THE PIONEER BLOG

Mary Connaughton

Public Comment on I-90 Allston Multimodal Project

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Last year, Pioneer Institute proposed that the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT)  revise its Scoping Report on the I-90 Allston Multimodal Project and recommend an additional option – a modified at-grade option for the throat area – to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).  The Institute believed then and continues to believe that an all at-grade design will shorten construction time, lower costs, create fewer negative economic and congestion impacts, and improve neighborhood access to parkland along the Charles River.

Maddie Lowy

Hockey Sidelined Again

/0 Comments/in , , , /by Maddie Lowy

After months on the sidelines, youth hockey players across the state eagerly laced up their skates in August. Under current youth and amateur sports guidelines, locker rooms operate at 50 percent capacity, only one spectator should attend per player, and players wear masks on the bench. Unlike in MIAA high school sports, players do not wear facemasks while they play, except during faceoffs. 

Jamie Gass

“Double, Double Toil and Trouble” – 15 Halloween Resources for K-12 Students

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , /by Jamie Gass

In Pioneer’s ongoing series of blogs here, on curricular resources for parents, families, and teachers during COVID-19, this one focuses on: Introducing K-12 students to the history behind Halloween.

Jamie Gass

The Commonwealth of Health -Massachusetts’s Great Medical Innovations – 15 Resources for High School Students

/0 Comments/in , , , , , /by Jamie Gass

In Pioneer’s ongoing series of blogs here, on curricular resources for parents, families, and teachers during COVID-19, this one focuses on: Introducing high school students to great medical innovations from Massachusetts.

Editorial Staff

Clearing Boston’s Throat: What the I-90 Allston Project Portends for Metro West Commuters

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Join hosts Joe Selvaggi and Pioneer Institute’s Mary Connaughton, and guest, former Mass. Secretary of Transportation Jim Aloisi, as they discuss the I90 Allston Multimodal Project, its long-term benefits, and their concerns for the metro west commuters and communities during the project’s decade-long construction.

Andrew Mikula

In light of COVID-19, Massachusetts should rethink its convention center bureaucracy

/0 Comments/in , , /by Andrew Mikula

Right before commercial real estate values in the U.S. started plummeting earlier this year, Massachusetts officials seemed to finally come to a consensus over the proposed sale of the Hynes Convention Center in the Back Bay. Privatization of the Back Bay property was slated to fund a 200,000-square foot expansion of another state-owned convention center, the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center or “BCEC.” Now, Boston’s weak commercial real estate market renders this plan entirely unappealing, largely because the Hynes probably couldn’t fetch its full Fiscal Year 2020 value of $176 million.   Moreover, during a deadly pandemic, it hardly makes sense to pour more public funds into indoor spaces that rely on large crowds to make money, especially when their […]

Jamie Gass

The Republic of Gadgets – America’s Great Inventors – 25 Resources for K-12 Education

/0 Comments/in , , , , , /by Jamie Gass

Understanding the enduring public and private benefit that great inventors and their contraptions have made to our civilization is to better appreciate the connections between human necessity, creativity, and ingenuity. Yet, in American K-12 education very little focus is placed on studying who America’s great inventors were and the central role they’ve played in shaping our republic of gadgets. We’re offering a variety of links on the topic for parents, teachers, and schoolchildren to enjoy and better realize authentic innovators.

Jamie Gass

Additional Resources – The Republic of Gadgets – America’s Great Inventors

/0 Comments/in /by Jamie Gass

Benjamin Franklin, Kite Experiment, Philadelphia, PA, 1752 The Founding Fathers, the U.S. Constitution and the Experiment in Ordered Liberty, Philadelphia, PA, 1788 to the Present The United States Patent and Trademark Office, Washington, D.C., 1790 to the Present Eli Whitney, the Cotton Gin, Savannah, GA, 1793 Robert Fulton, the Steamboat, Submarine, and Torpedo, NYC, 1807 Samuel Colt, Colt Fire-Arms, Paterson, NJ, 1836 Samuel Morse, Telegraph System and Morse Code, Washington, D.C., 1844 Charles Goodyear, Vulcanized Rubber, Springfield, MA/New York, 1844 Alexander Graham Bell, the Telephone, Boston, MA, 1876 Thomas A. Edison, Light Bulb, Phonograph, Motion Picture Camera, and Research Laboratory, Menlo Park, NJ, 1879 Nikola Tesla, Alternating Current (AC) Induction Motor, NY, 1888 Henry Ford, Model T and Assembly Line, […]

