Massachusetts YIGBY legislation would allow faith-based organizations to build multi-family housing by right on parcels they’ve owned for at least three years.
A push to build housing in ‘God’s backyard’
Posted inOpinion
New graduation requirement must include rigorous statewide standards
Ensuring a reliable, objective measure of student competency must remain a top priority. Our students deserve rigorous statewide standards, not subjective benchmarks at a district’s discretion.
Posted inThe Codcast
The politics of who gets a musical education
On this week’s episode of The Codcast, what it means when political forces come for the arts. CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talks with Élider DiPaula, the new executive director of Project STEP — a 12-year music program focused on bringing students from underrepresented or marginalized backgrounds into the world of classical string music. The program lost a federal grant this spring, as did hundreds of other programs considered out of step with President Trump’s nationalist priorities for the arts.
Posted inOpinion
We can’t sit idle as Washington pulls the plug on the Massachusetts innovation economy
The Commonwealth needs to act boldly and creatively to respond to the threats to its innovation economy. Fighting to reverse these moves in Washington should be a top priority, but we surely can’t count on that happening.
Posted inEnvironment
Mass. home insurer of last resort sees spike in enrollment
Massachusetts’s home insurance market, officials and experts stressed, is in a much better place than other parts of the country. Still, signs of change are emerging.
Posted inLocal Government
Cities and towns desperately need boost in state aid, group says
The Massachusetts Municipal Association rolled out a suite of requests for Beacon Hill, led by a $351 million increase in unrestricted aid the state pays to cities and towns, as communities navigate an increasingly bleak fiscal picture.
Posted inHealth Care
Primary care spending proposal sets the stage for legislative action in 2026
Pressure will rise on the Legislature to take action after a panel created to review primary care reforms coalesced around a “fundamental rebalancing” of how the state spends money on health.
Posted inOpinion
State antisemitism commission report is a strong call to action
The recommendations of the antisemitism commission focus on Jewish students, because that is they who have an unprecedented need for timely, effective intervention.
Posted inOpinion
The state commission on antisemitism doubles down on its mistakes
The report’s concern is not with universal rights but with how anti-Israel speech makes some Jews feel, an approach that can only make antisemitism worse. It distracts from the interests that Jews share with all minorities in vigorous civil rights guarantees.
Posted inOpinion
I’ve seen hate up close. The antisemitism commission’s recommendations can help stop it.
We know from our own lives that antisemitism, if left unchecked, doesn’t stay contained. We must confront it with interventions that work, and the state commission offers reasonable, practical, common-sense safeguards against allowing yesterday’s hate to masquerade as today’s education.
Posted inOpinion
Massachusetts lawmakers must reject the antisemitism commission’s flawed recommendations
The question isn’t whether to fight antisemitism. It’s how to fight it without sacrificing the democratic rights that actually keep Jewish people—and everyone else—safe.
Posted inTransportation
Phil Eng earns rave reviews for simultaneous MBTA, transportation chief jobs
The Healey administration seems content to have Phil Eng continue to work as both T general manager and interim transportation secretary for the foreseeable future, and Eng himself is warming up to the idea of holding both roles for a longer period of time.
Posted inEnergy
‘Rate shock’: Healey’s affordability push meets a dramatic proposed gas bill hike
Liberty Utilities, which services a small southeastern pocket of Massachusetts, filed its rate hike request in June and is asking the Department of Public Utilities for permission to raise gas rates by about 55 percent on average.
Posted inOpinion
Massachusetts lagging on implementation of data equity law
Over two years since the law’s passage, we have seen little progress and movement on implementation, and our residents are continuing to suffer the consequences.
Posted inThe Codcast
A showdown over Boston property tax rates
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talks with Greg Maynard, executive director of the Boston Policy Institute, as Boston the city council prepares for a Wednesday vote expected to raise taxes on single-family homes. Maynard says the administration is not moving quickly enough to inform the public about dire revenue forecasts or adopt new measures which could make up the difference.
Posted inOpinion
Efficient electric equipment, powered by clean sources, is the answer to the energy affordability crunch
Better equipment and cheaper energy sources are critical to achieving an affordable energy future.
Posted inGambling
‘It couldn’t come at a worse time’: Legislature strips casino mitigation funds amid municipal budget woes
The move falls in line with the Legislature’s penny-pinching efforts to alleviate state budget pressures amid a host of federal funding claw backs nearly a year into the second Trump administration. Gateway Cities with budgets already nearing a breaking point will now lose out on funds they have used for nearly a decade.
Posted inOpinion
Both the left and right are failing our children
It’s tempting to blame one side of partisan politics. But the truth is that both liberals and conservatives are failing our children. The village has eroded—and parents are being left to figure it out alone.
Posted inCourts
AG’s suit against Meta hits the SJC
The case, scheduled for oral argument Friday morning, puts Massachusetts at the center of a debate over Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects internet companies from lawsuits over user-generated content.
Posted inOpinion
Meta should not get a pass on accountability for potential harm of products to minors
A SWATH OF potentially consequential cases for kids’ online safety are making their way through US courts. On Friday, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court will hear arguments in a pivotal […]