Google might not have debuted some new, high-tech Internet equipment in Boston, but they managed to find us a nice consolation prize. The Internet juggernaut gave Boston's Museum of Science a $1 million grant, with no strings attached, to encourage science education. Similar grants were given to seven other science museums.
1
It was a relatively peaceful Halloween in Boston and Salem. [Boston Globe]
It was a scary Sunday for dozens of gourds at BU's annual pumpkin drop. [Daily Free Press]
In a twist on the recent bullying stories, a bully at Groton School committed suicide after being asked to leave. [ABC News]
more ›
Survey says Boston is the smartest city in America, but we already knew it. [Daily Beast]
Boston is piloting a multi-purpose ID program for students that also makes it easier to keep an eye on them. [Boston Globe]
RIP, Billy Ruane, a giant of the Boston music scene who died of a heart attack. [Boston Herald]
more ›
The wife of a Supreme Court justice called a Brandeis professor to request an apology about her Congressional testimony from 19 years ago. [Boston Channel]
Maybe it's just this Bostonist, but it seems like the biggest issue in 10th Congressional District is an illegal strip search that happened about 19 years ago -- and the victim is now speaking out. [Boston Globe]
more ›
Boston will consider eliminating the sales of high-calorie drinks at city-owned properties. [Boston Globe]
Four Bay State banks still owe TARP money. [Boston Herald]
Believe it or not, schools in Boston (and Springfield) are rather segregated. [Boston Globe]
more ›
A public food market is scheduled to open at an empty Haymarket building within 18 months. (Don't hold your breath.) [Boston Globe]
Specially designated parking for motorcycles and scooters will be available on Newbury Street for 25 cents per hour. [Boston Globe]
A poll shows Mitt as Obama's toughest competitor in 2012. At least, he won't be on the Commonwealth payroll if he runs this time. [Boston Herald]
more ›
A sailboat and MBTA ferry were involved in a collision near Hingham. [WHDH]
Two people are missing subsequent to a duck boat, based out of Philly, sinking after a crash with a large barge. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Protestors are expected to greet AZ Gov. Jan Brewer when she attends the National Governor's Conference near Copley Square on Saturday. [NECN]
more ›
Twelve cities have more energy-efficient building than Boston. [eWEEK]
Fenway Park renovations include bigger bathrooms, a new row of grandstand seats, and more concession options of the vegetarian & gluten-free variety. [Boston Herald]
The weekend's gamer convention was literal too big for the Hynes Convention Center, so they'll return to a bigger venue next year. [Boston Globe]
more ›
The USS Constitution will continue its traditional cannon salutes to the chagrin of Charlestown's sensitive newcomers. [Boston Herald]
Evacuation Day and Bunker Hill Day will still be Suffolk County holidays next year. [Boston Channel]
One million H1N1 vaccine doses have arrived in the Bay State. "Please, sir, we want some more." [Boston Globe]
more ›
more ›
Artists are beautifying some electrical boxes around Boston and won't be arrested. [Boston Globe]
If your morning commute sucked yesterday, it was probably thanks to a power outage at City Hall. [Boston Globe]
More deleted emails by a Menino aide have been recovered. [Boston Herald]
more ›
A gun show in Western MA let an 8-year-old boy shoot a submachine gun, and he accidentally killed himself. [Boston Herald]
more ›
Results tagged “education”
On the Globe home page, we noticed two articles about healthcare and money sitting closely. Do these dots connect together?
- Mass. Maritime 2, Pirates 0. [Boston Globe]
- While Governor Deval Patrick and Speaker Robert A. DeLeo bicker, the fate of an education bill, not to mention $250 million in federal stimulus funds, is up in the air. [Boston Herald]
- According to the University of Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research, corporate use of social media - Twitter, Facebook, etc. - has increased greatly in the past three years. []
Do you want your children taught by people who are not certified teachers? Are five weeks sufficient to learn how to command classrooms full of troubled kids? Should inexperienced, uncertified teachers be paid the same as those with years of training and experience? Teach for America says yes; Boston Public Schools says no. In an apparently controversial decision, BPS has refused to employ Teach for America recruits, asserting that the district already has enough qualified, experienced teachers. Teach for America is a somewhat ironic endeavor: the organization's own literature lauds the superior power of experienced teachers, yet the two-year program involves no certification, no experience, and often does little more than Ivy League grads something to do for two years between college and graduate school. The corps members may be educated, but that doesn't mean they can educate, and throwing them into a classroom for a brief amount of time does a disservice both to the corps members and their students. Additionally, Teach for America does nothing to solve the troubling problem of insufficient teacher training in America; it's merely a band-aid that falls off when its corps members move on. BPS is right to hold its ground and stand out for teachers who will commit to a career of education, not a brief stopover on the way to "better" things.
