Medfield has good schools, we know. How good? The schools are among the top 50 in greater Boston, according to the most recent edition of Boston Magazine.Medfield was ranked in 37th place, based on its class size average, per-pupil spending, graduation rate and other factors.According to the magazine's analysis, 99.1 percent of Medfield students graduate from high school, and 91.5 percent attend college. Eighty-one percent of the student AP exams had scores that earned college credit.The full list of schools and other ranking criteria can be found on Boston Magazine's website. The best town Continue reading >>>

Boston Magazine recently ranked Melrose as having the 92nd best public school system in Greater Boston.The magazine rated 147 school districts in the Greater Boston area in its annual “Best Schools” list published on Monday. The rankings were based off nearly two dozen factors, including enrollment, average class size, graduation rate and SAT scores.Here's a snapshot of some of the top schools in the Greater Boston area:1. Dover2. Sherborn3. Lexington13. Winchester23. Belmont45. Arlington80. Wakefield85. Stoneham88. Cambridge92. Melrose124. Medford136. SomervilleTo see the complete Continue reading >>>

The Westford Public School system was named the eighth best school district in Greater Boston in the latest “Best Schools” issue of Boston magazine, which hit newsstands on Tuesday, Aug. 27."To assemble this year’s Best Schools list, we spent months compiling numbers—released by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education — from 147 municipalities in Greater Boston,” according to Boston Magazine. “The schools in the cities and towns that topped our proprietary ranking stood out across 20 different categories, including student-to-teacher ratio, average class Continue reading >>>

Devin Hutchinson is part of the next generation of Celtics fans who will more vividly remember the 18th championship the team hopes to win in the future than the 17th banner it hung in 2008. So when the McDevitt Middle School student arrived at the team’s practice facility Thursday with 34 other young basketball players from the Greater Boston YMCAs of Waltham and West Roxbury, he was just as excited to see new Celtics guard MarShon Brooks as he was to look up at all the flags celebrating the team’s past titles. "He’s going to help the Celtics out," Hutchinson said. Continue reading >>>

A Suffolk Downs casino would give the city of Boston at least $32 million annually and the East Boston neighborhood an upfront payment of $33.4 million under an agreement reached with Mayor Thomas M. Menino today. The deal between the mayor and casino developers includes provisions that could increase the annual payment to Boston much higher if the $1 billion casino is highly profitable. The long-awaited deal allows the Suffolk Downs proposal to move towards a referendum vote. And it returns Suffolk Downs to significant contender status for the Greater Boston resort casino license. Despite Continue reading >>>

All photographs by Massachusetts State Police Sergeant Sean Murphy Law enforcement officials converge on the boat in Watertown where Tsarnaev is hiding. It was likely the most terrifying manhunt in Boston history. With the city under lockdown and armored vehicles rolling through Watertown, the alleged Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had seemingly vanished. While the rest of Greater Boston experienced the unfolding dragnet on April 19 as a series of indirect glimpses, Sergeant Sean Murphy, in his assignment as a tactical photographer with the Massachusetts State Police, Continue reading >>>

The number of permits for new, privately owned housing units in Massachusetts soared in July — and many were for multi-unit housing, according to new census data.Last month, building permits were authorized for 1,880 units, compared to 1,724 in June and a mere 715 in July 2012. Nationally, permits for 88,145 units were authorized last month, compared to 83,925 in June and 72,056 in July 2012. Of the building permits authorized statewide last month, 1,193 were for five units or more.“Apartment construction is very hot,” said Gregory Vasil, CEO of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board. “More Continue reading >>>