State lawmakers may be undecided on whether to launch online Lottery ticket sales, but those transactions are happening anyway, and the market seems poised to grow, with a new third-party vendor jumping in today to make online ticket purchases possible.
Michael Jonas
Michael Jonas works with Laura in overseeing CommonWealth Beacon coverage and editing the work of reporters. His own reporting has a particular focus on politics, education, and criminal justice reform.
Posted inGovernment
Short takes: While no one was watching, Boston watchdog departed
Pam Kocher, who took the reins as head of the business-backed nonprofit in 2019, left in November with no public announcement from the group.
Posted inHousing
With housing crisis, it often feels like same old story
Drawing more attention to the housing crisis surely can’t hurt, though the persistence of the problem underscores the strength of the forces resisting efforts to put a big dent in it.
Posted inMedia
CommonWealth Beacon’s most-read commentary pieces of 2023
Perhaps not surprising at a time when it often feels like MBTA stands for “more bad transit agita,” half of the 10 most-read commentary pieces of 2023 related in some way to how we get around, two of them specifically zeroing in on the T.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Short takes: A (different) public apology in Stuart case
Four years before Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s public apology over the city’s handling of the Stuart murder case, Suffolk DA Rachael Rollins offered a similar, if little noticed, mea culpa.
Posted inEducation
Dueling letters to Healey on vocational school admissions
More than two dozen lawmakers wrote to Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday, urging her to end the practice of using selective entry standards at the state’s vocational high schools and instead admit students by lottery.
Posted inPolitics
Did Harvard aim to cancel Auchincloss?
AN INNOCENT bureaucratic mix-up or sharp-elbowed payback? Those are among the competing explanations being offered for a chain of events that forced a Harvard student group to scramble at the […]
Posted inEducation
What if Harvard, MIT, and Penn presidents said too much, not too little?
Critics say the real problem lies with the very idea that the university officials should be commenting on contentious issues at all.
Posted inHousing
Yes, building more housing does lower rents, study says
Does increasing the supply of housing, even if it’s mainly higher-cost, market-priced units, temper the runup in costs that has so many residents straining to make ends meet? The idea follows the basic economic principle of supply and demand – when more of something is made available, its price falls. But there are plenty of “supply skeptics” who aren’t convinced that simply opening the housing production spigot will lower costs, and argue instead that it often just drives up prices by promoting gentrification.
Posted inPolitics
Short takes: Josh Kraft for mayor?
Boston’s political rumor mill has churned for months about whether Josh Kraft, son of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and head of the organization’s philanthropic arm, is eyeing a campaign for mayor of Boston.
Posted inEconomy
Soccer stadium plan kicked to the curb
Hopes for a soccer stadium home in Everett for the New England Revolution were dealt a big blow on Thursday as a budget deal between House and Senate negotiators left out a provision that would have streamlined zoning for a planned 25,000-seat venue along the Mystic River.
Posted inPolitics
John Walsh remembered as optimist who worked for change
Hundreds of people gathered in Faneuil Hall in Boston on Tuesday to remember John Walsh, a Democratic political strategist who is credited with reinvigorating campaigns with a focus on grass-roots organizing.
Posted inBy The Numbers
Study finds Boston shoplifting rates up from pre-pandemic levels
With Black Friday signaling the arrival of the holiday shopping season, a new report says shoplifting rates in Boston are up compared to levels before the pandemic, though the city has avoided the spike in retail theft that several major US cities have experienced.
Posted inPolitics
John Walsh was the ultimate grass-roots disruptor
The most enduring impact of John Walsh was felt outside the headlines, where he reshaped how campaigns were waged and brought countless young people into the political fold with an encouraging message about their own ability and their potential to make a difference.
Posted inPolitics
At 90, Michael Dukakis still looks ahead
Michael Dukakis remade the Massachusetts Democratic Party, suffered a bitter loss after winning his party’s nomination for president, then spent three decades teaching college students and preaching the virtues of public service, something he has modeled for more than six decades.
Posted inState Government
Conflicting goals on Everett soccer stadium
The Legislature is on the brink of signing off on a plan that clears the way for the Kraft Group to build a soccer stadium for the New England Revolution along the Mystic River in Everett, but the behind-the-scenes sausage-making that has brought the plan to the goal crease deserves cheers or jeers, depending on who you listen to.
Posted inBy The Numbers
Putting Massachusetts exceptionalism to the test
Is Massachusetts a beacon for the rest of the country? Yes and no is the split decision rendered by Massachusetts residents in a CommonWealth Beacon poll released last week, a finding pored over on The Codcast by MassINC Polling Group president Steve Koczela and UMass Boston political science professor Erin O’Brien.
Posted inBy The Numbers
Mass. residents bullish on future — with some big asterisks
More than half of Massachusetts residents think the state’s best days are ahead, or already here, and more than two thirds say their family enjoys a good quality of life, according to a new CommonWealth Beacon poll.
Posted inPolitics
Short takes: It’s Baker vs. Healey (in state Senate race)
IT WAS THE MARQUEE showdown for governor that never happened. For months, Republican Charlie Baker kept political watchers guessing whether he’d seek a third term as governor. On the Democratic […]
Posted inHealth Care
State public health commissioner leans into ‘hard things’
WHEN ROBBIE GOLDSTEIN took the reins as the state’s new public health commissioner in April, he brought national experience dealing with the public health crisis of our time. As senior […]
Posted inEducation
Civics education gets boost from veto override
MATT WILSON calls it an example of “civics in action.” After Gov. Maura Healey vetoed $1 million from the budget appropriation for a fund dedicated to expanding civics education in […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Boston city council approves controversy-plagued police grants
AFTER REJECTING state funding for a Boston police intelligence unit multiple times over the past two years because of concerns that a gang database it maintains has racially profiled Black […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Boston business leader speaks out in support of police grants
DETAILS OVER THE inner workings of the Boston Police Department are not the usual focus of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. But after watching a two-year standoff over whether […]
Posted inEconomy
Report says Boston region teetering on ‘the precipice’
THE GOOD NEWS is the Boston area is hardly alone in facing serious headwinds from the pandemic’s upending of work patterns and the uncertainty it’s introduced about our economic future. […]