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.
Political Notebook: Data centers get their tax breaks, taxpayer group side-eyes ballot measures
Mass. voters might face 11 ballot questions this fall. Here’s where each measure stands.
In Mass., the middle class is holding on, but financial anxiety continues to climb
For Mass. residents, housing is where affordability hits hardest
Fate of potential $5 billion hit to state budget heads to court
Most low-income tenants have no lawyer in eviction cases. A state initiative is trying to change that.
Record-smashing tobacco verdict doesn’t warrant a new trial, SJC rules
How would proposed age restrictions on social media use actually work?
Head Start programs face funding squeeze
Dueling housing ballot measures collide with frustrated lawmakers
Supreme Judicial Court says it’s up to Legislature, not judiciary, to set pay for court-appointed lawyers
Charter schools are subject to public records law, SJC rules
Competitiveness fears weave through budget hearings
Were MBTA Communities costs unfair, or a self-imposed expense?
With auditor’s office funding on the line, DiZoglio and Legislature play nice for an hour
Reluctant MBTA Communities start to buckle
Healey budget boosts court funding after year of uncertainty
Rent control opponents sue to keep measure off the ballot
Was a vote to seize Northeastern University land for conservation in ‘bad faith’?
AG sues towns flouting MBTA Communities law
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