The Codcast

It’s only a few weeks until students head back to school. In Boston, if this year is like last year, and like many others before that, there will be fewer […]

The president of the Massachusetts Nurses Association says there is no shortage of nurses in the state, just a shortage of nurses willing to work under existing staffing conditions. CommonWealth […]

CommonWealth Magazine · Daloisio, Clean Energy Center face uncertainty

US Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, has emerged as one of the most forceful critics of the US Supreme Court after recent decisions on abortion, gun licensing, and environmental […]

In the last normal school year before the pandemic, Black girls in Massachusetts were disciplined in school at more than three times the rate of white girls. Often, Black girls […]

If Mara Dolan were interviewing a judicial nominee, she would want to know three things: whether the person supports abortion rights, they understand substance use disorders, and they are anti-racist. […]

This week on the Codcast, we interview US Rep. Stephen Lynch about his continuing involvement with the woes of the MBTA.CommonWealth Magazine · Deja vu for Congressman Lynch

CommonWealth Magazine · Deja vu for Congressman Lynch

A gas tax holiday may be good politics but it’s not good public policy, according to Evan Horowitz, executive director of the Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University. […]

The Federal Transit Administration gave the MBTA a safety to-do list last week, with each task assigned its own timetable. CommonWealth Magazine · MBTA cuts service to deal with safety […]

CommonWealth Magazine · Speaker Mariano says healthcare regulation needs updates

When Nneka Hall was pregnant with her third child, she had a symptom of preeclampsia, a serious pregnancy complication, but her doctor never caught it. Hall felt her daughter hiccuping […]

CommonWealth Magazine · Street mural artists explain their craft

Billions of dollars are going to be pumped into the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund, but there is no guarantee the money will solve the fund’s problems. CommonWealth Magazine · […]

Rep. Patricia Haddad of Somerset, long a powerful figure in the Massachusetts House, is now also the star of a new documentary written, directed, and produced by California-based filmmaker Kiki […]

CommonWealth Magazine · Massachusetts Exceptionalism: Reputation meets Reality

In a highly unusual move, the Massachusetts Senate on Thursday voted for a bill legalizing sports betting by voice vote – sparing individual senators the need to record their position […]

Two top officials with the Conservation Law Foundation say the region’s power grid operator and the state’s utilities are in some ways part of the problem instead of the solution […]

CommonWealth Magazine · Public health — from the local perspective

Gordon van Welie, the president and CEO of ISO-New England, says there are four pillars that support the regional power grid his organization oversees, and all four are showing signs […]

CommonWealth Magazine · Michelle Wu on the need for “bold, urgent” change — and responding directly to detractors

Massachusetts spends more than $1 billion a year to incarcerate roughly 13,000 people in its state prisons and county houses of correction, but a lot of the details of that […]

Chris Doughty has no experience in politics. But he believes leading the state is similar to leading a large business. “There’s not one part of the governor’s life that I’m […]

Land Court Judge David Foster ordered the scrap metal export business at Brayton Point in Somerset to shut down largely because of what he heard and saw on a visit […]