Don’t Drink And Drive: State Police Setting Up Checkpoints This Weekend
By: Becca Manning Massachusetts State Police will be operating a sobriety checkpoint this weekend at an undisclosed location in Suffolk County. The check South End Patch News
14 Good Jobs That Don’t Require a College Degree
The following story was provided by AOLJobs.com By Dan Fastenberg As tough as the labor market is, college grads still have an easier time than those with only a high school degree. In February, college graduates had an unemployment rate of 3.8 percent—compared to a staggering 11 percent for those with only a high school diploma. Still, a new study released Tuesday shows that there are some good careers out there for those who lack a four-year degree. If you’re looking for a job in the South End, check out our jobs page. CareerCast.com, the job-portal site, compiled a list of 14 good careers that require only a high school degree (though some require additional training). The site used a variety of criteria to assess the quality of the careers, including salary, how physically demanding the positions are, and emotional factors such as the fields’ competitiveness, potential hazards and stress. Those with the lowest score received the highest ranking. CareerCast.com also looked at the potential income and employment growth for the decade ending in 2020, using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall, the 14 jobs for high school grads offer an average median salary of $ 41,307, which means the group is in line with the overall average salary for all Americans. The highest-paying job on the list offers a median salary of $ 77,000 a year. But several of the careers on CareerCast’s list offer incomes of around $ 20,000. More: 10 Things HR Won’t Tell You About Your Resume The list includes careers that have long been popular trades for Americans who don’t attend college. But CareerCast also identified tech positions that are in high demand, and often don’t require a degree, just skill. Still, expect to be paid less without a college degree. “Business owners don’t always want to pay market rate if you don’t have a degree,” Sol Hershkowitz, of New York-based Viasoft.com, told CareerCast, according to its news release. Check out CareerCast.com’s list of “14 Great Jobs Without a College Degree“: 1. Administrative/executive assistantJobs-rated rank: 75.Median salary: $ 34,660.Job growth: 12 percent. 2. Automobile body repairerJobs-rated rank: 77.Median salary: $ 34,660.Job growth: 17 percent. 3. Bookkeeper Jobs-rated rank: 71.Median salary: $ 34,040.Job growth: 14 percent. 4. Communications equipment mechanic Jobs-rated rank: 84.Median salary: $ 54,710.Job growth: 15 percent. 5. Electrician Jobs-rated rank: 76.Median salary: $ 48,250.Job growth: 23 percent. 6. GlazierJobs-rated rank: 59.Median salary: $ 36,640.Job growth: 42 percent. 7. Hair stylistJobs-rated rank: 83.Median salary: $ 22,500.Job growth: 14 percent. 8. Industrial machine repairer Jobs-rated rank: 44.Median salary: $ 44,160.Job growth: 19 percent. 9. Paralegal assistant Jobs-rated rank: 41.Median Salary: $ 46,680.Job Growth: 18 percent. 10. Pest control workerJobs-rated rank: 95.Median salary: $ 30,340.Job growth: 24 percent. 11. PlumberJobs-rated rank: 66.Median salary: $ 46,660.Job growth: 26 percent. 12. ReceptionistJobs-rated rank: 86.Median salary: $ 25,240.Job growth: 24 percent. 13. Skincare specialistJobs-rated rank: 43.Median salary: $ 28,920.Job growth: 25 percent. 14. Web developerJobs-rated rank: 24.Median salary: $ 75,660.Job growth: 22 percent. South End Patch
Mayor Menino: Don’t Let Candidates ‘Tear This School System Down’
Mayor Tom Menino cautioned Boston residents not to focus on negative portrayals of the Boston Public School system as the city’s mayoral race heats up. Speaking at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new playground at Harvard-Kent Elementary School in Charlestown on May 10, Menino touted the progress public schools have made in recent years and asked residents not to allow anyone to “tear this school system down” in the coming months. “We’ve made a lot of progress in the Boston Public Schools in the last several years. It’s because of a lot of reasons—teachers, principals, the superintendent, the community—and I tell you, the graduation rate is up, dropout rates are down, more kids are going on to college,” Menino said. He spoke of how the schools work to educate every child, from every background and learning level. “Don’t let anybody over the next several months, as this campaign heats up, tear this school system down. This is a great school system. We’re not perfect, but with the new assignment plan we can make that happen,” Menino said. “To all of you out there: Stay positive about what’s happening in the schools. The most important thing we can do in our society today is to educate our children, and I think over the last few years we’ve done an incredible job. We have some ways to go. Don’t have this become an issue of tearing down the schools, because these kids out here are the future of our city.” Menino also spoke highly of Boston Public Schools Superintendent Carol Johnson, a Charlestown resident, who recently announced she will be retiring at the end of the school year. “She has done a remarkable job for the young people of our city over the last several years—driving up test scores and graduation rates, improving access to the arts and making projects like [the Harvard-Kent schoolyard] an important part of learning,” Menino said. SOUTH END PATCH: Facebook | Twitter | E-mail Updates South End Patch
