THE PIONEER BLOG

Editorial Staff

Jo Napolitano on the Inspiring Stories of Immigrant Children

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This week on JobMakers, Host Denzil Mohammed talks with Jo Napolitano, journalist, former Spencer Fellow at Columbia University, and author of the new book, The School I Deserve: Six Young Refugees and Their Fight for Equality in America, about the enterprising spirit of immigrants and refugees across the nation and at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Editorial Staff

AEI’s Naomi Schaefer Riley on Parenting, Excessive Screen Time, & Religion in American Education

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This week on “The Learning Curve,” Gerard Robinson and guest co-host Kerry McDonald talk with Naomi Schaefer Riley, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and author of several books, including Be the Parent, Please.

Jamie Gass

Monarchs of the Sea – American Boats, Ships, & their Captains – 40 Resources for High School Students

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In Pioneer’s ongoing series of blogs on curricular resources for parents, families, and teachers during COVID-19, this one focuses on: Celebrating American Boats, Ships, & their Captains.

Emily Donovan

The Effects of the COVID 19 Pandemic on MBTA Light Rail Ridership

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In 2020, the COVID 19 pandemic had an unprecedented impact on public transportation. According to Pioneer Institute’s site, MBTA Analysis, nationwide ridership on light rail transit decreased by historic amounts between 2019 and 2020. For example, the New Jersey Transit Corporation reported a 93% decrease in unlinked light rail passenger trips in April 2019 and April 2020. The Maryland Transit Administration saw a 92% decrease in light rail ridership in that time period. Additionally, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) reported a 95% decrease in light rail ridership. The MBTA light rail transit includes the Green Line and a small part of the Red Line (from Ashmont to Mattapan). Throughout the pandemic, many service cuts occurred, resulting in less frequent […]

Editorial Staff

New York Times Best Seller Paul Reid on Winston Churchill, WWII, & the Cold War

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This week on “The Learning Curve,” Cara and guest co-host Kerry McDonald talk with Paul Reid, co-author, with William Manchester, of the New York Times best-selling biography of Winston Churchill, The Last Lion: Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965. Reid shares how he was enlisted to complete William Manchester’s biographical trilogy on the greatest political figure of the 20th century, which became a best-seller.

Maida Raza

How do employment trends differ between urban and rural Massachusetts from 1999-2019?

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To better understand these statistics, data available on employment across Massachusetts counties is helpful. This blog will investigate the employment trends in Franklin and Middlesex Counties from 1999-2019.

Jack Landsiedel

Urban Cyclist Fatalities: Improving the Safety of Our Commuters

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Pioneer set out to compare fatality data, miles of bike lanes, and cyclist commuter statistics in the five largest cities in the Northeast to develop recommendations for what urban areas can do to improve dangerous riding conditions. 

Editorial Staff

Valuing Life-Saving Drugs: What is the Price of Life and Who Decides?

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Hubwonk host Joe Selvaggi talks with Pioneer Institute visiting fellow Dr. Bill Smith about Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALY) standards, and the ways in which so-called objective cost-containing strategies use expert opinion to determine the value of a life and thereby disadvantage the elderly, disabled, and those with less common vulnerabilities to disease.

Jack Landsiedel

Putting in the Extra Hours: The Spike in Mass. Department of Public Health Overtime Pay during COVID-19

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During the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic, Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) payroll data presented a 29.09% increase in the average employee’s overtime pay from the previous year. Pioneer wanted to dig deeper into the Department’s compensation trends to put the $5M bump in 2020 DPH overtime pay into perspective.

Editorial Staff

Rafe Esquith on Teaching Shakespeare to Inner-City LA Students

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This week on “The Learning Curve,” Gerard and Cara talk with Rafe Esquith, an award-winning teacher at Hobart Elementary School in Los Angeles, and the founder of The Hobart Shakespeareans, who annually stage performances of unabridged plays by William Shakespeare. He shares why he founded the award-winning program to teach disadvantaged Los Angeles elementary school students a classical humanities curriculum, the most inspiring experiences and the biggest challenges of teaching highly demanding literary works to young schoolchildren from diverse backgrounds.

Editorial Staff

Larry O’Toole on Workplace Culture & Immigration Policy

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On this week’s episode of JobMakers, host Denzil Mohammed talks to Larry O’Toole, founder of the multi-state Gentle Giant Moving Company that started in 1980 right here in the Boston area. They discuss Mr. O’Toole’s journey at a young age from Ireland to Brookline, Mass., the challenges of being uprooted, and the ability to thrive despite barriers such as skills gaps, that many immigrants face.

Jamie Gass

“The Road to the Stars” – U.S. Space Exploration – 25 Resources for K-12 Students

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In Pioneer’s ongoing series of blogs on curricular resources for parents, families, and teachers during COVID-19, this one focuses on: Celebrating U.S. Space Exploration.

Editorial Staff

Talking Out Of School: Supreme Court Considers Campus Boundaries Within Social Media Universe

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This week on Hubwonk, host Joe Selvaggi talks with constitutional scholar and CATO Institute Research Fellow Thomas Berry about the recently heard U.S. Supreme Court case, Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., and its implications for free speech, school control, and the integration of social media into the rubric of first amendment protections.

David Clancy

Massachusetts Should Disclose More Information about Its Recent Reduction in the Official Count of Long-term Care Deaths

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The public — particularly in Massachusetts, where COVID-19’s toll on elders has been so great — has a right to know how many deaths occurred in state-regulated eldercare facilities, and how that compares to the total number of deaths. But the state’s new counting standard clouds this information, and should be corrected or at least disclosed.

Editorial Staff

Sandro Catanzaro Takes His American Dream to Mars and Back

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This week on JobMakers, host Denzil Mohammed talks with Sandro Catanzaro, who started several businesses in his native Peru but had no idea he’d end up helping NASA go to Mars, or that he’d use that same technology to plan and buy video ad campaigns. Now Head of Publisher Services Strategy for Roku, which acquired the company he founded, dataxu, in 2019, Mr. Catanzaro is an emblem of ingenuity and inventiveness. His demand-side platform, device graph technology and analytics platform help accelerate Roku’s ad tech roadmap and ability to serve a wide array of advertisers. But he’s not done yet!