“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 […]

If you don’t have a voice, who speaks for you? Today there are more than 60 different options for people who need to use synthetic voices to communicate, but for the majority of people who use them, there is a single answer to that question: “Perfect Paul.” Rupal Patel, a speech scientist at Northeastern University, […]

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. Guest Barry Bluestone, director of […]

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 such problems as Colony Collapse Disorder (attributed to cellular phone towers disrupting communication frequencies of the bees, and to genetically modified foods), pesticide poisoning, ‘super mites,’ and […]

In Massachusetts, remodeling activity could be helping to stabilize construction employment, which has fallen about 30 percent from its prerecession peak, said Alan Clayton-Matthews, an economist at Northeastern University. The Massachusetts construction industry experienced a small bounce in employment from the federal government’s stimulus spending a few years ago, but those dollars have since dried […]

Ultimately, that kind of acceleration in hiring is unlikely without a sustained increase in the pace of economic growth. Indeed, as achingly slow as jobs growth has been in recent years, hiring has actually outpaced the broader recovery. An economic rule of thumb holds that gross domestic product has to rise two points faster than […]

Massachusetts employers added more than 16,000 jobs in January, the strongest pace of hiring in years and a bright note in an otherwise tepid recovery. The state’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.7 percent for the fourth straight month, and remains well below the national unemployment rate of 7.9 percent, the state Executive Office of Labor and […]

Does Ashley Judd have the chops to defeat Mitch McConnell in next year’s U.S. Senate race in Kentucky? Already the possibility of a Judd-McConnell matchup has spawned a mini-tornado of media speculation, not to mention a Karl Rove-sponsored attack ad. If and when Judd actually tosses her hat into the ring, the race would automatically […]