CLIMATE RESILIENCY IS a challenge, not a crisis. And when we treat it as a crisis—when urgency is used to silence debate or justify extreme measures—the quality of our decisions […]
State leaders must bring pragmatism to climate debate
Posted inBallot Questions
Cutting taxes, recriminalizing recreational pot, scrutinizing Beacon Hill: record number of ballot questions in the mix for 2026
Voters could have up to a dozen statewide ballot questions to decide in 2026, ranging from legislative transparency to marijuana policy to gun safety, following the latest big hurdle in the biennial process.
Posted inPolitics
‘They’re making a huge bet’: Rent control referendum splits progressives
If a campaign to instate rent control across the Commonwealth makes it to the ballot, voters will need to weigh whether every municipality should adopt a measure more stringent than earlier attempts by Boston, Brookline, and Somerville.
Posted inOpinion
It’s time to ban cellphones in schools
A new generation of parents are demanding a constant lifeline to their children, unaware of the detrimental social impacts of cellphone addiction that teachers are witnessing firsthand.
Posted inHealth Care
Health care workplace violence bill finding traction
According to a bill summary, someone in a Massachusetts health care facility is assaulted, threatened or verbally abused every 38 minutes.
Posted inOpinion
Solidarity among groups more crucial than ever amid changed landscape on race
Since post-Civil War Reconstruction, history is replete with moments of racial progress followed by backlash and retrenchment led by those benefiting from the status quo.
Posted inEnergy
House punts on sweeping energy bill that would dial back state climate commitments
After intense blowback to a draft House bill to weaken the state’s 2030 clean energy target, the chamber’s budget chief says the topic is on hold until next year.
Posted inThe Codcast
When health care access is a legal puzzle
On the monthly Health or Consequences episode of The Codcast, John McDonough of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute talk with Matt Selig, the executive director of Health Law Advocates. They discuss the blur between medical and legal access issues, the group’s history and capacity, and their current litigation focuses.
Posted inOpinion
House climate bill is a big step backward
At a moment when President Trump is dismantling federal climate policy, this bill would do the work for him. It would abandon our 2030 emissions targets, gut our most effective programs, and lock Massachusetts into the very fossil fuel dependence that has driven today’s affordability crisis.
Posted inHealth Care
Suspension of maternity services at Mercy Medical Center sparks fears of permanent closure
Mercy Medical Center in Springfield announced last week that it plans to temporarily halt maternity and newborn services at its Family Life Center starting December 8, sparking fears the hospital will be next in a decade-long trend of statewide maternity unit closures in a region where labor and delivery options have already dwindled.
Posted inOpinion
What if AI tells us how to vote?
With a little coaxing, ChatGPT chose my candidates. This feels like the next disinformation front in politics.
Posted inEnergy
Energy industry pads key lawmaker’s campaign coffers as major bill advances
Cusack’s legislation would lower the amount of renewable energy the utilities would be required to purchase and cut the state’s energy efficiency initiative, which is funded through the utilities’ ratepayers, by $500 million.
Posted inPublic Records
DiZoglio’s effort to audit the Legislature remains stalled. So she wants voters to change the law, again.
The nascent ballot question campaign seeking to subject the Legislature and the governor’s office to the public records law has a new leader: Auditor Diana DiZoglio, who views the measure as a way to circumvent opposition to her effort to audit the House and Senate.
Posted inHousing
Report: Affordability gap grows for those seeking starter homes
Home prices and rents have flattened in 2025 but are still “historically” high, according to a report released by The Boston Foundation and Boston Indicators.
Posted inEnvironment
Massachusetts EV charging plans continue to take hit
The delays underscore the challenges facing the state in cutting pollution from the transportation sector, which accounts for the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions in Massachusetts at 38 percent.
Posted inEnergy
Are the 2030 Massachusetts emissions mandates out of reach?
Massachusetts isn’t the only progressive state reassessing this challenge. States like New York and Vermont have also taken a hard look at their emissions mandates in light of clean energy shortfalls.
Posted inEnergy
Sweeping energy bill to weaken 2030 climate goals clears key House committee
The measure is ushering in an unexpected — and messy — debate over the state’s overall policy push to meet its 2030 climate commitments as Gov. Maura Healey’s energy affordability package filed earlier this year is thrown into disarray.
Posted inHealth Care
State council approves Leicester hospital, nursing home sale
By a 10-2 vote, the council backed the $9 million transfer of Vibra Hospital of Western Massachusetts and the Meadows nursing home in Leicester, along with the property they occupy.
Posted inHealth Care
‘Potential devastation’: At health industry’s annual checkup, federal changes shift the diagnosis from bad to worse
It’s been nine months since a top senator warned that the state’s health care system is “falling apart,” and the slew of federal policy changes since then have only made the outlook darker — in the process amplifying calls for policymakers to act.
Posted inOpinion
Massachusetts health care is in trouble
A confluence of challenges points to very hard times ahead for the Massachusetts health care system.
Posted inEnergy
House moves forward with bill to weaken 2030 climate goals
The plan reverberating around Beacon Hill, as first reported by CommonWealth Beacon last week, is sure to put lawmakers in a politically difficult position and test their willingness to defend the climate commitments enacted just four years ago.
Posted inThe Codcast
Municipal budgets at the breaking point
Massachusetts Municipal Association Executive Director Adam Chapdelaine, Amesbury Mayor Kassandra Gove, and Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance Executive Director Paul Craney join The Codcast to dive deep on the world of municipal finances in a panel discussion moderated by CommonWealth Beacon reporter Chris Lisinski. Guests unpack the various dynamics putting pressure on city and town budgets, consider the value of the tax-cap law known as Proposition 2½, and ponder who might be best equipped to provide relief.
Posted inOpinion
The Red-Blue Connector: A half-mile of subway that benefits an entire region
It’s easy to look at the short length of the proposed Red-Blue Connector – less than half a mile – and mistake it for a project with small impact. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Posted inEnergy
‘We will fill the State House’: Advocates gird for a showdown over House plan to dial back climate commitments
The effort is bound to divide the Democratic supermajority on Beacon Hill and test officials’ willingness to defend the state’s climate policies just as winter hits and Healey mounts a reelection bid.