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 […]
Turning up the heat on climate funding
Posted inThe Codcast
A year of strained systems and trust after Carney closures
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporters Jennifer Smith and Hallie Claflin talk about Claflin’s deep dive into the fallout from Steward Health Care’s bankruptcy. Two communities – the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester and the rural Nashoba Valley – lost their community health centers. Just over a year later, the local emergency health systems are strained and residents say they still feel confused about why the state allowed their centers to close while others were saved.
Posted inOpinion
Colleges need an experiential learning revolution
We need fundamentally new models for teaching and learning, new models that need to break the monopoly of “sage on the stage” teaching and lean into an experiential learning revolution – a dramatic increase in real-world, apprenticeship-based, internship-based, and work-based learning.
Posted inGovernment
Looming federal food aid cuts put state Democrats in the hot seat
Massachusetts Democrats are unwilling to tap into the state’s significant savings balance to replace food aid, previewing difficult decisions that loom on the horizon.
Posted inState Government
Lawmaker representing Randolph seeks to loosen Gateway City eligibility criteria
Census counts and income thresholds haven’t stopped state Sen. Bill Driscoll, who represents the town of Randolph, from trying to secure its Gateway City status. He has introduced legislation that would revise the eligibility criteria of a Gateway – something previously attempted but never done successfully on Beacon Hill since the Legislature codified the designation in 2009.
Posted inEnvironment
Boston missed its own deadline for applying to a FEMA program. Residents are footing the bill.
Across Massachusetts, more than 300 communities – including Boston – aren’t reaping the benefits of the FEMA program, known as Community Rating System. It’s led to residents in some municipalities collectively paying hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in flood insurance costs that could have been avoided.
Posted inOpinion
For the Fenway faithful, something to cheer about
The wrecking ball’s time, we were told, had come. It’s easy to forget important milestones when they mark something significant that didn’t happen, but it’s a moment worth recalling – and toasting.
Posted inEnergy
Boston looks to go on offense on energy affordability
Cuts at the state level mean the city’s initiative will be operating in a more financially constrained environment. The crux of the new effort will rely on the state’s Mass Save program, which funds energy efficiency upgrades around the state through ratepayer charges.
Posted inTransportation
Drawbridge, Green Line investments top narrower MBTA capital plan
Boxed in by prior commitments, inflation, and federal uncertainty, the MBTA is narrowing its approach to its five-year capital plan to focus on projects such as replacement of the North Station Draw One bridge.
Posted inOpinion
Lawmakers must resist Big Tech fearmongering, pass data privacy bill
PERSONAL DATA HAS become the de facto currency of the digital age, and we’ve surrendered more control over our lives than we may have realized. Our every click is treated […]
Posted inOpinion
The case for raising the age of Juvenile Court jurisdiction has only grown stronger
THE MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE is again debating whether to raise the age of Juvenile Court jurisdiction to include 18 to 20-year-old youth. The last time the state raised the age was […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Mass. Health Connector chief: State must ‘deal with the reality in front of us’ as critical health care deadline looms
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 spoke with Audrey Gasteier, executive director of the Massachusetts Health Connector. Gasteier about the current crisis facing residents of the Commonwealth should the federal government fail to renew premium tax credits.
Posted inState Government
State House labor pains: The long fight carries on for unionizing legislative aides
Three and a half years after State House aides went public with their desire to unionize, the effort remains stalled by skepticism from top Democrats who often position themselves as allies of labor.
Posted inOpinion
Gov. Healey’s mixed messages on housing for those most in need
AS A FAMILY medicine physician at Boston Medical Center, I have cared for hundreds of individuals and families experiencing homelessness over the last 20 years. The landscape of housing services […]
Posted inCourts
Four Supreme Judicial Court cases to watch in November
In November, the seven Supreme Judicial Court justices will wrestle with some disputes that are years or decades in the making. Others touch on current crises. And the Legislature’s action or inaction is often a factor.
Posted inEnvironment
Tepper stands by Mass. climate goals, ramps up outreach on Canadian wind power
Tepper shared in an interview with CommonWealth Beacon that she took a previously-unreported trip up to Nova Scotia last month to meet with officials to discuss how Massachusetts can potentially tap into Canadian offshore wind, much in the way the state will soon have access to 1,200 megawatts of hydropower from Quebec.
Posted inOpinion
Move over ‘motor voters,’ it’s time for ‘patient participation’
EVERY YEAR, thousands of Massachusetts residents see a doctor—but never see a ballot. For low-income and minority communities that face barriers to voter registration, health care facilities can offer a […]
Posted inHealth Care
When communities lose trust: One year after Steward Health’s bankruptcy and the death of two hospitals
One year after Steward Health Care’s demise, the Nashoba Valley and Dorchester communities are grappling with strained EMS services, diminished access to care, and trust that has been broken. Local leaders, hospital staff, and residents say they are a testament to the devastation that lingers after communities lose their critical infrastructure.
Posted inHousing
Boston housing permitting lags as residents express support for zoning changes
Eighty-one percent of Boston residents, according to a new Abundant Housing Massachusetts poll, support a goal of building 30,000 new homes in Boston – signaling broad agreement on the scale of the crisis, even as questions persist about whether such targets are achievable or even useful.