Polls indicate voters are split on whether the state’s gas tax should be indexed to inflation, but it’s unclear whether the tight race is a reflection of real policy differences or voter confusion. The Legislature pegged the gas tax to the consumer price index in 2013 as part of a series of reforms designed to steer […]

Those hipster baristas better buy this stuff STAT. Two students at Northeastern University created an edible coffee energy bar so that you no longer have to worry about spilling your scalding hot espresso on random people. My question is, can the bar eliminate heinous coffee breath?

This week, the FBI released a report that claimed to show a significant increase in “active shooter” incidents over the last 10 years. The report did not claim to show an increase in mass shooting incidents. Yet that’s how it was widely reported. Over at Reason, Jesse Walker consulted two academics who study mass shootings, […]

“It all started with a simple question,” Ali Kothari recalled the other day. “Why can’t we eat our coffee?” A short while later — with some college-student enthusiasm and some dorm room kitchen ingenuity — Kothari and Johnny Fayad began developing CoffeeBar. It’s basically an energy bar that is infused with a full cup of […]

Only a fluke of timing prevented Kent Brantly from being in Texas when he got sick with Ebola. Brantly, the first U.S. doctor to get Ebola, was infected in late July while working at a missionary hospital in Liberia. But he didn’t immediately realize he was ill. That’s one of Ebola’s tricks: The virus can […]

Earlier this month one research team put the risk of an imported Ebola case in North America at somewhere between 1 and 18 percent by the end of September, based on analysis of air traffic from West Africa to the rest of the world. The risk has undoubtedly declined since then as commercial flights to and from […]

Dan Kennedy, a Northeastern University journalism professor, said the decision “is not really a surprise” and that the warning signs had appeared in June, when cuts were announced just months after the launch of the Register. “From the moment he acquired the Orange County Register, Aaron Kushner has been telling us that there was nothing […]

As the U.S. launched the first airstrikes against the Islamic State and other militants inside Syria, it drew on support from five Arab nations: Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. President Barack Obama views Arab involvement as key, administration officials have said. He reportedly waited for diplomatic alliance-building efforts to bear […]

Timothy Hoff, Ph.D., associate professor of management, health care systems and health policy at Northeastern University in Boston, told Benzinga that retail clinics like Wal-Mart’s offer a lower-cost overhead model able to deliver basic care and chronic disease management in otherwise underserved parts of the United States. “Not all areas of the country … have a […]

Although Baker and Coakley are in a tight race, Coakley is currently up by 18 points among women, according to recent Globe polls. But William Mayer, a political scientist at Northeastern University, said focusing on the football commissioner’s job seems “a little off point.” “Nobody in the NFL has been anxiously waiting to see what […]

Insincere offers aren’t confined to airline loyalty programs, although they can be among the worst offenders. Another class of disingenuous deal is the postcard that says you’ve won a “free” cruise or vacation. Check your mail, there’s probably one there now. “The catch is that you have to stay at a time-share facility and agree […]

The ballot question does, however, include a provision that creates flexibility for employers: If a sick employee misses time on the job but agrees to work the same number of hours or shifts in the same or next pay period, he or she does not have to use earned sick time and the employer does […]