The Dean of Massachusetts mayors
Leominster bills itself as ‘a city on the move,’ but it hasn’t elected a new mayor in more than three decades
After more than 32 years in office, Dean Mazzarella has become the longest serving mayor in Massachusetts history, managing to transform the city, limit his list of enemies, and remain an ever-present, zealous leader. Despite an electoral touch other officials would die for, he comes off far more as affable everyman than calculating politician, which could be why he has endured politically for so many years.
THE CODCAST
A new book details how neoliberalism hurt America’s health care
America’s uniquely expensive, uniquely underperforming health system didn’t just result as an accident of history, John McDonough argues in his new book, but was the predictable result of a specific ideological turn taken in the early 1980s — the start of the neoliberalism era.  
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Commonwealth in depth
With public health at stake, many Boston hospitals struggle to meet the city’s air pollution goals
Hospitals in Boston consume far more energy than other buildings, and many rely on fossil-fuel–powered centralized energy systems, making it challenging for the city to meet its 2050 net-zero emissions goal
BY THE NUMBERS
Yet again, legislative competition in Massachusetts will be woeful
Three in five House, Senate races will feature only one candidate on the ballot
From the Archives
On Heritage Road
In the heart of suburbia, anxieties about the new economy
