Current Events

John Edward, who teaches economics at Bentley and UMass Lowell, frequently contributes columns on economic issues. Here is his latest: A single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country. – Supreme…

The following post appears on the Keepers of Tradition blog which is written by Maggie Holtzberg, Ph.D., the Commonweath’s Folklorist at the Massachusetts Cultural Council.  The Lowell Folk Festival is held each year in Lowell during the last weekend of July.  The full schedule for this year is available on…

  The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Massachusetts is officially a casino state. Yesterday at two p.m. a slots parlor opened to the public in Plainville.  Penn National reportedly spent $250 million to build and start up the facility, the first to bring Las Vegas…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Thirty-six hours after Dylann Storm Roof slaughtered their loved ones in a Charleston, S.C  AME Church, family members of the victims grieved their loss but urged the mass murderer be treated with grace, dignity and forgiveness.  Like Nadine Collier,…

John Edward, who teaches economics at Bentley and UMass Lowell, frequently contributes columns on economic issues. Here is his latest: Some public policies seem to contradict what would serve the public good. This column explains why that can happen. It has nothing to do with political parties. It is not…

John Edward, who teaches economics at Bentley and UMass Lowell, frequently contributes columns on economic issues. The May 17 edition of The Boston Globe reported, “Housing costs a burden to many.” The Globe North article used census data to illustrate how unaffordable housing is in our area. It failed to…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. photo NPR President Obama’s proposed trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), has me in a quandary.  I’ve long held that free trade benefits everyone in the long run.  It’s what happens in the short run that can be…

Congratulations to yesterday’s groundbreaking by Middlesex Community College of the Boston & Maine Railroad Depot restoration project.  I was not able to attend so MCC’s Pat Cook kindly sent some observations about the project and the event, along with some superb photos by Kevin Harkins.  The following is by Pat…

Frequent contributor Jim Peters shares some of his thoughts today: I have not meandered in awhile, so I thought that this might be a good thing to do.  I have noticed that my books keep getting older, and while that does not make them useless, it does create in some…