New from CommonWealth Beacon DATA PRIVACY: House lawmakers signed off on a measure aimed at limiting the collection and sale of private data, though the legislation deviates in some ways […]
CommonWealth Staff
Posted inThe Codcast
The World Cup has arrived, but how are the vibes?
Matches in the world’s biggest sports spectacle will kick off this week across North America. With Boston as one of the host cities — seven matches will be played at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, which will be renamed Boston Stadium for the World Cup tournament — Massachusetts will be in the spotlight as it hosts thousands of international fans and will need to safely move people between the city and a stadium some 22 miles away by rail. Are we ready? And is hosting these sorts of mega-events even worth it? This week on The Codcast, Chris Dempsey, the former co-chair of “No Boston Olympics” joins CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jordan Wolman to discuss whether this time is any different from more than a decade ago when Dempsey successfully fought against Boston’s bid to play home base for the 2024 Olympics.
Posted inThe Download
The Download: Massachusetts’s slow adoption of EV chargers through federal program is ‘mystifying’ to transit advocates
New from CommonWealth Beacon RENT CONTROL: Supporters of a ballot measure that would usher in the strictest statewide rent control in the nation are now looking for an off-ramp, floating […]
Posted inThe Download
The Download: State regulators are weighing how much to crack down on leaky gas pipes
New from CommonWealth Beacon BILL GALVIN: Secretary of State Bill Galvin has seen a lot in his nearly five decades in public office. But this year he’s experiencing something new: […]
Posted inThe Download
The Download: Healey’s reelection bid confronts volatile energy politics
New from CommonWealth Beacon EDUCATION: At least four Massachusetts school districts have cut diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives or positions in the face of shrinking student enrollments and funding cuts, […]
Posted inThe Download
The Download: As school districts cut budgets, DEI work may be first to go
New from CommonWealth Beacon MIDDLE CLASS: Take a journey down Heritage Road in Billerica, where Chris Lisinski unspools how the community has changed over CommonWealth Beacon’s 30-year history and stitches […]
Posted inThe Download
The Download: Political Notebook: Data centers get their tax breaks, taxpayer group side-eyes ballot measures
New from CommonWealth Beacon ON THE BALLOT: Voters could be tasked with deciding 11 ballot measures this fall, ranging from strict rent control to an income tax cut to recriminalizing […]
Posted inThe Download
The Download: Mass. voters might face 11 ballot questions this fall. Here’s where each measure stands.
New from CommonWealth Beacon MIDDLING: In a new poll on the middle class, Massachusetts residents report financial anxiety, driven by a cost of living that feels difficult to manage even […]
Posted inThe Download
The Download: One year after implementing new system, Mass. continues to struggle in issuing unemployment benefits
New from CommonWealth Beacon HOUSING: Beacon Hill is weighing how much to fund a program that provides low-income tenants with legal counsel in eviction cases. Jennifer Smith has more. OPINION: […]
Posted inThe Download
The Download: Senate energy chair signals departure from House on $1B cut to Mass Save
New from CommonWealth Beacon OPINION: Massachusetts should allow cities and towns to ban competitive electric suppliers within their communities as proposed by the House, argue D.J. Beauregard, the mayor of […]
Posted inThe Download
The Download: AG Campbell: Mass. gas companies need to overhaul their climate plans — or face penalties
New from CommonWealth Beacon UP IN SMOKE: The Supreme Judicial Court handed a pointed defeat to the tobacco company Philip Morris, rejecting its argument that a jury’s initial $1 billion […]
Posted inThe Download
The Download: Massachusetts continues to flout a nearly decade-old regulation to track state vehicle emissions
New from CommonWealth Beacon HEAD START: Massachusetts has lost 1,300 Head Start slots over the last three years as the state grapples with the impacts for children and families amid […]
Posted inThe Download
The Download: Massachusetts celebrates health care milestone amid gathering storm clouds
New from CommonWealth Beacon GAS PRICES: Average gas prices in Massachusetts are nearly $4 per gallon – and are becoming a political issue in the governor’s race. Jordan Wolman explains. […]
Posted inThe Download
The Download: Climate reckoning: Mass. communities stare down the prospect — and complications — of a retreat from rising waters
New from CommonWealth Beacon ELECTRIC BUSES: A quiet debate about how and whether the T can or even should meet an ambitious electric bus mandate is now spilling into the […]
Posted inThe Download
The Download: Mass. bottle deposit system continues nosedive, hitting new low last year
New from CommonWealth Beacon INSURANCE: Massachusetts insurance commissioner Michael Caljouw sat down with Jordan Wolman to for a wide-ranging conversation about the insurance industry, affordability, health care, and climate change. […]
Posted inThe Download
The Download: ‘Blunt optimist’: Mass. insurance commissioner Michael Caljouw tries to manage sea change in the industry
New from CommonWealth Beacon RETIREMENT: Massachusetts House Republicans will be faced with a choice once Minority Leader Brad Jones leaves office in January: pick a new leader who carries Jones’s […]
Posted inThe Download
The Download: Tucked in House energy bill, a ‘big breakthrough’ on competitive energy suppliers
New from CommonWealth Beacon DATA CENTERS: Gov. Maura Healey’s big bet on the tech sector’s artificial intelligence boom is colliding with shifting politics around data centers as a key tax […]
Posted inThe Download
The Download: Shifting politics around data centers scramble Healey AI push
New from CommonWealth Beacon BALLOT: A proposed ballot measure to change the way legislative stipends are doled out seems well-intentioned enough, but could create a host of unintended consequences, Chris […]
Posted inThe Download
The Download: Healey’s shift toward nuclear energy raises affordability, feasibility questions
New from CommonWealth Beacon COMPETITIVENESS: Gov. Maura Healey’s top economic development official and state lawmakers musings at a recent budget hearing about affordability in the nation’s second-most expensive state centered […]
Posted inThe Download
The Download: How energy affordability in Massachusetts reached crisis mode
New from CommonWealth Beacon LAWSUIT: Democratic Party insiders are suing to block a proposed ballot question that would end partisan primaries in Massachusetts. If that measure passed, it could create […]
Posted inThe Codcast
How energy affordability in Massachusetts reached crisis mode
This week on The Codcast, we unpack how increasingly expensive utility bills are shaping the energy debate in Massachusetts and reaching a fever pitch on Beacon Hill. With energy costs now the top household concern in the Bay State, how should policymakers respond to the affordability crisis as power demand is expected to rise and with the due date on ambitious climate commitments creeping closer? Our guests, Kyle Murray, director of state program implementation in Massachusetts at the environmental nonprofit Acadia Center, and Dan Dolan, president of the New England Power Generators Association, hash it all out.
Posted inThe Download
The Download: Massachusetts is poised to shake up literacy instruction — and some educators don’t like it
New from CommonWealth Beacon ENERGY: Massachusetts Democrats are poised to vote on a controversial and sweeping energy package in the House on Thursday. The bill, which is intended to respond […]
Posted inThe Download
The Download: House tees up sprawling energy package that would cut $1B from Mass Save
New from CommonWealth Beacon NEW CODCAST: Is the T spending too much or too little? That’s the question Chris Lisinski explores on this week’s episode alongside guests Jim Aloisi, a […]
Posted inUncategorized
The ‘Right to Read’ bill must include teacher preparation
Sponsored by The Boston Foundation The Best of CommonWealth Beacon OPINION A school classroom in Holyoke. (Sarah Betancourt/CommonWealth Beacon) The ‘Right to Read’ bill must include teacher preparation February 15, […]