CommonWealth Staff
Posted inThe Codcast

Municipal budgets at the breaking point

by CommonWealth Staff

Massachusetts Municipal Association Executive Director Adam Chapdelaine, Amesbury Mayor Kassandra Gove, and Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance Executive Director Paul Craney join The Codcast to dive deep on the world of municipal finances in a panel discussion moderated by CommonWealth Beacon reporter Chris Lisinski. Guests unpack the various dynamics putting pressure on city and town budgets, consider the value of the tax-cap law known as Proposition 2½, and ponder who might be best equipped to provide relief.

Posted inThe Codcast

A year of strained systems and trust after Carney closures

by CommonWealth Staff

This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporters Jennifer Smith and Hallie Claflin talk about Claflin’s deep dive into the fallout from Steward Health Care’s bankruptcy. Two communities – the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester and the rural Nashoba Valley – lost their community health centers. Just over a year later, the local emergency health systems are strained and residents say they still feel confused about why the state allowed their centers to close while others were saved.

Posted inThe Codcast

Mass. Health Connector chief: State must ‘deal with the reality in front of us’ as critical health care deadline looms

by CommonWealth Staff

On the monthly Health or Consequences episode of The Codcast, John McDonough of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute spoke with Audrey Gasteier, executive director of the Massachusetts Health Connector. Gasteier about the current crisis facing residents of the Commonwealth should the federal government fail to renew premium tax credits.

Posted inThe Codcast

The profit and price of October in Salem

by CommonWealth Staff

This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Hallie Claflin talks with Dominick Pangallo, Mayor of Salem. Every year in October, Salem experiences a massive tourism boom as more than a million visitors flock to the site of the Salem Witch Trials for the spooky season. How does a small city of 45,000 manage the influx of tourists? How do Salem residents feel about the influx? And how lucrative is the tourism industry? Pangallo addresses these and encourages all to explore the great things Salem has to offer all year round.

Posted inThe Codcast

Shutdown squeeze ups the odds of a Mass. recession

by CommonWealth Staff

This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talks with Mark Williams, finance lecturer at the Questrom School of Business at Boston University. Now two weeks into the federal shutdown, Williams reviews an already bleak estimate of Massachusetts’s financial health if officials continue on their current spending path. Facing federal cuts, immigration policy changes, and the knock-on effects of the shutdown, Williams warns that the Bay State could be heading for a recession within a year.

Posted inThe Codcast

The math of rural health access

by CommonWealth Staff

This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talks with Michael Leary, director of media relations for Berkshire Health Systems. They dive into what makes Berkshire County such a complicated place for health care access – with rural towns, busier cities, college students, and of course the seasonal visitors looking to peep some leaves or take in the snowy mountains. The far-flung region’s geography is a challenge on its own, and that’s before factoring in the system-wide staffing crunches and looming Medicaid

Posted inThe Codcast

A super PAC longshot

by CommonWealth Staff

This week on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talks with Harvard professor Larry Lessig about the ill-fated attempt to restrict Super PAC contributions in Massachusetts and the successful effort in Maine that was struck down by the lower court. The Maine coalition thinks it has a shot at convincing higher courts, not to overturn Citizens United but to embrace an originalist argument to limit money in politics.

Posted inThe Codcast

Health care workers struggle to navigate closures and immigration fears 

by CommonWealth Staff

This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith continues health care month coverage in a conversation with 1199SEIU executive vice president Cari Medina and Anestine Bentick, lead medical assistant at South Boston Community Health. They discuss existing pressures on stretched workforces, the impacts of recent closures, and how immigration policy bleeds into the health care space.

Posted inThe Codcast

Mass. HHS secretary on protecting health equity and access 

by CommonWealth Staff

On the monthly Health or Consequences episode of The Codcast, John McDonough of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute spoke with Dr. Kiame Mahaniah, Massachusetts secretary of Health and Human Services, about looming Medicaid cuts, the primary care crisis, and how to make sure the vulnerable can still access health services.

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