The Codcast

This week on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon’s Jennifer Smith introduces CWB’s new editor, Laura Colarusso. They discuss her background in journalism, motivation for public service, and the challenges and opportunities in the ever-changing field.

This week on the Codcast, Commonwealth Beacon’s Jennifer Smith is joined by Mayor of Holyoke Joshua Garcia to reflect on the rightward trend of Latino voters in the 2024 presidential election. They discuss potential mechanisms behind the shift, and lessons learned for both political parties.

This week on the Codcast, Commonwealth Beacon’s Jennifer Smith and Gintautas Dumcius sit down with CWB editor Bruce Mohl, executive editor Michael Jonas, and reporter Bhaamati Borkhetaria, to discuss how the five questions on the Massachusetts ballot may impact the workforce. They also summarize arguments for and against the questions and reveal key financers of both sides.

This week on The Codcast, John McDonough of the T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute sit down with Sen. Cindy Friedman to discuss how the state Legislature is tackling health care reform. They unpack the fragility of Massachusetts’ health care following Steward hospital closures, holding insurers, pharmaceutical companies, and private equity accountable, and maintaining transparency in the legislative process.

This week on the Codcast, Commonwealth Beacon’s editor Bruce Mohl sits down with Phineas Baxandall, Policy Director for the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, and Pete Wilson, Senior Policy Director for Transportation for Massachusetts. They discuss the recent controversy between the Healey-Driscoll administration and state Legislature over distributing surplus revenue collected by the millionaire’s tax.

This week on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon’s Jennifer Smith talks with Katherine Antos, Undersecretary of Decarbonization and Resilience, to share how the state plans to tackle sea level rise, coastal storms, and flooding exacerbated by climate change. They discuss long vs. short-term mitigation, financing climate resiliency, and the ResilientMass Plan.

This week on The Codcast, John McDonough of the T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute are joined by Dr. Abha Agrawal, CEO of Lawrence General Hospital. They discuss her vision for a community-based health system, barriers to advancing equity in Merrimack Valley health care, and the hospital ‘safety net’ amidst a transition to 3 hospitals.

In a special live edition of The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon’s Gintautas Dumcius chats about the Massachusetts ballot question wars with political consultants Lynda Tocci of Dewey Square Group and Conor Yunits of Issues Management Group. They discuss what makes a successful ballot campaign, the past and present challenges of galvanizing votes, and compare pre- and post-pandemic ballot campaigns.

This week on the Codcast, Commonwealth Beacon’s Gintautas Dumcius interviews John Deaton, the GOP nominee running against US Senator Elizabeth Warren. They discuss his campaign, crypto currency, who he plans to caucus with if he makes it down to Washington, and who may get his vote for president in November.

This week on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon’s Jennifer Smith speaks with Andy Koziol, Director of West-East Rail, and Meredith Slesinger, MassDOT’s Rail and Transit Division Administrator. They delve into the challenges and opportunities of expanding intercity passenger rail between Boston, New York, and western Massachusetts.

This week on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon’s Jennifer Smith is joined by Meredith Goldstein, love advice columnist for the Boston Globe. They discuss the meaning of relationships, gender roles, and marriage in the context of upcoming arguments before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on what happens to engagement rings after a broken engagement.

This week on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon’s Jennifer Smith catches up with Jessica Tang, president of the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts and recently a DNC delegate, after her return from the convention. They discuss the place of education unions in national and state politics, the MCAS ballot measure here in Massachusetts, and what’s ahead for education and health care priorities.

This week on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talks to Nadine Gary and Kasyo Perrier of Go Topless about the case for changing the law to allow women to be topless anywhere a man can be. She also visits a topless equality rally on Beacon Hill.

This week on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith is joined by Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute and John McDonough of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to discuss the current state of the Steward Health Care bankruptcy, as well as what healthcare policy measures did and didn’t make it through the end of the legislative session.

This week on The Codcast, Jennifer Smith of CommonWealth Beacon is joined by Kim Borman, executive editor of the Boston Women’s Workforce Council, to discuss trends in gender and racial wage gaps in Boston, why they persist, and how to address them.

This week on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon’s Jennifer Smith is joined by Massachusetts Sen. Jo Comerford to discuss higher education policy, including the free community college measure in the state budget, as well as the full range of programs that support students, and the role of higher education in economic development and public life.

This week on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon’s Bruce Mohl is joined by Alicia Barton, CEO of Vineyard Offshore, to discuss the Vineyard Wind 1 and 2 projects, and the challenges facing offshore wind development more broadly.

This week on The Codcast, Sen. Julian Cyr joins CommonWealth Beacon’s Jennifer Smith to discuss a provision in the Mass. Senate’s economic development bill that would allow cities and towns more control over whether and what kinds of drinks specials they allow, in place of the current statewide ban. In addition to the pros and cons of the provision, they discuss the broader question of the commonwealth’s attractiveness to young people.

This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon’s Jennifer Smith is joined by Rusty Polsgrove, an organizer with Arise for Social Justice, and by John Walkey, director of climate justice and waterfront initiatives at GreenRoots, to discuss the role of environmental justice in climate legislation. They focus especially on the environmental justice community designation, and why environmental advocates wish it had a larger presence in the current climate bill.

This week on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon’s Jennifer Smith talks to Amy Schectman, President and CEO of 2Life Communities, about the challenges of providing supportive and community-based housing for low-income elders.

This week on the Codcast, Congressman Seth Moulton talks to CommonWealth Beacon’s Bruce Mohl about his support for the proposed Rail Link that would allow trains to run between Boston’s North and South Stations, and why he believes it would revolutionize travel across all of Massachusetts.

This week on The Codcast, John McDonough of the TH Chan School and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute are joined by Lauren Peters, executive director of the MA Center for Health Information and Analysis. They discuss the center’s role in informing public policy discussions, its involvement in the Steward saga, and a variety of significant trends in MA health care, including overall spending and the shortage of primary care physicians.

OVERVIEW

This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon’s Jennifer Smith is joined by Jen Healy, rural transit program manager for the Quaboag Valley Community Development Corporation, to talk about the place of micro-transit in Massachusetts’ transportation systems. They discuss different models of micro-transit service, how it’s funded, how it connects with other transit modes, and what impact West-East Rail service will have.