Those 14 percent T raises be damned—teachers are what's costing us money! And at least 400 of them may have to be fired to make room for budget cuts. (Compare that with the 400+ T workers who earned over $100,000 last year—we're betting that most teacher salaries are not quite at six figures.) 500 other jobs need to be eliminated in the process of whittling our education budget down by 5.5%. The transportation budget is cited as a big portion of costs. We say make those kids walk to school—we did it uphill both ways in the snow back in the day. If you've got a problem with the budget cuts, there's a budget hearing tonight at Blackstone Elementary School, and several others coming up as well. To prepare, you can read the superintendent's budget proposal (Word doc).
Yesterday, the Globe spoke with a woman--let's call her Belinda Snotskill, married to Thurston Snotskill the Fourth--who is upset at the prospect of the state funding all-day kindergarten.
The Globe reports that many Massachusetts high school graduates are going on to take remedial classes in college, which may be contributing to high college dropout rates. These assertions are based on a multiyear study from the Massachusetts Department of Education. The study followed nearly 20,000 students who graduated from Massachusetts high schools and went on to study at public colleges and universities in the state. Out of all the Massachusetts high schools surveyed, 27 saw over 60% of their students enroll in remedial courses in college. Overall, 37% of students in the study took at least one remedial college course.
More reason for cash-starved college students, especially those in the UMass system, to cultivate the taste for ramen. WBZ reports, "The university's trustees finance panel approved a 3.1 percent increase in fees Wednesday."
Whatever your thoughts on presidential candidate/political rock star Barack Obama borrowing a few points of Deval Patrick's rhetoric, you have to think it's good for the Governor. He's getting nation-wide press and it's not his fault that his speeches are so catchy and profound that Obama can't help copying them.
With over 20 million accounts, Second Life has become a pop culture phenomenon. An Internet-based virtual world, the metaverse in which we can be the person we've always wanted to be (without putting in the hard-work of exercise or educational training) have very few competitors. Currently, there is an exhibition going on in Boston called Mixed Realities - an exploration of real and synthetic places made possible by computers and networks.
We can't forget the porn 'stache Patriots receiver Wes Welker tried to rock earlier this season, much as we'd love to. We know it was a fashion failure and we have to hope that Welker knows it too -- and never tries to pull that look off again. Ever.
Governor Deval Patrick testified this morning at the State House about his plan to create an Executive Office of Education. This would consolidate authority and responsibility for the commonwealth's education system from pre-kindergarten to higher education to one cabinet-level position in the State House.
--Yet another explanation for why you should have a sinking feeling in your tummy any time you go over a bridge in Massachusetts. [Boston Herald]
The Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) is fighting off accusations that its practice of skin-shocking children with serious psychological issues is barbaric. Yet those accusations seem justified after several JRC staff members at a home in Stoughton listened to a prank caller and shocked one of its residents 77 times, sending that student to the hospital for first-degree burns.
Those responsible for giving two students skin-shocks--one 77 times and another 29 times--at the request of a prank caller at the Judge Rotenberg Education Center (JRC) in August have been fired. The AP reports that seven people are out, including a video surveillance worker.
Two people received skin-shock treatments at the Judge Rotenberg Education Center (JRC) in Canton after a former student made a prank phone call requesting the treatments. The incidents happened in August but are being reported now.
Evolution is on trial again. A former postdoctoral fellow at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has sued the Cape Cod research center, claiming his 2004 dismissal resulted from his religious beliefs. Nathaniel Abraham was dismissed from Mark Hahn's research lab after refusing to work on the "evolutionary aspects" of his assigned project, according to the Globe. Hahn is a senior research scientist known for studying the effects of toxins on aquatic animals, using a hybrid...
With Boston as perhaps the world’s foremost college town, a large part of our population is staring down Fall Semester’s final exams. For some, this period is little more than another opportunity to display a sharp mind. For others, however, exam period is one of struggle, frustration, and pain. To this latter group we suggest an alternative: Just go back to high school. It’s been done before… A twenty-five-year old Kenneth Lickiss took a Greyhound...