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.
‘Potential devastation’: At health industry’s annual checkup, federal changes shift the diagnosis from bad to worse
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.
Posted inMarijuana
Social pot consumption vote could come by Christmas
Chair Shannon O’Brien offered the latest timeline at the end of a meeting on Friday, as commissioners also learned that a new member, Carrie Benedon, is joining the commission.
Posted inEnvironment
New state coastal resilience plan proposes voluntary buyout program
The state’s final ResilientCoasts plan, unveiled on Thursday, calls for such a program to be stood up within three to five years, once a study currently underway is completed.
Posted inEducation
Half of Holyoke’s middle school students started the year at a new school. The other half were ‘left behind.’
In 2019, Holyoke set out to build two new middle schools. But after months of heated debate, the ballot measure to fund the project was voted down by the community. Some say the outcome is a testament to how limited fiscal capacity, insufficient state funding, and local tax constraints work to prevent Gateway Cities from building equitable, modern school facilities.
Posted inEnergy
House energy chair signals effort to dial back 2030 climate commitments
Rep. Mark Cusack, co-chair of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy, said he is pushing for his redraft of Gov. Maura Healey’s energy affordability bill to receive a floor vote before lawmakers break for the year on November 19.
Posted inEnvironment
Boston council urges city to join federal program offering flood insurance discounts
CommonWealth Beacon reported last week that Boston missed a 2021 self-imposed deadline to join FEMA’s Community Rating System program, which has cost residents and businesses at least $785,000 in total unnecessary flood insurance costs over the four years.
Posted inLocal Government
After a Prop 2½ defeat last year, Melrose passes $13.5 million override
As a suburban city with many commuters working in Boston, Melrose does not have a strong industrial base, meaning the vast majority of its revenue comes from property taxes.
Posted inOpinion
We shouldn’t force a one-size-fits-all approach to reading instruction
Lawmakers must resist the misleading call to mandate ‘evidence-based’ literacy curriculum
Posted inCourts
Bar advocate work stoppage becomes an SJC separation-of-powers conundrum
Over the course of 70 minutes of arguments by the two sides, and pointed questioning from the justices, none of the Supreme Judicial Court’s seven judges appeared eager to snatch the power of the purse from Beacon Hill lawmakers.
Posted inState Government
Unions: Buyout talks could affect 2,000+ state workers
Labor leaders say the Healey administration approached them to begin conversations about a buyout program that could reduce the state workforce by roughly 2,000 positions, the latest attempt at belt-tightening amid upheaval from the federal shutdown and funding cuts.
Posted inGovernment
DTA: Some food aid recipients will see benefits drop to ‘zero’
“I’m trying to do the best I can to manage the situation,” Healey said. She added, “No state can come forward and replace what the federal government has taken away.”
Posted inPolitics
Competitive mayoral races abound, just not in Boston
For the real bare-knuckle action in mayoral contests these days, you need to look outside the state’s capital city, where incumbents don’t just often face serious challenges, but lose with some regularity.
Posted inEnergy
Municipalities warn Beacon Hill they’ll need to slow down solar projects due to state limit
The issue threatens to undermine Gov. Maura Healey’s “all-of-the-above” energy strategy as she seeks to thread an increasingly tighter needle to drive down costs, grow power supply, and meet climate commitments as offshore wind stalls.
Posted inOpinion
Teachers know how to fix the reading crisis. The House listened, and now it’s the Senate’s turn
WHEN A veteran AP biology teacher from Boston Public Schools works with high school juniors and seniors, he sees bright students who understand complex concepts but struggle to read their […]
Posted inEconomy
Survey: Mass. business confidence stuck in longest rut since pandemic
Federal policy changes and high costs within Massachusetts continue to squeeze businesses, and by one metric, Bay State employers have not felt this negative about the economic outlook since the first year of the COVID pandemic.
Posted inCourts
SJC considers whether charter schools must obey public records laws
The Mystic Valley Regional Charter School, in rebuffing at least 10 public records requests for information on various aspects of its operations, insists that it is not covered by the sweeping statute guaranteeing public access to the records of government entities.
Posted inOpinion
Turning up the heat on climate funding
ON THE SWELTERING Sunday of July 4th weekend, Dianne Hills called ambulances to provide emergency relief to residents suffering from heat exhaustion. Dianne is the executive director of My Brother’s […]