What’s our strategy? A patchwork of pilots, well-meaning grants, and isolated bright spots. What we don’t have is a statewide blueprint.
Massachusetts needs an education blueprint
Posted inThe Codcast
The math of rural health access
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talks with Michael Leary, director of media relations for Berkshire Health Systems. They dive into what makes Berkshire County such a complicated place for health care access – with rural towns, busier cities, college students, and of course the seasonal visitors looking to peep some leaves or take in the snowy mountains. The far-flung region’s geography is a challenge on its own, and that’s before factoring in the system-wide staffing crunches and looming Medicaid
Posted inOpinion
Cuts to public higher ed stipends break state promise, send horrible message
OVER THE LAST two years, Massachusetts launched a bold initiative with a clear message: college is accessible again. Community college? Tuition- and fee-free for everyone. Four-year public college? Tuition- and […]
Posted inEnvironment
New FEMA flood maps prompt questions, concerns across Massachusetts
Massachusetts property owners are navigating the need for flood insurance as disasters become more widespread and the state looks to reverse an urgent housing shortage.
Posted inOpinion
A tale of two Bakers: Charlie, don’t forget Hobey
Hobey Baker remains the beau-idéal of the amateur sportsman, a species endangered by the NCAA’s budding plans for play for pay. What does Hobey Baker have to say to Charlie Baker in these days of change?
Posted inTechnology
Local businesses, not just Big Tech, push back on data-privacy legislation
It’s not just Silicon Valley versus the Legislature. An influential constellation of local business groups is pushing lawmakers to scale back the Senate’s sweeping data-privacy proposal, which one Democrat pitched as the strongest in the nation.
Posted inCourts
When the courthouse leads to the therapist’s office
The mental health courts make a compelling offer: If the participants agree to use it, the system will connect them with long-term and accessible mental health supports often out of reach for people in prison or just trying to navigate the crunched behavioral health landscape. But they are expensive, resource intensive, and serve just a fraction of the people in need of mental health services in and out of the criminal justice system.
Posted inOpinion
The real danger facing the T
There is a clear threat to our public transit system here in Boston, and it is not crime or “vagrancy.” It is the systematic clawing back of federal funding and the withdrawal of environmental justice and equity guidelines that seriously imperil how residents move.
Posted inEconomy
‘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.
Posted inEnergy
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.
Posted inOpinion
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.
Posted inOpinion
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 […]
Posted inThe Codcast
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.
Posted inOpinion
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 […]
Posted inHealth Care
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.
Posted inOpinion
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 […]