Chamber of Commerce recently named the region number one in the nation for “fostering entrepreneurial growth and innovation.” Our universities, medical institutions, research labs, and venture capitalists have combined to develop enterprises on the spearhead of biotech and high technology, producing whole industries that […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, Microphilanthropy
Addressing hunger at Bunker Hill CC
Microphilanthropy is an occasional feature that calls attention to small acts of generosity that people do for the benefit of others and highlights little-known needs that could benefit from generosity, even on a small scale. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF the student body at Bunker Hill Community College in Charlestown are not surprising for a large urban […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Radically decentralize DCF’s responsibilities
THE MASSACHUSETTS ORGANIZATION responsible for running the state’s child welfare system has had four different names over a period of 40 years, which is not a sign of success. Each change was prompted by widespread concern with the way the agency did its work. Extensive media coverage of terrible incidents involving vulnerable children despoiled the […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Testing the market-knows-best hypothesis
MASSACHUSETTS, HOME OF the world’s most expensive health care system, is in the midst of a boom in the development of in-patient psychiatric hospital beds. Responding to perceived market demand, developers on their own initiative are planning, building, or completing projects around the state that will add more than 500 beds for people who have acute […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Reform through destruction
JERRY MILLER DIED in August in Virginia after a long illness. He was 83. Few people in Massachusetts now remember his name, but for several years in the early 1970s he was a controversial public official in the news nearly every day. Some saw him as an innovative reformer; others thought him irresponsible and dangerous […]