LEGISLATORS ULTIMATELY opted against bringing the Massachusetts State Lottery online in their compromise budget for this fiscal year, but state Treasurer Deb Goldberg is still aggressively pushing for it. With the […]
Jennifer Smith
Jennifer Smith writes for CommonWealth Beacon and co-hosts its weekly podcast, The Codcast. Her areas of focus include housing, social issues, courts and the law, and politics and elections. A California native who also lived in Utah, Jennifer has covered Massachusetts since 2011 for a variety of publications. She worked breaking news in the Boston Globe’s metro section and provided courtroom coverage of the Boston Marathon bomber trial for the international wire service Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) while completing her undergraduate journalism degree at Northeastern University in Boston. For four years, Jennifer was a staff writer and later news editor for the Dorchester Reporter, covering her home neighborhood and the city of Boston with a particular focus on politics and development. Her work and commentary have appeared in WBUR, GBH News, Harvard Public Health Magazine, and Politico’s Massachusetts Playbook. She has co-hosted MassINC’s Massachusetts politics and policy podcast The Horse Race since 2018, interviewing newsmakers, journalists, and elected officials across the state.
Posted inPolitics
Legislators override two dozen Healey vetoes
OVER THE COURSE of two weeks, the Legislature overrode the majority of Gov. Maura Healey’s vetoes from her first budget, restoring about $80 million across 24 overrides targeting child care, […]
Posted inHousing
Shelter system also key for survivors of domestic violence
THE SUDDEN SPOTLIGHT on Massachusetts’ painfully strained shelter system – creaking under growing demand driven by new migrant arrivals – has mostly glanced past a group that was already struggling […]
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice
Court weighs custody of young offenders
WHEN A YOUNG PERSON is convicted of a crime, Massachusetts and the federal government agree that they shouldn’t be put into the same custody as adult convicts. But one state […]
Posted inCourts, Education, Health, Health Care
Court says social worker, school district not liable in student suicide
IF SOMETHING IS going wrong in a child’s life – slipping grades, anxiety, depression, injury, or worse – their school community can see warning signs that may not always show […]
Posted inTransportation
Skepticism, exhaustion at state of the T
SUBWAY FIXES on the MBTA hardly feel like they’re on rails. As Red Line riders gear up for a 16-day October closure of a southern spoke, the shiny new Green […]
Posted inEducation
State wants updated MCAS to consider student ‘experiences’
ITS FUTURE as a graduation requirement may be the subject of much back and forth, but the MCAS test is still in line for a refresh. Amid critiques that the […]
Posted inEducation
MCAS debate lands at state ed board meeting
WHEN IT COMES to debate over the state’s MCAS high school graduation requirement, Tuesday’s monthly meeting of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education may have been a preview of […]
Posted inEducation
Board approves first updated sex ed standards in decades
IT IS, LITERALLY, not your father’s — or mother’s — sex ed standards. The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted unanimously on Tuesday to update the curriculum framework for […]
Posted inHousing, State Government
Reckoning looms over ‘home equity theft’
IN LATE MAY, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of 94-year-old Geraldine Tyler, a Minnesota woman who did not get the surplus back after her condo was foreclosed on […]
Posted inCourts, Environment, Housing
Norwell homeowners pit affordable housing against conservation
WHEN MEMBERS of a Norwell town meeting voted almost 20 years ago to make a 6.3-acre piece of land available for affordable housing, they might have considered being a bit […]
Posted inPolitics
Emotions run high as Boston progressives process preliminaries
TUESDAY’S PRELIMINARY election was a drubbing for two of the Boston City Council’s most outspoken progressive voices, but the city’s progressive mayor rejected the idea that the results represent an […]
Posted inGovernment, Housing
Wu hints at housing tax incentives, moves to overhaul zoning
FRUSTRATED BY THE slow pace of housing development in the city, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu on Wednesday said she is moving forward with a zoning reform initiative and also considering […]
Posted inEconomy, Government, Housing
Augustus: No silver bullets in the housing crisis
THE MASSACHUSETTS housing world is under strain from every angle, and every housing gambit is a long game. Healey administration housing officials are facing a bleak to-deal-with list, hampered by […]
Posted inPolitics
Hits and misses on ballot questions targeting elections
ATTORNEY GENERAL Andrea Campbell was generous in certifying dozens of ballot initiatives, the first step for them to go before voters in the 2024 and 2026 cycle, but she used […]
Posted inPolitics
Ballot question season already at a boil
THE FIRST REAL starting shot of the state ballot question cycle has been fired, kicking several high profile campaigns into high gear and already raising the specter of legal challenges. Voters […]
Posted inEducation
Arriving students victims – and villains – in Massachusetts housing crunch
IT’S AS REGULAR as clockwork – and as orderly as a hurricane. Each fall, hundreds of thousands of college and university students descend on the state’s roughly 150 institutions of […]
Posted inCourts, Economy
SJC sides with Galvin in imposing higher standards on broker-dealers
IN THE WORLD OF FINANCE, only those who offer specific investment advice have been held to the highest standard of care for their clients. When Secretary of State Bill Galvin […]
Posted inEducation
Boston Public School parents worry about high school options
JUST OVER HALF of Boston Public School parents are satisfied with their options among the district’s available high schools, a new survey found, with fewer parents than ever before saying […]
Posted inEnvironment
A sea change on managed retreat?
As waters rise, coastal residents are increasingly facing a difficult choice: try to relocate in a difficult housing market and take losses on their homes, or get comfortable with a future where there may be multiple feet of water in their living rooms.
Posted inPolitics
A religious wrinkle in the rent control debate
OPPONENTS OF a potential ballot initiative allowing for a local rent control option are covering all their bases in urging Attorney General Andrea Campbell not to certify it. In between […]
Posted inEducation
After affirmative action blow, legacy preference draws focus
AFTER THE US SUPREME COURT ruled this spring to significantly scale back higher educational institutions’ use of affirmative action, advocacy and civil rights groups wound up for a counter-punch at […]
Posted inCourts, Religion, State Government
Massachusetts cities and towns have spent millions restoring historic religious sites. They don’t know if it was constitutional.
FOR NEARLY two centuries, the Acton Congregational Church has stood serenely in the town’s main square, its pews offering a welcoming haven for spiritual renewal and quiet reflection. Starting in […]
Posted inState Government
Will the Legislature have an appetite for overrides?
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 […]