A climate chief in an era of Trump and energy affordability: Does Melissa Hoffer still get a say?
How a second Trump term, bureaucratic inertia, and affordability challenges have collided with a governor’s reelection bid to shape the work of the state’s groundbreaking climate chief
Given how dramatically the landscape has changed around climate change since Hoffer took office, an obvious question emerges: What exactly is her job? And what kind of influence does she hold within the Healey administration?
THE CODCAST
Can Mass. hit its housing goals? New housing secretary says yes.
Gov. Maura Healey’s administration estimates that the state will need 222,000 by 2035 to deal withe existing need and population growth. Her new housing secretary, Juana Matias, says we can meet that goal, and joins CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith to talk about chipping away at decades of sluggish housing production. Matias, who was a state representative and regional administrator at HUD, talks about what she’d like to see come from the end-of-session rush and how the state can weather federal pullbacks on fair housing an public housing.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Commonwealth in depth
‘I want a legacy for my family’
How small businesses in Gateway Cities are building wealth — and a tenuous middle class
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
