Opinion

Avi Kremer, chief executive officer and co-founder of Prize4Life, is hopeful about advances in ALS treatments. 

Massachusetts needs to let independents into the political process, writes Evan Falchuk, founder of the United Independent movement in Massachusetts. 

There was something more to Cellucci than just being a regular guy, writes his former chief of staff, Virginia Buckingham. 

Former state education secretary Paul Reville urges Beacon Hill leaders to lift the charter cap and make an investment in a new cadre of innovation schools. 

Providing health care to the poor increasingly means providing health care to non-English speakers, writes Wayne Lowell is president and CEO of Senior Whole Health. 

How will the needed responses to climate change threats to ocean communities be mobilized, asks Robbin Peach, executive director of the Collaborative Institute for Oceans, Climate and Security at the McCormack Graduate School at UMass Boston. 

Emily Neill, president of Junior Achievement of Northern New England, says teens are confident they will get summer employment. 

Steve Kerrigan, who is running for lieutenant governor, says the position is critical to state government.  

Brandeis professor Can Erbil writes of being stuck in a hotel in Istanbul with 30 students in the midst of the city’s violent riots. 

High energy costs are hurting the ability of businesses to invest in Massachusetts, write Donna C. Cupelo, chairwoman of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, and John F. Fish, chairman of the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership. 

Massachusetts has assumed a leadership role in the campaign to eliminate homelessness among veterans, writes C. Andrew McCawley, president and CEO of the New England Center for Homeless Veterans in Boston. 

Elyssa Spitzer, a recent graduate of Harvard College, reflects on the 25th anniversary of the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers. 

The public should be able to watch the Whitey Bulger trial on the Internet, write Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson and appellate attorney Fern Nesson. 

The Legislature needs to increase funding for civil legal aid, writes Bioden’s Susan Alexander. 

Marty Walz of Planned Parenthood questions Senate hopeful Gabriel Gomez’s commitment to women. 

Boston School Committee member Meg Campbell writes that high performance standards are the way to respect teachers.  

Former Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift urges the Senate to quickly approve the nomination of Gina McCarthy to head the EPA. 

Surveillance of the Associated Press proves that we need more privacy protections, writes state Senator Karen Spilka.  

The Legislature should consider a new formula to distribute new local aid funds in a more equitable manner, write Yolanda K. Kodrzycki and and Bo Zhaso of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. 

Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative John Tierney urge Congress to pass a bill that would slash the student loan interest rate for one year. 

Ann Carter, CEO of Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications, reflects on the one month anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings.  

Child-care facilities around the state are inadequate and need to be renovated, write State Senator Sal DiDomenico and State Representative Jeffrey Sánchez. 

Forsyth CEO Philip Stashenko says independent research institutes need to embrace broader missions tied to specific breakthroughs in order to survive. 

Confederate flag defender and former “The Dukes of Hazzard’’ star Ben Jones wonders why Edward Markey disinvited him from a fund-raiser on Tuesday. 

The solution to fixing our educational system might come from a moribund maritime industry, writes Admiral Richard G. Gurnon, president of Massachusetts Maritime Academy. 

Those who liken the administration’s behavior to Watergate fancifully ignore that the investigation was authorized as part of an inquiry into a serious crime.  

Boston-based physician Alice Rothchild questions why an Israeli trauma group came to Boston to help the Marathon bombing victims. 

There is a critical relationship between food insecurity and the cost of health care, writes David Waters, CEO of Community Servings in Boston.  

The nation needs to focus on education solutions for single mothers, urge Anne Mosle , vice president of The Aspen Institute, and Dr. Richard Wylie, president of Endicott College.  

For Kate Brodoff, Mother’s Day has a special meaning: Nine years ago, her moms were one of the first couples to marry in Massachusetts.