THE PIONEER BLOG

Jamie Gass

Knowledge is Power: Sir Francis Bacon and the Scientific Method – 10 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: Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of Sir Francis Bacon and the scientific method.

Andrew Mikula

Massachusetts is in the middle of a budget crisis. So why is it still subsidizing out-of-state horse owners?

/0 Comments/in , , /by Andrew Mikula

In 2021, the Massachusetts legislature will consider raising taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals to finance social services in the Commonwealth during a challenging budget season. Proponents claim such an approach is necessary to avoid cuts to crucial services like healthcare and education.  Meanwhile, there are a number of state government programs that defy sound fiscal sense. Unlike raising taxes on the wealthy, it’s often politically difficult to cut these programs because a small group of people depend on the subsidies they provide for their livelihoods, paid for by the rest of the populace. Take the horse breeding industry as an example. A recent update to MassOpenBooks.org, a government transparency data tool operated by Pioneer Institute, shows that Massachusetts has […]

Andrew Mikula

To Keep Worcester’s Polar Park Project Alive during COVID-19, Focus on the Community

/0 Comments/in , /by Andrew Mikula

While COVID-19 has halted sporting events across the world, it’s also thrown a wrench in franchises’ future plans. The Boston Red Sox’ triple-A affiliate was in the midst of relocating from Pawtucket, Rhode Island to Worcester, Massachusetts when the pandemic struck. COVID-19 has led to construction delays of the new stadium in Worcester, Polar Park, and left plans for the 2021 season in flux. Now, a group of Eastern Connecticut State University students are working to make sure that, during an uncertain time for their team and sports in general, the WooSox have their priorities straight.    During this fall’s Pioneer Institute & Nichols College Sports Management Policy College Case Competition, Nikita Biahliak, James Callaghan, and Keira Integlia won 2nd […]

Andrew Mikula

Pioneer recognizes students’ thoughtful approach to stadium financing, adjacent redevelopment in Worcester

/0 Comments/in , /by Andrew Mikula

Even as the construction of Polar Park, a new minor league baseball stadium in Worcester, Massachusetts, was plagued by cost overruns, Worcester city officials aimed to use “no existing city tax revenue…to fund the ballpark construction.” Instead, they would essentially pay for the nearly-$100 million project by levying additional property taxes on adjacent development that was slated to sprout up around the new stadium. But as COVID-19 has dampened demand for hotel rooms and office space, and the developer has revised estimates for the apartments’ completion dates and market values, the stadium’s financing could look very different going forward.         This fall’s Pioneer Institute & Nichols College Sports Management Policy College Case Competition asked students to craft adaptive solutions to […]

Jamie Gass

The 400th Anniversary of the Mayflower – 15 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 the 400th Anniversary of the Mayflower’s voyage.

Jamie Gass

Ghost Dance – Native American Heritage Month – Resources for K-12 Education

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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: Introducing K-12 schoolchildren to Native Americans in U.S. history.

Jamie Gass

Disputing Democracy – 5 Contentious U.S. Presidential Elections – Resources for K-12 Education

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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: Introducing K-12 schoolchildren to the great, contentious presidential elections in U.S. history.

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

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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

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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, […]