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Pioneer Institute Study Finds MCAS, Education Reform Have Significantly Improved Academic AttainmentOctober 16, 2024 - 11:46 am
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I Love the Smell of Centrism in the Morning
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byI must admit to an unhealthy fascination with the state auditor’s race. Besides Guy Glodis’ bus, you’ve got an interesting cast of characters (and conflicting voter bloc loyalties) on both ballots. So, I was interested to see this yard sign duo cropping up around the Suffolk & Norfolk District:
Welcome to Forced Regionalization
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byThis space has been a big proponent of regionalization, with a strong preference for organic, self-directed regionalization. For the towns surrounding Lawrence, they may not have that luxury. When we looked at the attempt to regionalize fire services on the South Shore in the report linked above, one unexpected finding was that some communities already received an implicit subsidy based on mutual aid agreements (and were loathe to enter into a regionalization agreement that caused them to have to pay up for what they were getting for free). The City of Lawrence appears to be doing something similar. It has cut back its fire department staffing to what appears to this layman to be extraordinarily low levels. As a result, […]
Offensive and Wrong
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byOne of the card-carrying members of this town’s great and good, Judy Meredith, contributes the following to a Blue Mass Group discussion of Matt Amorello’s arrest: thanks for this ernie (6.00 / 4) so sad for Matt, not a bad fellow at all. I suspect too many police officers are high school bullies who were too stupid for community college and lacked the self control required by organized crime. by: Judy Meredith @ Tue Aug 10, 2010 at 09:09:01 AM CDT I include the entire comment (despite the awkward formatting) so no one can say its taken out of context. This space has not always had a great relationship with the public safety community (examples here and here), but I’ve […]
The Difference Between Lynn and Salem
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byOne of the nifty things about using the Globe Reader application is that I get to see the regional editions of the paper. This week’s Globe North edition has a fascinating account of the differences between Lynn and Salem. Each community has certain assets, received public funds for development activities, and chose certain strategies. The results are quite different. If you are interested in urban development, I encourage you to give the piece a read.
Rhetoric and Reality: A Closer Look at the Massachusetts State Pension System
/0 Comments/in Press Releases, Press Releases: Government /byRhetoric and Reality: A Closer Look at the Massachusetts State Pension System Contact Samantha Levine-Neudel at 617-723-2277 ext. 211 or slevine@pioneerinst.wpengine.com Rhetoric and Reality: Pension Benefits for Retired Massachusetts State Workers BOSTON – A new Pioneer Institute report corrects a number of misconceptions about state pension system benefit levels. In Rhetoric and Reality, author James Bohn, a business economist with a Ph.D from Harvard and former principal of UHY Advisors, analyzes the actual pensions received by current state retirees across multiple dimensions, demonstrating a wide variation in pensions and surprisingly generous benefits for a few groups of state employees. “Pension reforms enacted to date have only addressed the most egregious abuses,” says Pioneer Executive Director Jim Stergios. “We can only […]