STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE HEALEY ADMINISTRATION is “putting the final touches” on tax legislation with a plan to roll it out alongside the annual state budget bill due March […]
Healey: tax relief proposal is coming
Posted inEducation
It’s time to make debt-free higher ed a reality
IN A RECENT CommonWealth commentary piece, Christopher Geary laid out the many complications and carve-outs created by many of the “debt-free” public higher education plans across the nation. For years, […]
Posted inOpinion
Mandating tax payments from nonprofits is a bad idea
A recent op-ed in CommonWealth focused on a bill at the State House that would give municipalities the ability to require payments to cities and towns by nonprofits that are […]
Posted inThe Download
Can a housing secretary make a difference?
THERE’S NO silver bullet to fix the dire housing shortage in Massachusetts, but Gov. Maura Healey is banking on a cabinet shuffle to set the state on the right track. […]
Posted inHousing, News Analysis, State Government
Can a housing secretary make a difference?
THERE’S NO silver bullet to fix the dire housing shortage in Massachusetts, but Gov. Maura Healey is banking on a cabinet shuffle to set the state on the right track. […]
Posted inHealth, Health Care, Opinion
What we need to meet the next public health crisis
THE THIRD ANNIVERSARY of the COVID-19 pandemic is on the horizon and we are still faced with lingering challenges. Back in 2020, the nation watched as federal, state, and local […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
A roadmap for expanding liberty and democracy
ACROSS THE COUNTRY, fundamental freedoms are under attack: from near-total abortion bans to the criminalization of trans people to endemic voter suppression. We’re proud that Massachusetts leaders have charted a […]
Posted inGambling
Regulators contend with illegal sports betting
WITH ALL THREE of the state’s legal sportsbooks now having already owned up to accepting bets on games that were not legally permitted, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Tuesday began […]
Posted inThe Download
Wu’s rent control plan takes hits from both sides
WITH YESTERDAY’S FILING of a home-rule petition with the City Council to impose rent restrictions in Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu followed through on a cornerstone promise of her 2021 campaign. […]
Posted inGovernment, Housing, News Analysis
Wu’s rent control plan takes hits from both sides
WITH YESTERDAY’S FILING of a home-rule petition with the City Council to impose rent restrictions in Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu followed through on a cornerstone promise of her 2021 campaign. Now […]
Posted inTransportation
Healey talks bridges and rail in DC visit
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE BACK FROM A string of activity in the nation’s capital that featured a pair of events with President Joe Biden, Gov. Maura Healey said Monday that […]
Posted inEconomy
Secret ballot vital in union elections
THE LATEST real-life parable that reminds us why the Founding Fathers made secret-ballot elections a centerpiece of American democracy comes from a distinctly 21st-century source – the video game industry. […]
Posted inEducation
Bring back Boston’s elected school committee
SINCE 1991, Boston has been the only one of the 351 municipalities in Massachusetts without an elected school committee. In 2021, Boston voters sent a resounding message that the 30-year […]
Posted inThe Download
Debating vocational school admissions policies
IN THE END, it comes down to a question of how to allocate a scarce public resource when the demand exceeds the supply. In this case, the scarce resource is […]
Posted inEducation
Debating vocational school admissions policies
IN THE END, it comes down to a question of how to allocate a scarce public resource when the demand exceeds the supply. In this case, the scarce resource is […]
Posted inThe Codcast
The debate over vocational school admission policies
CommonWealth Magazine · The debate over Massachusetts vocational high school admission policies
Posted inEconomy
Report says millions from new tax on high earners could be lost to loophole
STATE BUDGET-WRITERS have begun planning to spend $1 billion in new revenue to fund education and transportation needs thanks to the so-called “millionaires tax” approved last year by voters. But […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment, Opinion
Clean energy generators are already proving their worth
AS HAS BEEN widely reported, the arctic cold snap that swept through New England on Christmas Eve, combined with an unexpected system shortfall due to generator outages and reduced energy […]
Posted inState Government, State House News Service
IRS says most one-time refunds from state surplus not taxable
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MANY, BUT NOT necessarily all, Massachusetts taxpayers will not need to count one-time state tax rebates they received last year as income when they file federal […]
Posted inThe Download
Voters favor even split of millionaire’s tax
WHEN MASSACHUSETTS VOTERS approved a new surtax on income over $1 million last year, it was clear what that money was supposed to go to: transportation and education. But how […]
Posted inPolitics
Voters favor even split of millionaire’s tax
WHEN MASSACHUSETTS VOTERS approved a new surtax on income over $1 million last year, it was clear what that money was supposed to go to: transportation and education. But how […]
Posted inOpinion
Abolishing Senate president term limit was the right thing to do
State Sen. Will Brownsberger, Democrat of Belmont, posted the following to his website after Thursday’s 32-6 vote by the Senate to abolish the eight-year term limit that had been in […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment, State House News Service
New Devens fusion center to host US energy secretary
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE TOP ENERGY official in President Joe Biden’s Cabinet plans to visit Massachusetts on Friday to celebrate the opening of a new commercial fusion energy research […]
Posted inState Government, Transportation
T board grapples with how to gauge ‘new reality’ for system
TWO WEEKS AGO, the MBTA board of directors sat quietly and had no questions for interim General Manager Jeffrey Gonneville after he reported on crippling delays in the delivery of […]