Youths need to be part of the discussion on how to curb violence in Boston, write Cherokee Brown and Derrell Williams, youth organizers to Teen Empowerment.  

Journalist Chuck Colbert recalls what it was like as a gay man to march in the parade. 

Former Obama campaign staff member Hannah Bristol writes she wants to hold the president accountable over the Keystone XL pipeline. 

Attorney Richard M. Evans urges the state to legalize marijuana. 

Common Cause’s Pam Wilmot urges Massachusetts to update its election laws. 

Different types of election reforms have contrasting effects on inequality, writes Elizabeth Rigby of George Washington University.  

Evan Falchuck, Independent candidate for governor, calls for an end to monopolistic hospital mergers.  

Boston lawyer Thomas E. Dwyer Jr. addresses the suit that Little Sister of the Poor has filed against the federal government. 

Kirsten Hughes, chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party, critiques Governor Patrick’s tenure. 

Maura Healey, Democratic candidate for attorney general, vows to take on predatory lending by for-profit colleges. 

Michael Conathan of the Center for American Progress proposes a buyback of groundfish permits in New England.  

Olympic bronze medalist Alex Deibold warns about the dangers of climate change. 

State Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez argues that a new housing proposal would favor big banks while creating barriers for moderate and low-income buyers. 

Pursing the death penalty against Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev isn’t worth the time and resources it takes to sentence someone to death, writes former federal prosecutor Allison Burroughs. 

Legislation on Beacon Hill threatens the economic prosperity and job growth of the craft brew industry by significantly damaging the goodwill of the brewer-distributor relationship, warns William A. Kelley, president of the Beer Distributors of Massachusetts.  

The Massachusetts Legislature should pass a bill that limits arrests in school.  

Boston businessman Larry Moulter predicts that Boston Mayor Marty Walsh will unite the city. 

Boston parents value arts programming and consider it an important factor in choosing and evaluating a school, writes Laura Perille, executive director of EdVestors. 

Steve Sawin, president and CEO of Operon Resource Management, explains a new federal initiative that will train people for careers in the the medical device sector. 

Student surveys could allow school leaders to understand how many kids feel they are being bullied, and target their responses accordingly, write Phil Buchanan and Marny Sumrall of YouthTruth.  

A new preschool in Sandwich is designed to engage children ages four and five in active STEM learning, writes Louis Ricciardi, vice chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education. 

The minimum wage is less important than a social safety net that softens the blow of housing and health care as people make more money, writes Jake Murray, director of Wheelock College’s Aspire Institute.  

Mieke Eoyang, director of the National Security Program at Third Way, analyzes the president’s speech on NSA reforms. 

State Senators Sal N. DiDomenico and Patricia D. Jehlen urge passage of legislation that would establish the Mystic River Watershed Water Quality Commission.  

The Metro Mayors Coalition brings together mayors and managers throughout the urban core to exchange information and create solutions to common problems, write Somerville Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone and Chelsea City Manager Jay Ash.  

The future of the US military is being driven by work in Massachusetts , write Governor Deval Patrick, US Rep. Niki Tsongas, and former Senator Mo Cowan, co-chairs of the Massachusetts Military Asset and Security Strategy Task Force. 

What the late Globe editor Tom Winship would say to his fellow Bostonians if he were alive today. 

Consultant James Davitt Rooney urges Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to sell the city to the world. 

Drs. Jim O’Connell, Monica Bharel, and Judith Steinberg describe how the patient-centered medical home model may improve the way health care is delivered.  

As the race to bring in more natural gas heats up, our climate goals shouldn’t be left out in the cold, write John Kassel of the Conservation Law Foundation and Lewis Milford of the Clean Energy Group.