When Kids Don’t React to Tragedy
Never was Boston so grateful for a Monday: Back to work, back to school, back to routines, after a five-day ordeal shook the city and the world watched. Gone are most of the satellite trucks, the clusters of reporters and cameramen, the strands of law enforcement officers for every street on our normal path. By Wednesday, barricades and memorials for the victims of the April 15 bombings, bookending Boylston St., were moved and the street reopened. One week ago, my innocent concern was for the magnolias on Commonwealth Avenue, and whether they’d be at their showy peak when 23,000 marathoners rose up out of the underpass to greet the last six-tenths of their 26.2-mile race. Last year, the trees bloomed pink and white in March, and Patriots Day was really too hot for running. This past marathon morning, my children and I took a break from planting dozens of unpromising looking, dormant rhizomes in our yard, and before noon we walked over in the cool sunshine to see the first hour’s worth of finishers turn the corner onto Hereford Street. We stole some space between a police van and the fence. My little one got tired of watching, and I told the big sisters to not stay too long. They were practically standing on top of the exhaust from the van. I let out the leash a little that day and let the girls walk home on their own, for the first time for that particular route and distance. There were so many policemen around, what could happen? Racing against our own gardening fatigue, we dug dirt and forgot to track some friends’ progress, as we normally do, never returning to the course. When my daughter asked about the loud bangs, I attributed them to a lumbering truck. I gasped when I read the words “Boston bombing” for the first time that day, realizing how our city would be tied to a tragedy, as are other communities who must wear their own sad histories with words like “massacre” attached to their names. I cried when I heard the fatalities included an eight-year-old boy, as my own eight-year-old and her sisters watched their dad take my tears on his shoulder. Our family is part of school communities that actually had classes in fits and starts last week, while most children were on spring break. So on Patriots’ Day, we left the house after police started to command the streets to find an open store and buy some required supplies for school the next day. With the weight of tragedy on everyone’s minds, I felt a little guilty asking a policewoman some practical questions about […]
Things to Know in the South End Today, April 1st: Don’t Trust What You Read on the Internet. Except This.
1. Weather: The National Weather Service is predicting a partly sunny day with a high of 59 degrees. There’s also a 30 percent chance of showers and winds may reach as high as 29 mph. 2. April Fools: Let’s all remember that it’s April Fools Day, and no, YouTube is not really picking a “winner” from all its videos, Google Maps is not going 8-bit, and basically any other weird or strange news today is most likely NOT happening. We don’t have a sense of humor here at South End Patch so don’t worry, the joke’s on us today. 3. babyYOGA: Bring your baby or toddler to this Community Music Center of Boston (34 Warren Ave.) integrated music and yoga class to combine physical exercise with soothing relaxation techniques for both you and your child. Classes run on Mondays and Fridays at 9 a.m., and it costs $ 15 to drop in. See here for more information. 4. Drop in at Coco Baby: Drop by Coco Baby (1636 Washington St.) with your kids at 3 p.m. today and enjoy our toys, arts & crafts, and musical instruments. The play space provides children with an area to explore their creative sides, interact with others their own age, and get out all that excess energy. Cost is $ 8 per visit.See here for more information. 5. Add your events: Do you have a great event coming up at your organization or business? If it’s happening right here in the South End, add it to the Events Calendar! I feature great events every single day in the daily email update, on the homepage and on social media, so add yours to the mix and help get the word out to South Enders about what’s happening in their neighborhood.Click here to add an event. Things you can do every day on South End Patch: Share your news with the rest of the community. Click here to add an announcement. Add your events to our events calendar. Click here to sign up for breaking news updates. Want up-to-the-minute news? Click here to follow us on Facebook or Twitter. Share your thoughts on your community in a blog. Click here to get started. South End Patch