Jennifer Smith writes for CommonWealth Beacon and co-hosts its weekly podcast, The Codcast. Her areas of focus include housing, social issues, courts and the law, and politics and elections.
A California native who also lived in Utah, Jennifer has covered Massachusetts since 2011 for a variety of publications. She worked breaking news in the Boston Globe’s metro section and provided courtroom coverage of the Boston Marathon bomber trial for the international wire service Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) while completing her undergraduate journalism degree at Northeastern University in Boston. For four years, Jennifer was a staff writer and later news editor for the Dorchester Reporter, covering her home neighborhood and the city of Boston with a particular focus on politics and development.
Her work and commentary have appeared in WBUR, GBH News, Harvard Public Health Magazine, and Politico’s Massachusetts Playbook. She has co-hosted MassINC’s Massachusetts politics and policy podcast The Horse Race since 2018, interviewing newsmakers, journalists, and elected officials across the state.
Republican voters split with party on gun law; Dems want more access to public records from Democrat-dominated offices
Poll shows voters on track to retain legal cannabis and 2024 gun law
How much leeway should officials have to deny gun licenses? SJC will decide.
SJC again upholds MBTA Communities housing law
Tenant right to purchase bill closer than ever on Beacon Hill
SJC says Nahant can take Northeastern University land
Collins survives Wu-backed primary challenge, Brownsberger-Lander race too close to call
Koh comes out on top in crowded primary race to replace Moulton
Markey rolls to victory
Confusion, but no immediate impacts of court ruling on voting by mail
$17 billion Meta settlement lands in hotbed of debate over social media regulations in Mass.
High court rules against Quincy mayor on Catholic saint statues
High court clears way for new White Stadium in Boston
Poor recordkeeping muddies latest target of MassHealth fraud probe
Beacon Hill housing moves swish past Boston
Appeals Court judges seem open to Maine limits on super PAC contributions
Federal housing bill includes modest help for Mass., but buzzy investor limitation unlikely to have much impact here
Political Notebook: House Speaker foretells Senate tax swerve
Layered over ADU law, Senate duplex bill would allow three units on most residential lots
In the face of a state housing shortage, could single-family zoning be on the chopping block?
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