MONTHS AFTER THE Baker administration pulled the plug on plans for a controversial new biomass plant in Springfield, state environmental officials proposed new regulations that would drastically limit where biomass plants can be located. The rules promulgated by the Department of Energy Resources in April say new biomass plants located in or within five miles […]
Race/Racism
Posted inEconomy
The quiet fortitude of Bob Moses
POLITICIANS OF VARIOUS STRIPES have for years declared education to be the civil rights issues of our time. Bob Moses, perhaps uniquely, could make the case with the authenticity of someone who had been immersed in pivotal ways in both of those worlds. A central, if less publicly visible, figure in the civil rights struggles […]
Posted inOpinion
Why Boston should pursue reparations
ON JUNE 9, 2021 Boston City Councilors Julia Mejia and Kenzie Bok submitted an order calling for “a hearing on reparations and their impact on the civil rights of Black Bostonians, in order to both form a common, shared history regarding Boston’s involvement in the enslavement of Black people as well as to explore the […]
Posted inEducation
Community colleges see steep drop in Black, Latinx enrollment
AT ROXBURY COMMUNITY COLLEGE – where attendees are predominantly low-income students of color – enrollment was down by 20 to 25 percent last year. The college’s president, Valerie Roberson, wasn’t surprised. According to data from the Department of Higher Education, as the COVID-19 pandemic raged, enrollment was down last year across higher education and across […]
Posted inRace/Racism
Why child abuse commission got stuck
IN A VERY rare occurrence in state government, a special commission appointed by the Legislature spent 16 months investigating how child abuse should be reported and couldn’t come to agreement on any recommendations. The impasse was first reported by CommonWealth on Monday, but a 93-page report issued by the commission on Wednesday sheds light on […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Poll shows strong support for requiring vaccines for teachers, first responders, and other groups
NEWS THAT THE state’s biggest health care provider systems will be requiring COVID vaccinations of their employees will likely renew debate about whether other organizations or types of businesses should do the same. Survey data from late last month suggest that about three-quarters of residents statewide support vaccine requirements in the public sector. Topping the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion, Race/Racism
Closing a hate-crime loophole
IMAGINE WAKING UP in the morning and seeing an image of hate painted on the front door of the apartment you’ve rented for years. This image is meant to target you and your family. Or imagine that an anti-Semitic group learns that a Jewish family lives nearby. One night the ringleader of the group goes […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Mass. police among least likely to shoot
POLICE IN MASSACHUSETTS rarely shoot anyone. According to the latest Washington Post analysis, Massachusetts is virtually tied for the lowest rate of officer-involved shootings in the US – six per million in population. (Rhode Island has the fewest at four per million; New York also experiences officer-involved shoots at the annual rate of six shootings […]
Posted inRace/Racism
Lawmakers hear wide range of policy suggestions to address racism
POLICYMAKERS AND EXPERTS agreed at a legislative hearing on Monday: structural racism continues to be a problem in Massachusetts, impacting everything from economic inequality to incarceration rates to health disparities.  But it became clear during the inaugural hearing of the Joint Committee on Racial Equity, Civil Rights, and Inclusion that there is far less consensus about how to address the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
What happened to Mikayla Miller?
THE DEATH IN April of 16-year-old Hopkinton resident Mikayla Miller has prompted an outpouring of sorrow and sympathy. It has also led to charges that what happened to the African American teen may be part of a broader pattern of deaths of black Americans in which the criminal justice system holds back crucial information or […]