New England Public Radio

The Cat In The Hat kicked off his presidential bid in Springfield, Mass., on July 26, 2016.
(Photo Credit: Nancy Eve Cohen for NEPR)

The Short List: Looking Back At 2016 And Ahead To 2017

What made The Short List this week?

  • Last year, our panelists predicted that casinos — in Connecticut and Springfield — would dominate the headlines in 2016. Were they right?
  • In 2016, what most surprised our esteemed journalists? On-schedule construction and the big league defeat for charter schools.
  • From backyard gardening to big Holyoke political changes to Gov. Charlie Baker’s political fortunes (or misfortunes), what’s on the docket for 2017?
  • And over the next year, our panel vows to write better headlines, avoid shaky sourcing and do a better job of covering that most important of local institutions — the school committee.

Click the audio player above to hear New England Public Radio’s Susan Kaplan explore these issues with Matt Szafranski of Western Mass Politics & Insight and Mike Dobbs of the Reminder newspapers.