[Nesabes] FW: New issue of CommonWealth out today!

Tue Oct 23 17:18:26 EDT 2007

FYI - some of this information may be useful to you in your partnership
meetings.

Carol

Carol Bower

Director, Northeast SABES

Northern Essex Community College

45 Franklin Street

Lawrence, MA 01840

978-738-7301

"SABES: Training Leaders in Adult Basic Education"

For more information on the System for Adult Basic Education Support
(SABES) please go to: sabes.org/northeast <http://sabes.org/northeast> 

For information on upcoming SABES offerings or to register for events
please go to: calendar.sabes.org/northeast
<http://calendar.sabes.org/northeast> 

________________________________

From: Anne Middle [mailto:amiddle at massinc.org] 
Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2007 12:54 PM
To: Bower, Carol
Subject: New issue of CommonWealth out today!

<http://www.massinc.org/index.php?id=645>
<http://www.massinc.org/index.php?id=645>
<http://www.massinc.org/index.php?id=645> 

Release of CommonWealth magazine's 
fall issue!

The fall 2007 issue of CommonWealth magazine is in the mail and posted
online in its entirety, in both HTML and PDF formats. Click here
<http://www.massinc.org/index.php?id=653>  to see the full contents, or
click on a link below to go directly to the story of your choice
(one-time free registration required). 

In our cover story, staff writer Gabrielle Gurley looks at the
"Municipal Meltdown"
<http://www.massinc.org/index.php?id=652&pub_id=2166>  taking place as
cities and towns struggle with revenue streams that aren't keeping pace
with ever-rising costs. She finds that the fiscal stress once confined
to a few struggling cities is working its way into middle-class suburbs.
Even unlikely bedfellows Geoff Beckwith, of the Massachusetts Municipal
Association, and anti-tax activist Barbara Anderson agree that cities
and towns are at the breaking point. "But what to do about the crisis is
where the agreement ends," writes Gurley. 

With Gov. Patrick's casino legislation now on the table, the debate over
expanded gambling in Massachusetts is heating up. Veteran Boston Globe
reporter Sean Murphy gives CommonWealth readers a riveting preview of
the sort of big-money power plays that might lie ahead. He examines the
events that played out in Middleborough, where a special town meeting in
late July approved a casino agreement with the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe.
In "Betting the Farm,"
<http://www.massinc.org/index.php?id=652&pub_id=2175>  which we released
online in September, Murphy reports that for all the attention paid to
the July town meeting, "the issue had already been decided, in a
practical sense, well before the moderator gaveled the meeting to
order." 

With gang and gun violence back in Boston, the city is looking to its
new police commissioner, Ed Davis, to direct a sequel to the "Boston
Miracle" of the 1990s, when violent crime rates plummeted. Contributing
writer Neil Miller profiles Boston's new "Top Cop,"
<http://www.massinc.org/index.php?id=652&pub_id=2176>  who took the
reins in December. Davis knows the buck stops with him, but he says the
community also has to decide that it's had enough. "The only way to stop
the violence is to get the public to rise up against it," Davis tells
Miller. "We need a cultural shift." 

Contributing writer Dan Kennedy takes stock of the declining appetite
for news among young people. In "Plugged In, Tuned Out,"
<http://www.massinc.org/index.php?id=652&pub_id=2188>  Kennedy finds
that while the Internet era means information on any topic is only a
click away, young people aren't inheriting their parents' hunger for
news. "That broken link," writes Kennedy, "represents a threat not just
to the news media, which are losing readers, viewers, and listeners, but
to civic life, the ideal of an informed citizenry, and our ability to
govern ourselves." 

In our Book Case <http://www.massinc.org/index.php?id=652&pub_id=2190>
department, Charles Euchner reports on the sobering conclusions of a new
book on the mayoral takeover of big-city school systems. In Perspective
<http://www.massinc.org/index.php?id=652&pub_id=2189> , Edward
Moscovitch says we need new models for school change if we're serious
about closing the achievement gap. In State of the States
<http://www.massinc.org/index.php?id=652&pub_id=2184> , managing editor
Robert David Sullivan reports that "Massachusetts is not quite the
public pension paradise that it's often made out to be," while in Head
Count <http://www.massinc.org/index.php?id=652&pub_id=2185> , he looks
at how Massachusetts cities and towns stack up when it comes to public
safety spending. 

In our Inquiries <http://www.massinc.org/index.php?id=652&pub_id=2180>
section, Jim O'Sullivan explains why many complain about the state of
our transportation infrastructure, but are slow to embrace a
commission's recommendations for fixing it. 

As always, we're eager to hear what you think. Fire away to
editor at massinc.org <mailto:%20editor at massinc.org> . Happy reading. 

Michael Jonas
Acting Editor 

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