It remains still unclear if the behavior of a Harvard morgue manager who allegedly ran a multi-state human remains scheme – “ghoulish” in the words of a Supreme Judicial Court justice considering the case – means that the Ivy League school is also on the hook.
Jennifer Smith
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.
Posted inHealth Care
More work needed on affordability in health care, says insurance group leader
In a health care focused episode of the Codcast, an insurers’ perspective on the industry cost crisis.
Posted inCourts
SJC upholds conviction of officer who used evidence room cash to pay mortgage
Against the backdrop of police reportedly availing themselves of forfeited money, the state’s highest court held that criminal penalties were fairly applied in a West Springfield police department case.
Posted inHousing
Milton struggles to chart a path forward after MBTA Communities ruling
Noncompliant communities are grappling with next steps after the Supreme Judicial Court upheld the MBTA Communities Act and the state housing office issued new deadlines for previously uncooperative communities.
Posted inEducation
With DEI in the cross-hairs, higher ed cannot be reserved ‘for the smart and for the wealthy’
Several of Massachusetts’ diversity goals in higher education could face a headlong collision with President Donald Trump’s current anti-diversity and immigration actions.
Posted inPolitics
For Native issues in Massachusetts, mixed intentions and a mixed bag
A new report on Native American wealth gaps was released against the backdrop of a series of issues – including the redesign of the state seal and the run up to the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution – playing out across Massachusetts that affect Native citizens and their tribes.
Posted inRace/Racism
Clinging to the spirit of MLK on Trump’s inauguration day
In a discussion on The Codcast, Nicole Obi, president and CEO of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts, and Imari Paris Jeffries, executive director of Embrace Boston, processed the inauguration and readied for a potentially tumultuous next four years.
Posted inTransportation
Political headwinds, talk of competitiveness kept new taxes out of transportation task force discussions
Task force members, generally pleased with the final report and Gov. Healey’s plan as a first step, acknowledge there is still a lot of track ahead and new revenue options will need to be dealt with in the future.
Posted inHousing
New emergency regulations restart the clock for resistant MBTA communities
Non-compliant MBTA Communities – which now includes Needham – will
Posted inHousing
An MBTA Communities reality check
Days after the SJC ruled on the MBTA Communities Act, proponents consider the way the housing law was pitched and debated. Greg Reibman, president of the Charles River Regional Chamber, and Luc Schuster, executive director of Boston Indicators at the Boston Foundation.
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: An ad campaign’s cutting room floor
History, as the aphorism goes, is written by the winners. So are the tourism ads celebrating the victories 250 years later.
Posted inHousing
State, municipalities prepare for next steps on MBTA Communities law
As the state prepares new regulations in response to the Supreme Judicial Court ruling on resistance to the MBTA Communities housing law, the attorney general says she expects municipalities to start complying.
Posted inHousing
SJC says attorney general can enforce MBTA Communities Act, but state must rework regs
The state housing office must re-issue its MBTA Communities law guidelines, after the Supreme Judicial Court held that the attorney general can enforce the sweeping housing law as long as the guidelines are promulgated correctly.
Posted inState Government
Mass. leaders start to lay out a 2025 legislative wish list
In a 2025 kick-off episode of The Codcast, Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo, Brad Campbell, president of the Conservation Law Foundation, and Jessica Collins, executive director of the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts, untangled the crush of late-term legislation and started laying out their wish lists for the year ahead.
Posted inHealth Care
Five threats to health care in second Trump term
Health care advocates in Massachusetts are preparing for five potential attacks on health care under a second Donald Trump administration: undermining the ACA, slashing Medicaid, threats to immigrants and their health care coverage, restrictions on reproductive and gender-focused health care, and risks to public health.
Posted inPolitics
Leaving Beacon Hill after 32 years, Rep. Straus looks down the road
REP. BILL STRAUS would like everyone to stop talking about commuter rail. Not the system, of course. The Mattapoisett representative, who decided not to seek reelection after holding the 10th […]
Posted inMedia
CommonWealth Beacon’s best Codcasts of 2024
Looking back at 2024 through our favorite podcasts of the year.
Posted inEnergy
State announces $3.5 million fund for stakeholders to intervene in the utility siting process
A new fund, expected to be up and running in March of 2026, aims to help balance the influence of utility companies and impacted communities – funding groups who would legally be able to participate or intervene in utility siting decisions but for the cost.
Posted inThe Codcast
Parking minimums are out in Somerville
This week on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon’s Jennifer Smith chats with Somerville City Council President Ben Ewen-Campen about Somerville’s zoning amendment to eliminate parking minimums for new development.
Posted inGovernment
Parking minimums topple in Somerville
In a Thursday night vote, the Somerville City Council passed a new zoning ordinance waving away baseline parking requirements for new construction. It is the second municipality in Massachusetts to do so citywide.
Posted inTransportation
Gas tax third rail haunts transportation funding debates
The fate of the gas tax – a major source of transportation funding generated by people paying at the pump – in the electric car era looms over discussion of how to fund the state’s transit system. As the deadline nears for a task force to make recommendations on revenues, the gas tax is the elephant in the room.
Posted inEducation
US Supreme Court passes on Boston exam school challenge
For the second time this year, the US Supreme Court opted against weighing in on policies that use geographic proxies for race to allow more Black and Latino students to enroll in competitive high schools.
Posted inGovernment
Researchers find some worry, some hope for AI in democracy
The risks are serious, but focusing only on artificial intelligence misinformation threatens to overtake conversations about where AI has been most impactful as a mass communication tool.
Posted inCourts
SJC tosses warrantless secret video recording
Considering the case of a man secretly recorded by an officer’s cell phone without a warrant, the Supreme Judicial Court concluded that because Boston police made an illegal audio recording, the video captured alongside it should also be kept out of evidence under the wiretap statute.