CommonWealth’s Spring 2017 issue is out!

Politics, Ideas & Civic Life in Massachusetts

Our Spring 2017 print issue has you covered. We’ve got stories on invasions, interesting people, politics, education, health policy, and even sports. I’ll give you a quick rundown below, and you can also listen to a Codcast of the CW staff discussing the issue. Don’t wait for the mail,  all of the stories in the issue are available online now.

INVASIONS: Millennium Tower, the 60-story building that literally filled a hole in the city of Boston, is simultaneously a godsend and a worrisome sign for the future. We explain what the ultra-luxury invasion of Downtown Crossing means for Boston. (Be sure to take in the spectacular view from $10 million up.) There’s even a fairly embarrassing story on how this story came about.

PEOPLE: Our Conversation is with Stephanie Pollack, a life-long Democrat who was named the state secretary of transportation and has become one of Gov. Charlie Baker’s biggest backers. The One on One is with Judy Grinnell of North Adams, who is giving up the reins of the Hoosic River Revival after a decade at the helm.

POLITICSUS Rep. Stephen Lynch is a self-described lunch-bucket Democrat, a political moderate who has shown a willingness to work with the GOP. As the country becomes even more polarized, is he suddenly out of step with his own party? Alex Morse is the mayor who isn’t afraid of pot; he sees potential for urban farming in Holyoke’s mills. In Statistically Significant, we document geographical political bias: the farther you live from Boston the less likely you are to hold statewide office.
EDUCATION: Voc-tech schools used to be the refuge of those students who weren’t a good fit at traditional high schools. But now they’re becoming far more selective about who they accept, leaving many of those students who aren’t a good fit at traditional high schools with nowhere to go. Voc-tech schools are an educational success story, but not for everyone.

HEALTH POLICY: Federal taxpayers ponied up $30 million for a Boston lab doing cutting-edge cancer research, but the promising investment was totally squandered. We examine the whole, sordid story. Edward M. Murphy analyzes the GOP push to rein in federal Medicaid spending, while John E. McDonough and William Seligman explain how the state is trying to bend the program’s cost curve. As an added bonus, learn how those TV drug commercials promising a reduced price to qualified buyers are really a Big Pharma bait and switch.

SPORTS: Aaron Van Leesten explains why eSports are sports and why they are catching on.

ETC: Where did all that polluted dirt from the Everett casino site go? The town of Dartmouth is a stickler for the rules, even if those rules make no financial sense.

 

Thanks,

Bruce Mohl, Editor