The proposals sparked a heated local debate as sluggish state aid growth and strict limits on local tax increases continue to trap many local governments in a difficult position with few options to manage rising costs.
Courts
Posted inCourts
In first ruling of its kind, Mass. high court says Meta not shielded from lawsuits over addictive features
The Supreme Judicial Court became the first statewide high court to decide that a 1996 federal law shielding internet platforms from liability over user-posted content does not render Meta immune to allegations that its design exploited young users.
Posted inCourts
Should a community be able to reject a solar project to protect its trees? The SJC wades into the controversy in central Mass.
The justices appeared to be grappling with the genuine desire of a community to protect its character with the limited authority of localities to stall development.
Posted inCourts
DiZoglio-Campbell feud hurtles toward Supreme Judicial Court
Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s scorched-earth reply to outreach from Attorney General Andrea Campbell made clear that she sees court as the only venue to resolve her stalled legislative audit. Her team will soon get a chance to pitch the state’s top justices.
Posted inCourts
PROTECT Act will disrupt ‘soft diplomacy’ between ICE, state courts
Chief Justice of the Trial Court Heidi Brieger described for lawmakers the more informal relationships that she said she and Court Administrator Thomas Ambrosino have had “at a very deep level” with various leaders of ICE in New England.
Posted inCourts
Supreme Judicial Court says it’s up to Legislature, not judiciary, to set pay for court-appointed lawyers
Justices were wary of overstepping the “separation of powers” in a bid for courts to increase pay for attorneys who represent indigent defendants.
Posted inBallot Questions
Mass. Senate asks top state court to examine constitutionality of legislative reform ballot questions
For the first time in a decade, lawmakers exercised their authority to seek an advisory opinion from the state’s highest court, asking justices whether a pair of ballot questions on course to reach voters in November raise constitutional concerns.
Posted inEducation
Charter schools are subject to public records law, SJC rules
Excluding charter schools would frustrate the “core transparency mandate” of the law, wrote Justice Serge Georges, Jr. for a unanimous court on Tuesday, given that they are “public schools funded with public money and charged with performing a quintessential public function.”
Posted inPolitics
Two veteran Democrats sue to block all-party primary ballot question
A pair of Democratic state committee members want the state’s highest court to toss a ballot question that would shift state elections to an all-party primary system, teeing up a legal fight over a measure that could fundamentally reshape political power in Massachusetts.
Posted inHousing
Were MBTA Communities costs unfair, or a self-imposed expense?
The ongoing fight over the transit-centered housing law has played out in the middle of a serious housing crunch. The state has said 222,000 new homes need to be built by 2035 to meet pent up demand.
Posted inOpinion
DiZoglio’s right to hire a lawyer to push audit case should be clear-cut
It’s one thing for Campbell to take lawmakers’ position in the matter and for her office to represent them; it’s another for her to take the extreme view that the auditor cannot hire her own attorney.
Posted inOpinion
DiZoglio strikes back, but is she firing blanks?
Absent extraordinary circumstances, it is not for unelected judges to decide whenand how litigation should be pursued in the name of the Commonwealth’s citizens.
Posted inHousing
Reluctant MBTA Communities start to buckle
The law will be before the Supreme Judicial Court next month, when the justices hear arguments in a case brought by Marshfield that claims the zoning law should be struck down as an “unfunded mandate” being imposed on communities.
Posted inCourts
Healey budget boosts court funding after year of uncertainty
Judicial leaders last spring expressed pointed concern that operations and administrative costs in the Trial Courts could force the courts to trim hundreds of positions without a funding increase from the state.
Posted inBallot Questions
Rent control opponents sue to keep measure off the ballot
Four landlords who own and lease residential units in Massachusetts are the named plaintiffs in the suit seeking to kill the rent control measure. They are suing Attorney General Andrea Campbell and Secretary of State William Galvin in their official capacities.
Posted inCourts
Was a vote to seize Northeastern University land for conservation in ‘bad faith’?
The justices grappled with when it might be necessary for them to probe the intentions of a town meeting, in this case by digging into whether Nahant is trying to make legitimate use of eminent domain power to preserve coastal land for public use or engaged in a cynical attempt to block future development.
Posted inHousing
AG sues towns flouting MBTA Communities law
AG Andrea Campbell is seeking a court order declaring that nine communities must create zoning districts that comply with the law and submit district compliance applications to the state housing office.
Posted inOpinion
What ICE is doing is abhorrent. But here’s why canceling the state contract to house its detainees might not be the right thing to do.
As with all policies, it is important not to make decisions from afar. We must listen to people who are actually impacted.
Posted inHousing
Inclusionary zoning takes fire from developers, gets side-eye from YIMBYs
The legal and legislative moves set up a clash over rules governing housing development at a time when there’s broad consensus that the state needs to build more units across communities.
Posted inEnvironment
Five Codcasts from 2025
CommonWealth Beacon reporters moderated panels and guided conversations on some of the thorniest problems facing the state. Here are five Codcasts from 2025 worth revisiting — or checking in on for the first time — as the new year kicks off.
Posted inHousing
Our top five housing stories of 2025
The Bay State’s housing crunch seemed to reach into all corners in 2025, tying up courts, lawmakers navigating climate and transportation concerns, groups dependent on federal fair housing funding, and services promising to make it easier for more people to afford to live in pricey Massachusetts.
Posted inHousing
MBTA Communities fight heads back to the SJC
A group of holdout towns is banking on the very court that declared the legislation mandatory in January to rule that the mandate is illegal without dedicated funding.