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No alternative

Authentic Journalism Dept.
“I got very tired of being called an ‘alternative journalist’ for so many years,” says former Phoenix reporter Al Giordano. “Alternative to what?"

By MIKE MILIARD | October 14, 2009

Boston public-school apartheid?

Think busing was a problem in this town? Some are labeling charter schools as Boston's newest educational battleground
At the Edward W. Brooke School in Roslindale — a kindergarten-to-eighth-grade public charter school — the push to advance graduates to elite secondary programs begins in fifth grade.

By CHRIS FARAONE | October 15, 2009

MFA neglects to award prize for neglected female artists

Missing Maud Dept.
In 1993, on the occasion of her 90th birthday, friends of prominent Cambridge artist Maud Morgan donated funds to Boston's Museum of Fine Arts to establish a prize in her name. (She died six years later.) The Maud Morgan Purchase Prize would celebrate under-appreciated mid-career Massachusetts female artists.

By GREG COOK | October 07, 2009

Camelot: The Next Generation

Patrick Kennedy is a square peg in his family's historic round table
Senator Ted Kennedy's months-long battle with brain cancer inspired endless commentary about the demise of Camelot.

By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | October 01, 2009

Brandeis President Jehuda Reinharz steps down

Pricked by a Rose?
Fallout from Bernie Madoff's titanic scheme is still unfolding, as was made clear on this week's 60 Minutes report about the search for billions bilked by the New York Ponzi king.

By CHRIS FARAONE | September 30, 2009

You're all guilty!

In his new book, Three Felonies A Day , Harvey Silverglate dissects the corrupt justice practiced by federal prosecutors
Silverglate's thesis is as provocative as it is simple: justice has become sufficiently perverted in this nation that federal prosecutors, if they put their minds to it, could find a way to indict almost any one of us for almost anything. It is a truly radical notion.

By PETER KADZIS | September 28, 2009

Wheels in Motion

Ghana Fly Now
David Branigan, who recently returned to town after more than a year in Koforidua, in Eastern Ghana, says what he missed most about Boston is the "efficiency." That might come as a shocker for those of us here who have ever waited for the Number 66 bus in the thick of winter.

By IAN SANDS | September 02, 2009

Have you heard the one about Chappaquiddick?

Funny Peculiar
Last week, during an appearance on the Washington, DC–based Diane Rehm Show on NPR, Ted Kennedy biographer Edward Klein suggested that if Kennedy could witness his own funeral he'd probably crack a joke.

By ADAM REILLY | September 02, 2009

Michael Ryan: 1951-2009

A celebration of the good old days by someone who knew him when
Every proper obit should begin with something long-winded and amusing. In this case, that's easy.

By CLIF GARBODEN | August 31, 2009

The Granite State Gang

New Hampshire transplants live free — or die trying
Big bucks couldn't buy the viral awe and ire that the Free State Project (FSP) scored on August 11, when New Hampshire resident William Kostric arrived outside President Barack Obama's Portsmouth Town Hall meeting with a handgun on his right thigh — "open carrying" is quite legal in the Granite State — and a sign declaring IT IS TIME TO WATER THE TREE OF LIBERTY!

By CHRIS FARAONE | August 26, 2009

Avoiding a border war

Rape in Brookline
It's a matter of moments before the likes of Lou Dobbs and Bill O'Reilly scapegoat the believed-to-be-illegal-immigrant suspects in last week's Brookline rape case for every problem in America.

By CHRIS FARAONE | August 26, 2009

A mighty wind

New England plays catch-up in the green-energy race
This past Earth Day, President Barack Obama, speaking at an Iowa wind-turbine factory, delivered a gusty peroration. "The nation that leads the world in creating new energy sources will be the nation that leads the 21st-century global economy," he said. "America can be that nation. America must be that nation."

By MIKE MILIARD | August 24, 2009

Holding a finger to the wind

An energy expert forecasts a blustery day ahead for the region
Across New England, there's currently less than 150 megawatts worth of wind turbines installed and operational. That's small change compared with what's happening in places such as Texas and California. But it's a whole lot more than existed just a few years ago.

By MIKE MILIARD | August 19, 2009

Why wind power blows

Why we shouldn't overload our energy basket with wind eggs
The world is looking for a no-brainer solution to the 21st century's impending energy crisis, and wind power seems to provide many of the right answers.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | August 19, 2009

Health-Care-Reform Town Hall All-Stars

Plumb and Dumber Dept.
Shamelessly successful political-smear campaigns yield exalted martyrs.

By CHRIS FARAONE | August 20, 2009

Photos: Stetson Wind in Maine

Images of Stetson Wind
Photos of Stetson Wind in Washington County, Maine

By MIKE MILIARD | August 19, 2009

Preliminary findings

Handicapping the 15-headed horse race that is Boston's at-large City Council election
Even knowledgeable City Hall insiders know they're better off scratching lotto tickets than wagering on Boston politics.

By CHRIS FARAONE | August 12, 2009

The punch that took two lives

Nearly 17 years ago, Joe Donovan initiated a tragic chain of events with a brutish act of machismo. But should he be in jail for life?
When he was 17 years old, Joseph Donovan made the first of two stupid, and even reckless, mistakes. On the evening of September 18, 1992, in a brutish act of machismo, the East Cambridge native and minor-league delinquent punched out Norwegian MIT student Yngve Raustein.

By CHRIS FARAONE | August 05, 2009

The Times Co.'s super-potent silent treatment

If a tree falls in the Forest Dept.
In an earnings conference call last week, Janet Robinson, the president and CEO of the New York Times Co., had choice words — make that one choice word — for published reports on the Times Co.'s attempts to unload the Boston Globe.

By ADAM REILLY | July 29, 2009

Local activists crusade to cut circumcisions

Protesting male circumcision
What do William Shakespeare, Don Johnson, Sean Hannity, Redd Foxx, and Ralph Nader have in common with Jenna Jameson flicks and 70 percent of men worldwide? They're all uncut.

By CHRIS FARAONE | July 29, 2009