The Download: ‘No margin for error’: State economic check-in spotlights tricky balancing act
‘No margin for error’: State economic check-in spotlights tricky balancing act
With the “One Big Beautiful Bill” and a state economic lag colliding, Massachusetts budget-writers weigh options to balance the outlook.
Healey convenes solar leaders in search of energy answers
Gov. Maura Healey heard from solar industry officials at a Monday summit pleading to cut red tape and costs associated with installing more of the green energy source in Massachusetts.
America’s underfunded elections: a national security risk we can’t ignore
Our elections are the backbone of our democracy. They’ve been formally designated as critical infrastructure, alongside our power grid and water supply. Yet we treat them as an afterthought in our budgets.
Freedom of speech must remain sacred
WHEN I WAS a teenage aspiring journalist in Oklahoma, working as a layout artist for minimum wage in the smoky, ink-fumed newsroom of the Midwest City Sun, I used the […]
A super PAC longshot
This week on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talks with Harvard professor Larry Lessig about the ill-fated attempt to restrict Super PAC contributions in Massachusetts and the successful effort in Maine that was struck down by the lower court. The Maine coalition thinks it has a shot at convincing higher courts, not to overturn Citizens United but to embrace an originalist argument to limit money in politics.
Affordable health care for all is the easiest problem to solve in Massachusetts
HEALTH CARE SPENDING in Massachusetts is just about the highest in the world. It is enough to finance health security for all of us. Health security means that we get […]
Massachusetts braces for ‘gut punch’ of health insurance costs if Congress fails to act
Elected officials, marketplace administrators, and health care advocates are ramping up pressure on Congress to extend Biden-era federal tax credits that help Americans pay for health insurance. Without action, they warn, out-of-pocket costs could increase dramatically.
Sen. Markey: Pass the torch
HAD JOE BIDEN won re-election, he would have been 86 years and two months old at the end of his term. That is four months younger than Sen. Ed Markey […]
Phoning it in – Mass. residents still lean toward in-person care as telehealth booms
While the rise of telehealth in the early 2020s “did improve access to care,” according to the Health Policy Commission, not everyone is able to use the new virtual hospital landscape. “Specific actions could be taken to further enhance access for more rural and vulnerable populations.”
Two years after the closure of Leominster’s maternity unit, a region is struggling
It’s been two years since Clinton Hospital’s maternity unit closed. The fallout of the closure paints a complicated picture in a state without maternity care deserts. But experts and advocates say recent losses and impending cuts to Medicaid make maternal health care access in Massachusetts something that stands to get worse.
Trump administration assault on offshore wind is bad for business and our economy
Offshore wind can deliver critical energy needs while supporting the region’s economic growth and job creation. These moves by the administration send a troubling signal to employers: after years of planning, layers of government oversight, and finalized permits that survived court scrutiny – suddenly, there is a government reversal.
‘The gaps have become too big for too many’
Physicians, policymakers, and advocates hope to make a breakthrough this term on legislation that would boost the share of health care dollars that go toward primary care amid provider burnout and growing wait times for appointments.
Health care workers struggle to navigate closures and immigration fears
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith continues health care month coverage in a conversation with 1199SEIU executive vice president Cari Medina and Anestine Bentick, lead medical assistant at South Boston Community Health. They discuss existing pressures on stretched workforces, the impacts of recent closures, and how immigration policy bleeds into the health care space.
I don’t want to close any more mental health centers
The cost of operating our clinic with optimal staffing simply exceeded by a wide margin the amount we received from insurers – largely the state Medicaid program MassHealth – to operate it.
Why elect sheriffs anyway?
The governor appoints a corrections professional to oversee state prisons. So why do we elect people who are essentially regional correctional commissioners, with voters often having little basis to evaluate whether they’re doing a good job or not?
Senate moves to crack down on ‘Wild West’ of data collection
Consumers would gain more control over their data under a new bill set for Senate approval that would also ban targeted advertising to minors.
‘It was too effing complicated:’ A pro-housing reckoning over MBTA Communities law
“We crafted this law in a way that we thought was responding to the unique aspect of local control, local decision making, Town Meeting form of government we have in Massachusetts,” said said Jesse Kanson-Benanav, of Abundant Housing Massachusetts, “but that made it incredibly difficult.”
Declines in science scores should prompt big change in schools
It’s time to acknowledge that the way Massachusetts and other states have largely been teaching science isn’t getting the job done and look for better options and bright spots.
