It’s been a week and change since Gov. Maura Healey signed the $56 billion state budget for fiscal year 2024. The Democratic governor signed her first budget flanked by Democratic […]
Will the Legislature have an appetite for overrides?
Posted inHealth Care
A game plan for turning Tufts Medicine around
Second of two parts. Read the first part here. IF TUFTS MEDICINE is going to turn around financially, clearly there are short-term issues for management focus, but there are also […]
Posted inEconomy, Government, Immigration
Campbell, other AGs join call for feds to speed migrant work approvals
ONE WEEK AFTER Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency regarding the migrant crisis, including a call for more expedited federal work authorizations, Attorney General Andrea Campbell and 18 […]
Posted inThe Download
UMass Dartmouth arts college exiting downtown New Bedford. Who’s to blame?
The abrupt announcement Monday that the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s College of Visual and Performing Arts would be immediately vacating a downtown New Bedford building, where it’s been housed for […]
Posted inEducation
UMass Dartmouth arts college exiting downtown New Bedford. Who’s to blame?
THE ABRUPT announcement Monday that the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s College of Visual and Performing Arts would be immediately vacating a downtown New Bedford building, where it’s been housed for […]
Posted inState Government, State House News Service, Transportation
In pivot, Healey looks to feds for money to rebuild just one Cape bridge to start
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AFTER PREVIOUS EFFORTS to secure federal funding for replacement of both Cape Cod bridges stumbled, Gov. Maura Healey and her deputies will shift to a phased […]
Posted inGovernment, Opinion, Politics
Boston needs ranked choice voting
I RECENTLY VISITED a youth summer program organized by Ranked Choice Boston, a new coalition aiming to bring ranked choice voting to the City of Boston’s elections. The campaign officially […]
Posted inThe Download
Ballot face-off over gig workers looms
Two years ago, Massachusetts braced itself for what was expected to be the most expensive ballot measure campaign in the state’s history. That question, brought by ride-hailing companies to classify […]
Posted inPolitics
Ballot face-off over gig workers looms
TWO YEARS AGO, Massachusetts braced itself for what was expected to be the most expensive ballot measure campaign in the state’s history. That question, brought by ride-hailing companies to classify […]
Posted inCourts, Opinion, State Government
The state’s child welfare system is ‘infected with dysfunction’
IT IS AN unfortunate truth that Massachusetts, with all of its famous hospitals and prestigious universities, has among the most abysmal track records of any state of caring for children […]
Posted inGambling
While online Lottery falters, third-party app provides tickets through workaround
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE LEGISLATURE AGAIN rejected an attempt to allow the Massachusetts Lottery to sell its products online, but that doesn’t mean gamblers can’t order Lottery tickets online […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Black Boston takes the convention stage
Tanisha Sullivan, president of the Boston chapter of the NAACP, joins CommonWealth’s Jennifer Smith to talk about the recent national NAACP convention (the first in Boston in 40 years), its goals, and its impact.
Posted inThe Download
Black Boston takes the convention stage
For the first time in four decades, the national NAACP convention came back to Boston with a point to prove and a long list of political priorities to hammer out. […]
Posted inRace/Racism
Black Boston takes the convention stage
For the first time in four decades, the national NAACP convention came back to Boston with a point to prove and a long list of political priorities to hammer out. […]
Posted inOpinion
The term ‘turf’ is misleading
MOUNTAINS OF OLD truck tires dotting the US countryside used to be a common sight, but no longer. Companies have found a lucrative new use for old tires: grinding them […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
We spearheaded state’s 2014 gun law; new legislation can build on it
FOR NEARLY 10 years Massachusetts has been one of the states with the lowest rates of firearm deaths. Firearm deaths include homicides and suicides by firearm and firearm accidents. Most […]
Posted inState Government
Revved-up tax growth comes to an end
AFTER TWO YEARS of revved-up tax revenue growth that helped fund a massive tax cut, a new report indicates the state’s ledger shifted into neutral during the fiscal year that […]
Posted inThe Download
On Mass. and Cass, a Wu turn
ACCORDING TO THE old adage, a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged. That may not be exactly what’s happening with the shift in the city’s approach to the […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
On Mass. and Cass, a Wu turn
ACCORDING TO THE old adage, a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged. That may not be exactly what’s happening with the shift in the city’s approach to the […]
Posted inMarijuana, State House News Service
O’Brien apologizes for handling of last CCC meeting
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE CHAIRWOMAN of the Cannabis Control Commission apologized to her fellow commissioners Thursday for any “angst” or “confusion” she caused at their last meeting when she […]
Posted inRace/Racism
Ogletree was a peerless champion for justice
THE SUNDAY MORNING drive to Dorchester from the iHeart Radio studios just north of Boston was uneventful except for the presence of political royalty in the car. I sat slightly […]
Posted inThe Download
The migrant shelter crisis is also a housing crisis
The Massachusetts state shelter system, now serving around 20,000 people across 5,600 families, is strained almost to capacity – a “humanitarian crisis” of migrant families drawing renewed attention to the […]
Posted inGovernment, Housing, Immigration
The migrant shelter crisis is also a housing crisis
THE MASSACHUSETTS state shelter system, now serving around 20,000 people across 5,600 families, is strained almost to capacity – a “humanitarian crisis” of migrant families drawing renewed attention to the […]
Posted inOpinion
Building resilience into built environment no easy task
AS AN ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER, climate resilience enthusiast, and local agriculture advocate, the recent flooding in Western Massachusetts touched on the things I care about most in the world. Within my […]