THE BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS are a mess, but it’s not clear what will or should be done about it. That’s the situation as the district approaches a moment of reckoning with state education officials, who have completed the second comprehensive review of the district in two years and are now contemplating what steps to take, […]
News Analysis
Posted inPolitics
For GOP candidates, no news apparently good newsÂ
IT SEEMS LIKE an odd strategy for a party that claims only 9 percent of the state’s registered voters and is a decided underdog in polling match-ups looking ahead to the November election. A week after the two Republican candidates for governor, Geoff Diehl and Chris Doughty, shunned a WBUR forum on climate change, their […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Boston’s downtown at risk as workers stay remote
AMERICA IS DOTTED with remnants of economies of the past. Think gold rush towns, factory cities, rail towns, and coal towns, to name a few. All served their purpose, and either evolved into something else, or slowly collapsed. Now, the durability of remote and hybrid work poses an increasingly grave threat to Boston and other […]
Posted inPolitics
GOP gov hopeful Doughty taps former rep as unofficial running mateÂ
CAN A LARGELY unknown gubernatorial candidate, who is the underdog in a primary race in a cratering political party, get a little oomph by announcing that a largely unknown former state rep will be his unofficial running mate? That sort of framing doesn’t suggest an auspicious impact. On the other hand, it’s hard to say […]
Posted inEducation
What if Boston just scrapped its school committee altogether?
TO SAY THE Boston school system is in flux would be like suggesting the city’s drivers occasionally seem a tad aggressive on the roads. The district is about to say goodbye to its fifth superintendent in 10 years at the same time that the city is debating a possible change to the school governance structure […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Polls indicate mental health of children remains a concern
PARENTS IN MASSACHUSETTS have a front row seat to the burgeoning mental health crisis among children across the state. A series of polls from The MassINC Polling Group finds parents are equally concerned about mental and emotional health as they are with academics, and want schools to continue to play a heightened role in addressing […]
Posted inPolitics
Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll joins surge of lieutenant governor hopefuls
RARE HAVE SO many been so eager to win an office with so few powers accorded to it. Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll announced her run for lieutenant governor yesterday, making her the fifth Democrat in a race that is often more of an afterthought than a high-visibility statewide contest. Driscoll has long been eyed as […]
Posted inNews Analysis
30-40% of COVID patients at MGH incidentally infected
This is another in a series of conversations between Dr. Jarone Lee, a frontline critical care and emergency physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor at Harvard Medical School, and Dr. Paul Hattis, a fellow at the Lown Institute who participates in CommonWealth’s Health or Consequences Codcast. PAUL HATTIS: How are Massachusetts General Hospital and the […]
Posted inBy The Numbers, Health Care, News Analysis
Poll shows sharp divide in attitudes depending on vaccination status
WITH COVID CASES surging in Massachusetts and tests hard to come by, deciding what feels safe to do can be a moving target. But for one group at least, the decision is a lot easier. Those who are unvaccinated largely feel safe eating in restaurants, attending public places and events, and are hesitant to introduce […]
Posted inArts and Culture
CommonWealth’s most-read commentary pieces of 2021 covered the waterfront
WE ARE EAGER to have CommonWealth serve as a forum for healthy debate and the exchange of strongly argued points of view from a range of voices across the state. The most widely read op-ed pieces from 2021 certainly hit that mark in some ways, with commentary offerings from a sixth-grade student and one of […]