Jamie Gass

The Houses of Great American Writers – 25 Resources for K-12 Education

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According to the Brookings Institution research, teaching great fiction is declining across America’s K-12 education system, so we’re offering resources to help parents, teachers, and schoolchildren to better appreciate great American writers and the places where they wrote.

Andrew Mikula

How do other countries avoid COVID infections as they loosen international travel restrictions?

/0 Comments/in , /by Andrew Mikula

For most of America, reopening the economy after COVID-19 means being able to go to a barbershop, a local gym, or restaurant – all relatively mundane activities that happen to involve small crowds of strangers gathering in an enclosed space. But for some major cities, it means much more: a return to hosting large, touristy recreational events, international business conferences, and gubernatorial summits. In terms of public health protocol, the main difference between a barber shop and a major business expo (besides the size of the event, attire of the attendees, and number of TV cameras present) is that businesspeople are often willing to travel far and wide to attend prominent conferences. With this point of contrast comes a moral […]

Editorial Staff

Getting Nursing Home Care Right

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Pioneer Institute has long recognized that seniors deserve the best of care and that innovative policy solutions are necessary to ensure that this population enjoys a high quality of life in their later years. In the 1990s, early 2000s and most recently in 2017, the Institute dedicated Better Government Competition topics to policy issues related to aging in America. Our goal each time was to find solutions and to take advantage of new innovations that would improve the quality of life and care for the elderly.

Jim Stergios

With Sincere Thanks

/in , /by Jim Stergios

A Message from Pioneer Institute Executive Director Jim Stergios: With the close of Pioneer Institute’s 2020 fiscal year on September 30th, I want to thank you. This has been an unprecedented year for the Institute in terms of our ability to improve the lives of citizens in Massachusetts and beyond. 

Jamie Gass

A Commonwealth of Art – 20 Resources for K-12 Art Education

/0 Comments/in , , , , , /by Jamie Gass

In Pioneer’s ongoing series of blogs here, here, here, and here on curricular resources for parents, families, and teachers during COVID-19, this one focuses on: Introducing K-12 schoolchildren to great works of art about, from, or in Massachusetts. Great Massachusetts paintings, folk, and fine arts are often not fully explored in the Bay State’s K-12 education system, so we’re offering a variety of resources to help parents, teachers, and schoolchildren.

Jamie Gass

Additional Information about Art Resources

/0 Comments/in /by Jamie Gass

“King Philip,” illustration published in The Pictorial History of King Philip’s War, circa. 1851 “The Indian archer weathervane,” in copper by Shem Drowne, circa. 1716, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, MA “Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor,” painting by William Halsall, 1882, Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, MA “Trial of George Jacobs Accused of Witch Craft, August 19, 1692”, painting by Tompkins H. Matteson, 1855, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA “Midnight Ride of Paul Revere,” painting by Grant Wood, 1931, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC “Mrs. James Warren (Mercy Otis),” painting by John Singleton Copley, circa. 1763, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA “George Washington,” bust by Jean-Antoine Houdon, 1786, Boston Athenæum, Boston, MA “Action Between USS Constitution vs Guerriere,” painting by Michel Felice […]

Jamie Gass

“Architecture is Frozen Music” Great Massachusetts Buildings – 25 Resources for K-12 Education

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Understanding enduring public and private architecture is a key way to learn about art, ideas, and how they harmonize with our democracy. Yet, Massachusetts buildings are often never discussed in K-12 education. We’re offering a variety of links about outstanding houses and architecture across the Bay State for parents, teachers, and schoolchildren to enjoy, visit, and better appreciate, including: