U.S. Department of Education

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11 Big Ideas for Rhode Island

Great notions to make things better in tough times: internpreneurships, dance parties, and Netflix for underwear
Rhode Island has problems. We all know it. Unemployment, political corruption, the Providence College basketball team.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | October 05, 2010

Shaking up the school system

The Reformer
Rhode Island education commissioner Deborah Gist’s take-charge style could make a winner of a state that often seems destined to fail. But critics say her free-market approach won’t work.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | April 21, 2010

Nobody dies

The Department of Economic and Community Development dodges the axe
Some things in life are essential — beer, the MLB Network, caller ID — and some things aren't — tofu, Jay Leno, the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.
By AL DIAMON | December 30, 2009

The Loan Groan

Never a borrower or a lender be dept.
Each month, with miserable certitude, the snail-mailboxes of middle-class twenty- and thirtysomethings are stuffed with student-loan bills, from both federal and private lenders. The balance seems to remain stagnant, even as we mail in check after check.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | July 08, 2009

Loan Groan

A new federal program aims to help overburdened student borrowers
Each month, with miserable certitude, the snail-mailboxes of middle-class twenty- and thirtysomethings are stuffed with student-loan bills, from both federal and private lenders. The balance seems to remain stagnant, even as we mail in check after check.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | July 08, 2009

Loan Groan

Carter’s cajones

Jimmy makes Dubya look like a wimp
The Republican Party is rife with classic wimps and bullies.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | October 27, 2008

Bad schooling

McCain’s education advisor has the whiff of debacle around her
When it comes to top advisors, it’s good to see John “Dubya” McCain keeping up his streak of employing clapped-out old political whores like Phil Gramm and Trent Lott, not to mention a rich lobbyist who represent brutal foreign dictators.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | July 23, 2008

Can the Providence schools get it together?

The answer will have a serious impact on the state’s economic future
As Rhode Island continues to struggle with budget deficits and economic development, the future of education is a piece of a large puzzle.
By IAN DONNIS | June 12, 2008

Traces of the Trade advances the discussion

Race + Reconciliation
Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North charts the early history of the DeWolfs, a prominent Bristol family whose first three generations were prosperously involved in the slave trade.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | June 11, 2008

Got sustainability?

Apeiron’s annual festival points the way to different possibilities
Growing numbers of Americans are taking up bicycling and gardening, and perhaps reconsidering the more costly habits of the not-so-distant boom times.
By IAN DONNIS | June 04, 2008

The long view

Bob Blumenthal’s history of jazz
Bob Blumenthal’s first book is out, and the wonder is that we didn’t get it sooner.
By JON GARELICK | January 29, 2008

It’s not easy being green

Sustainable design is rising in popularity, but Rhode Island remains slow on the uptake
Seth Handy does not have a long pony tail that snakes down the back of his rumpled hemp shirt, nor does he wear Birkenstocks to work.
By MARISA ANGELL BROWN | June 20, 2007

Lender bending

It’s time to rein in the student-loan industry. Plus, trying to make sense of the horror at Virginia Tech.
It should come as little surprise that financial institutions resort to heavy-handed and ethically shady tactics to increase their share of the student-loan business.
By EDITORIAL | April 18, 2007

The Pah-ty's ovah

Congressional reps from New England are poised to lead the attack on Republican waste and fraud
For the past six years, the Republican-run federal government has been free to waste money, reward friends, and act incompetently, knowing that their misdeeds would go unexposed by the legislative branch. Nailing the GOP: New England Congressmen are sitting on some key committees. By David S. Bernstein
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 24, 2007

School was my hustle

Politics and other mistakes
What a relief to discover that solving the problem of high property taxes in Maine isn’t complicated.
By AL DIAMON | January 24, 2007

Manhandled no more

Running with a PAC
A few years ago, if you googled student-loan giant Sallie Mae and the word “lawsuit,” a live-journal blog called Southern Girl Babbling would turn up.
By CATHERINE TUMBER | December 14, 2006

Put on your rosy red glasses

Politics and other mistakes
Governor John Baldacci has plans for his second term that will transform the lives of every Mainer. Which will probably annoy those Mainers who don’t want their lives transformed.
By AL DIAMON | November 21, 2006

Federal anti-drug provision hits RI students hard

Drug wars
Rhode Island has been hit hard by an anti-drug law that bars college students with drug convictions from receiving federal grants and loans, according to US Department of Education statistics.
By STEVEN STYCOS | May 17, 2006

Second time around

Meeting the high costs of going back to school
If you are thinking of going back to school, you will want to do four things before making that commitment.
By MICHAEL BRONSKI | May 08, 2006

No money, mo problems

Screwed students get heard
There are more than 4000 degree-granting higher-education institutions in the United States.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | March 22, 2006

College students be damned

Plus, Islamic democracy?
Neither public nor private institutions are doing enough to contain costs.
By EDITORIAL | March 22, 2006

Weld’s college try

An obscure school in Kentucky may cost Bill Weld an election — and maybe more
Bill Weld has hit rocky shoals in his attempt to become the first person since Sam Houston to get elected governor of two states.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN AND HARVEY SILVERGLATE | February 18, 2006

Frequently asked questions

How did Bill Weld get into this mess?
Bill Weld is loaded. Why did he decide to become an equity investor instead of just writing novels and fishing?
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN AND HARVEY SILVERGLATE | February 15, 2006

Multiple fronts

Domestic-violence-related news from around Maine
October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. With that in mind, here is some DV-related news from around Maine.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | October 14, 2009