Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo has named an eight-member panel to advise him on the way to address gun violence. The Winthrop Democrat said he formed the group in the wake of the shooting in Newtown, Conn., and other recent mass killings. DeLeo said the group will suggest laws that would help avoid similar tragedies. […]

“We need to have a lot more nurse practitioners on the job,” said Terry Fulmer a nurse and the dean of Bouve College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University. “Obviously, they don’t have the education of a physician, but they are highly trained professionals. And if the outcome is equal to what a doctor would […]

This tax season, it’s the rare filer who still fills out a paper form by hand. But not rare enough, in the view of the state Department of Revenue.

Honey bee populations have been diminishing at alarming rates in recent years. Many environmentalists and scientists have brought awareness to the bees’ significant role in the ecosystem.

With the 12 June 2012 death of Lonesome George, the last known full-blooded Pinta Island tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii), his subspecies apparently became extinct. [However, there is DNA evidence from intraspecific hybrids suggesting that some undiscovered individuals survive in the wild (1).]

A group of 57 local economists has signed a letter backing Governor Deval Patrick’s revenue-raising plan to fund $1.9 billion dollars’ worth of education and transport upgrades. This latest endorsement comes after the Governor’s proposals met with resistance last week from House Speaker Robert DeLeo, who called for a much more moderate revenue package.

A few years ago, Stephen Feldman and his wife came close to undertaking a major renovation of their growing family’s three-bedroom home in Medfield. But still recovering from the hit their savings took in the 2008 stock market plunge, the Feldmans decided to put off their plans.

“I think it’s really important to understand that the New York decision is based on New York administrative law principles,” said Wendy Parmet, a professor at Northeastern University School of Law who specializes in public health law. “It’s really not a decision that says that government can’t do this but that under New York law, […]

But even some of those programs favor paper. Community Tax Aid of Boston, a nonprofit that helps low-income taxpayers prepare their returns, uses paper returns at four of the five sites where it offers its services. “We’ve discussed moving to TurboTax and probably will eventually, but then you have the problem of needing Internet access and printers,” […]

A new extension campus for Boston-based Northeastern University recently made a 3,000-mile journey to the Pacific Northwest to set up a new campus in Seattle. To fit in with the Emerald City vibe, the Northeastern University—Seattle campus is suitably green, with an eye on capturing a coveted LEED Platinum designation from the U.S. Green Building Council. Designed by the Seattle office […]

A group of more than 50 economists will voice their support Monday for Governor Deval Patrick’s plan to increase Massachusetts’s income tax, saying that chronic underfunding of the state’s education and transportation systems has threatened future prosperity. “We believe there needs to be a significant increase in investment to make sure we remain economically competitive,” […]

Not too long ago a mysterious affliction called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) began to wipe out honeybee hives. These bees are responsible for most commercial pollination in the U.S., and their loss provoked fears that agriculture might begin to suffer as well. In 2009 the three of us, along with colleagues at Harvard University and […]