High-quality primary care must be a common good for all Massachusetts residents. It is the most important part of a health care system, and it needs to be treated as such.
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
The Legislature can adopt a simple fix to help Massachusetts communities drowning in student transportation costs
According to the recent IG’s report, 53 percent of Massachusetts school districts received no bid or only one bid for student transportation contracts. When that becomes the rule, not the exception, it is clear what the problem is.
Posted inOpinion
SJC ruling shouldn’t be the last word on rent control
State lawmakers must take action to uphold the will of Bay Staters by lifting the ban on rent control and allowing local jurisdictions to pass the rent stabilization ordinances that work best for their communities.
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In the panic over a talent exodus, Massachusetts is forgetting the underutilized talent it has
Most states compete for the workers everyone else wants. Talent activation is a different discipline. It starts not with who might move to the state, but with who is already here.
Posted inOpinion
House transparency bill is anything but
The bill is an excellent example of just why the Legislature is so unpopular.
Posted inOpinion
A plunge in the Charles River is no longer a zany stunt
Through regional collaboration, environmental enforcement, and sustained investment, the Charles has become one of the cleanest urban rivers in the country. But can we keep it that way? Even better, why not set our ambitions high for a river that’s fully swimmable.
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‘The Pitt’ showed us the stigma patients with obesity face. Massachusetts policies cutting GLP-1 drug coverage reflect the same biases.
Policymakers must work with insurers and GLP-1 manufacturers to make sure these life-changing therapies remain accessible. Blanket denials of coverage will harm patients, invite long-term costs, and worsen the stigma we should be fighting against.
Posted inOpinion
Massachusetts communities are learning to predict — and prevent — domestic violence homicide
Many domestic violence homicides are not random. They are often preceded by recognizable warning signs. When communities are trained to recognize those signs and respond together, outcomes can change.
Posted inOpinion
Before cutting solar credits, Massachusetts should do the math MIT didn’t
A study filed with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities could be used to cut what homeowners are paid for their solar power, but its conclusion only holds up if you don’t account for the full costs of residential vs. large utility-scale solar.
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An educator’s take on Jaylen Brown and the limits of data analytics
But when numbers become the only language an organization speaks, certain forms of value disappear—not because they don’t exist, but because they’re difficult to measure.
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Stronger primary care means better specialty care
Every specialist depends on a healthy primary care system. It is the front door to health care and the foundation upon which the rest of medicine is built.
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Here are the strong elements of House and Senate energy legislation that should be included in the final bill
The energy bills recently passed by the House and Senate — and now being reconciled on Beacon Hill — show great potential to save households money while protecting our climate and our children’s futures.
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Massachusetts can no longer ignore the health care affordability crisis
Massachusetts must look at how to control hospital costs while maintaining the high-quality care that has long defined our state’s health care system.
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It’s time to act on the state’s PFAS problem
If we don’t act soon, local water districts will have to go to ever greater and costlier lengths to prevent PFAS from contaminating our drinking water.
Posted inOpinion
Gov. Healey should reject the federal education voucher program
Gov. Healey has an opportunity to lead by joining three other governors who have opted out – Gov. Tina Kotek in Oregon, Gov. Tim Walz in Minnesota, and Gov. Tony Evers in Wisconsin – and taking a stand for all students, while the federal government works to publicly subsidize private schools.
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Massachusetts began the Revolution. We should lead the way in showing how to live up to its ideals.
Time and again this Commonwealth has demonstrated that progress begins when people are willing to challenge the status quo.
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All politics is local — even the Declaration of Independence
“What I found to my surprise,” said Maier, “was this mass of local ‘declarations of independence,’ the greater part of which come from Massachusetts.”
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Haverhill sewage spill underscores urgent need to fund climate-related infrastructure
Massachusetts has spent decades investing in cleaning up our waterways, but we have not invested enough in maintaining and modernizing the infrastructure that keeps them clean.
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Honoring America’s promise by reading Frederick Douglass
In one of the greatest statements on American history ever written, Douglass demands that the country live up to the promises of 1776.
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Massachusetts is failing to keep kids safe online. It can start by criminalizing AI-generated child pornography
THE GREATEST THREATS to children’s safety are no longer confined to dark alleys or strangers cruising in vans. They are embedded in the digital spaces children enter every day — […]
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Why generic AI policies won’t protect students from AI sexual exploitation
When technology is used to fabricate sexual images of children, the response cannot be a vague AI policy, a delayed committee review, or a scramble after the images have already spread. It has to be immediate, concrete, and centered on protection: preserve the evidence, support the targeted student, notify families, stop the circulation, and hold those responsible to account.
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We are shortchanging rural schools and the students they educate
An overhaul of the state’s approach to funding rural school districts is desperately needed in order to provide their students with the education they deserve.
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$1.25 billion available for students. Why would Massachusetts say no?
Massachusetts Democrats do not need to embrace Donald Trump’s education vision to recognize an opportunity when they see one.
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Massachusetts is a leader in public education — but not for students with disabilities
Those navigating the state’s special education complaint process often describe experiences marked by lengthy delays, procedural obstacles, limited remedies, and a growing perception that the system is more responsive to institutional interests than to the needs of children.
