The Download

New from CommonWealth Beacon DELICATE DANCE: Gov. Maura Healey has a preferred punching bag when it comes to high energy high costs: the utility companies. But that comes with tradeoffs […]

New from CommonWealth Beacon NEW CODCAST: It’s easy to think that Massachusetts has health care all figured out, but two recent maternity unit closures, on top of 13 since 2010, […]

New from CommonWealth Beacon AFTER THE BALLOT: If any of the nine ballot questions set to go before voters in November pass, the story doesn’t necessarily end there. Chris Lisinski […]

New from CommonWealth Beacon COURTS: The state’s highest court said the town of Nahant has the right to seize land owned by Northeastern University by using its eminent domain powers […]

US SENATE: US Sen. Ed Markey secured a decisive victory in the Democratic primary against US Rep. Seth Moulton. It marked the second consecutive race in which Markey turned back […]

New from CommonWealth Beacon THE CODCAST: We all need care as we age. Adam Scott leads New England’s largest nonprofit provider of senior care and living communities. He says demand […]

New from CommonWealth Beacon MAIL-IN MOVES: The back-and-forth in court over President Donald Trump’s attempts to change the delivery of mail ballots is causing confusion across the country, but its […]

New from CommonWealth Beacon NO DIVINE INTERVENTION: The state’s highest court ruled that the city of Quincy cannot install bronze statues of Catholic patron saints on the facade of its […]

New from CommonWealth Beacon ODD BEDFELLOWS: Both major parties, labor groups with significant political muscle, and groups that want to push state government to the left have all signaled opposition […]

New from CommonWealth Beacon COURTS: The Supreme Judicial Court rejected a challenge to Boston’s plan to transform White Stadium, paving the way for a new stadium to host the city’s […]

New from CommonWealth Beacon COURTS: The attorney general’s office has been on a tear prosecuting medical transportation companies for alleged MassHealth fraud. But the latest company in the crosshairs is […]

New from CommonWealth Beacon NEW CODCAST: Dive deeper into the fraught fight about the Quabbin Reservoir, whose host communities tend to the state’s largest drinking water source but cannot use […]

New from CommonWealth Beacon POLITICAL NOTEBOOK: Just a month after Gov. Maura Healey signed a $63.4 billion budget for fiscal year 2027, the quasi-public Massachusetts Clean Energy Center has laid […]

New from CommonWealth Beacon FORTUNE-TELLING: There’s no shortage of quirky state laws still on the books, including a measure requiring fortune tellers to be licensed after fulfilling a residency requirement […]

New from CommonWealth Beacon QUABBIN: Gov. Maura Healey is calling on Greater Boston’s water provider to offer more robust support for struggling rural towns near the Quabbin Reservoir in central […]

New from CommonWealth Beacon JUVENILE JUSTICE: Senators once again want to use the biennial economic development legislation as the vehicle to increase the age of juvenile jurisdiction, a change that […]

New from CommonWealth Beacon NEW CODCAST: Gov. Maura Healey signed into law a wide range of protections designed to limit federal immigration overreach in Massachusetts, but the rhetoric she and […]

New from CommonWealth Beacon EPA CUTS: Parts of Fitchburg were banking on a $500,000 EPA grant to mitigate pollution from stormwater runoff and create green space for a local middle […]

New from CommonWealth Beacon FINANCIAL DROUGHT: Declining economic conditions and a contentious history are roiling the Quabbin Reservoir towns that protect the state’s largest source of drinking water. Jordan Wolman […]

New from CommonWealth Beacon NEW CODCAST: In a special bonus episode, CommonWealth Beacon reporters Jennifer Smith and Chris Lisinski unpack the Legislature’s end-of-session rush and why this July 31 felt […]

New from CommonWealth Beacon STUDENT DISCIPLINE: Nearly 15 years after lawmakers enacted student discipline reforms, out-of-school suspensions are dropping, but administrators have increasingly turned to a technique known as emergency […]

New from CommonWealth Beacon NEW CODCAST: Jordan Wolman sits down with Vamsi Chadalavada, who leads the region’s grid operator known as ISO New England. They discuss whether New England’s energy […]

New from CommonWealth Beacon ENERGY: Gov. Maura Healey is ramping up pressure on state lawmakers to get to “yes” on sweeping energy affordability legislation, but it remains unclear how soon […]

New from CommonWealth Beacon DJ DISCO DINO: Leominster’s Dean Mazzarella is the longest-serving mayor in Massachusetts, but he’s also so much more: an entrepreneur who runs a flagpole business and […]