If the Pawtucket Red Sox move to Worcester, would they be called the WorSox? Questions like that are beginning to surface as headlines suggest the Red Sox farm team may be close to making a move to Worcester. There’s nothing definitive yet, and the rumors of an impending move are being spread by the mayor […]
Current Affairs
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The Codcast: The case for West Station now
The fight over the proposed West Station in Allston is shaping up as an epic transportation struggle. Harvard University is planning to build a new neighborhood in Allston and the question facing state officials is whether the area needs a commuter rail and bus transit station now or whether the station can wait until much […]
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School start times zero sum game
One day after the Boston School Committee voted unanimously to change school start times next fall so teenaged students could get a little extra sleep, Boston Magazine published a story asking what took so long. “Why, in a state that is at the forefront of progressive policy and respects science quite a bit …, did […]
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Is it time to talk about gun violence?
When Adam Lanza, an anti-social misanthrope who shot and killed his mother in Newtown, Connecticut, and then took her gun arsenal and slaughtered 20 six- and seven-year-olds and a half-dozen teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School for no apparent reason, many thought the long-awaited debate over gun violence would commence in earnest. After all the […]
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No Moore
Even for deepest red Alabama, it proved to be a molestation bridge too far. If Roy Moore couldn’t be trusted at the local mall, voters concluded, the US Senate might not be an appropriate venue for him, either. Moore went down to defeat, not because of his Neanderthal views on race, the role of religion […]
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Bridgewater saga ends with surprise
Nearly four years ago, the Boston Globe described the 2009 death of Joshua Messier at Bridgewater State Hospital in horrific detail. Messier, according to surveillance video, was on a bed with his hands cuffed behind his back and his feet in leg irons. He had suffered a schizophrenic attack and guards had forcibly restrained him. […]
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DCF deja vu
It is the story that seems to play on a endless repeat loop, with battered and neglected children at the center of it. State Auditor Suzanne Bump released a scathing audit yesterday of the state’s Department of Children and Families, charging that the agency tasked with protecting vulnerable children was failing miserably at that job. […]
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On sexual assault, a partisan divide
It is widely anticipated that Minnesota Sen. Al Franken will announce his resignation today, as the number of cases of alleged sexual misconduct against him grows. If the one-time Saturday Night Live comic does take his leave, he’ll be the second Democratic member of Congress to resign this week under the cloud of sexual misconduct […]
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‘They that go down to the sea in ships’
For centuries, New England fishermen have provided much of the seafood for the world’s dinner tables. In 1623, the nation’s first fishing port was started in Gloucester, which became synonymous with the industry, and its iconic fisherman statue stands as a stark reminder of the dangers of farming the seas. While many have romanticized the fishing […]
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It’s now up to Hefner’s accusers
In the space of five days, Beacon Hill has offered us a glimpse of all the complexity and unfairness associated with allegations of sexual assault and harassment in a political environment. Four men, speaking anonymously to Boston Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham, claimed that Senate President Stanley Rosenberg’s husband, Bryon Hefner, assaulted and groped them at […]