GOV. MAURA HEALEY, who vowed last year in her campaign launch to “continue with what’s working and fix what’s not” if elected, has decided the existing leadership of the state […]
Healey retaining Craven as education board chair
Posted inHousing, State Government
Campbell warns municipalities MBTA zoning law not optional
MASSACHUSSETTS ATTORNEY General Andrea Campbell is wading into the MBTA communities dust-up, releasing an advisory Wednesday morning emphasizing that participating in the transit-oriented housing policy is not optional and raising the prospect […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment, State Government
New DPU chair hails from West Virginia
TWO NEW COMMISSIONERS were appointed on Wednesday to the state Department of Public Utilities, one a West Virginia University law professor who wrote a book last year critical of that […]
Posted inOpinion
Don’t make Drinks to Go permanent
THIS WEEK’S debate at the State House puts the spotlight on our drinking problem in Massachusetts. “Drinks to Go,” originally intended as a temporary measure to help local restaurants through […]
Posted inGambling
Sports betting opens with big bang
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MORE THAN 400,000 mobile sports betting accounts were active during the first three days online was available in Massachusetts and more than 8 million transactions took place, […]
Posted inPolitics
How to win the campaign for rent control
NOW THAT Mayor Michelle Wu’s rent control proposal has passed the Boston City Council, the real test begins. The plan to dramatically reshape regulation of Boston housing must win over […]
Posted inThe Download
SouthCoast Wind keeps hedging on its viability
IS SOUTHCOAST WIND, the proposed wind farm off the Massachusetts coast previously known as MayFlower Wind, fully committed to the power purchase contract it agreed to with the state’s utilities? […]
Posted inEnergy
SouthCoast Wind keeps hedging on its viability
IS SOUTHCOAST WIND, the proposed wind farm off the Massachusetts coast previously known as MayFlower Wind, fully committed to the power purchase contract it agreed to with the state’s utilities? […]
Posted inEducation, Government, Opinion
Strengthening democracy takes compromise, consensus, and learning
AMERICAN DEMOCRACY is being tested every day. Now more than ever we need Americans to understand that democracy takes work. To strengthen our democracy we need every generation to develop […]
Posted inHealth Care
Mass. health care expenditures rise sharply
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A NEW REPORT estimates that per capita health care expenditures in Massachusetts shot up 9 percent in 2021 after having dropped 2.3 percent in 2020, giving […]
Posted inTransportation
MBTA not susceptible to magical solutions
LAST WEEK’S NEWS regarding T safety conditions and slowdowns took most people by surprise, as the hope associated with a new gubernatorial administration and the feeling that perhaps the absolute […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment
Offshore wind industry united on pricing adjustments
MASSACHUSETTS POLICYMAKERS may be split on whether offshore wind developers should be allowed to adjust the pricing in their existing power purchase agreements to cope with changing economic conditions, but […]
Posted inEconomy
Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse could impact Mass. affordable housing
SILICON VALLEY BANK’S sudden collapse is sending shockwaves far beyond the tech sector, leaving Massachusetts affordable housing organizations particularly panicky. It’s been less than two years since the California-based bank […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Health Equity Compact taking on big challenges
CommonWealth Magazine · Health Equity Compact trying to ‘boil the ocean’
Posted inThe Download
Health Equity Compact tackling big challenges
JUAN FERNANDO LOPERA doesn’t minimize the immense challenges facing the Health Equity Compact, a group of 50 Black and Latinx Massachusetts health care leaders who joined together last year to […]
Posted inHealth Care
Health Equity Compact tackling big challenges
JUAN FERNANDO LOPERA doesn’t minimize the immense challenges facing the Health Equity Compact, a group of 50 Black and Latinx Massachusetts health care leaders who joined together last year to address […]
Posted inState Government
Hao dives from private sector into state government
A FEW YEARS after diving into the mosh pit at one of Nirvana’s last US performances, Yvonne Hao joined the high-powered consulting firm McKinsey. Her star shot up from there, […]
Posted inOpinion
My agenda for health cost benchmark hearings
IT’S MARCH, so that means it is time for the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournament and all of the suspense, surprise, and excitement connected to it. But March also […]
Posted inOpinion
Here’s how we define competitiveness
IN RECENT WEEKS, leading business groups in Massachusetts have urged newly-elected Gov. Maura Healey to focus on the state’s economic competitiveness. As current or former leaders of organizations that employ […]
Posted inOpinion
When a discount isn’t a discount
MOST OF US have negotiated a better price for ourselves at one time or another – online, with a local merchant, or as part of our job. Those selling an […]
Posted inOpinion
More renewables, not more gas, is our future
At 4:30 p.m. on a bitter, cold Christmas Eve 2022, New England’s power grid operator ISO-NE declared a capacity deficiency after gas and oil generators used during times of peak […]
Posted inOpinion
Correcting the record on decarbonization
A RECENT COMMENTARY, “Decarbonization road map has some gaping holes” by Arnold J. Wallenstein, argues that Massachusetts must scale back its efforts to decarbonize its energy system. Unfortunately, the piece […]
Posted inGambling
Online sports betting launches in Massachusetts
SIX OPERATORS started taking online sports bets at 10 a.m. Friday, launching a new era of Massachusetts gambling one day after gaming officials and the attorney general worried about how […]
Posted inTransportation
Documentation breakdown blamed in T subway slowdown
MBTA INTERIM General Manager Jeffrey Gonneville said a failure to properly document whether or not track defects identified last month had been addressed prompted him to order a slowdown of […]