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Matt McDonald, a Boston-area native, has decades of experience as a reporter, editor, and copy editor. His work has appeared in The Mashpee Messenger, Cape Cod News, and The Norfolk Boomerang.
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Common Core is crushing creativity by teaching students to regurgitate words and phrases in English language arts rather than restate ideas in their own voice or come up with new ideas, argues Fordham University political science professor Nicholas Tampio in a new video. "Children whose families can afford elite
Around New England
A 47-year-old native of the The Bronx stopped by police in a high-crime area of Springfield, Massachusetts for driving with illegally attached license plates bore unmistakeable marks of pernicious outside influence. Police say the man had New York Yankees tattoos on his neck and right hand and a chrome-colored .357
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Stone walls in New England originated with colonial farmers needing to move stones from plow fields and wanting to create a fence at the same time, but construction accelerated and improved in the early 1800s with the importing of merino sheep from Spain. Wool from the prodigious sheep stocked the
Around New England
Massachusetts students would have to participate in two student-led civics projects to graduate from high school under legislation state lawmakers are considering. American and local history, the U.S. Constitution, the Massachusetts Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the roles and responsibilities of citizens, flag etiquette, the development of skills to
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A 63-year-old Romanian man who had been working in Turkey for more than 20 years returned to his native country to find out that legally he is dead. And a court is refusing to overturn that decision. His death certificate is valid, but no other government documents are available to
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A dog in Portsmouth, New Hampshire is causing a stir online because his face looks so much like a human being's. Yogi, a 1-year-old Shih Tzu-poodle mix, "became an Internet sensation," according to The Union Leader, which notes that national media outlets have contacted the dog&
Around New England
The town of Charlemont in Franklin County is pushing the state Legislature to approve a bill that would allow the town to tax recreation. It would be the first tax on recreation in the history of Massachusetts if the bill is approved.
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Three students at a public high school in a small Arkansas town were swatted twice on the rear end by a school official for walking out of school to protest in favor of gun control this past week. The students in Greenbrier, which has about 4,700 people, had a