Noorani will succeed Jim Canales, the foundation’s longtime president who announced in January that he planned to step down after 11 years in the role.
Ali Noorani tapped as new Barr Foundation president
Posted inPolitics
Galvin pursuing ballot question on same-day voter registration
Galvin understands the ideal often put forth that lawmaking is best done through the give and take of legislative deliberation. But he also knows the difference between thoughtful deliberation and bill-killing delay tactics.
Posted inOpinion
In Lynn, new ‘Calm Team’ offers alternative to police response
We are joining the growing number of communities across the US that are exploring ways to handle calls for help other than by sending police officers.
Posted inHousing
Real estate developers in Gateway Cities grappling with Trump’s tariffs
Housing and real estate developers are beginning to feel the effects of President Trump’s taxes on imports – a move the administration claims will boost American-made products, but market experts say will hike already-elevated real estate production costs. Some are struggling to factor uncertain material costs into their current project plans.
Posted inThe Codcast
Can Mass. turn the health care crisis around?
John McDonough and Paul Hattis welcome Eric Dickson, president and CEO of UMass Memorial Health, to discuss the primary care crisis and a troubling federal landscape. Dickson lays out a grim picture of health care in Massachusetts if the state and federal trajectory does not change.
Posted inOpinion
In the face of federal cuts, Mass. must spend transportation dollars right
Now is the moment to take careful stock of how we’ve spent federal funds and where we should invest going forward.
Posted inHealth Care
Healey signs bill expanding reproductive, transgender care protections
SURROUNDED BY HEALTH CARE advocates and curious tourists peering into Nurses Hall, Gov. Maura Healey signed an expanded shield law giving patients and providers in Massachusetts a new layer of defense against out-of-state intrusion into reproductive and transgender care.
Posted inGovernment
Three ways for Massachusetts to lead post-‘Big Beautiful’ bill
Much as we did 250 years ago in leading our fledgling country’s fight for independence, here are three ways our Commonwealth can be a beacon of hope and progress in this moment.
Posted inHousing
‘Easier said than done’: Former mill cities struggle to rehab vacant, blighted properties in Western Mass.
In recent decades, historic mills and old industrial buildings in Gateway Cities across the state have been renovated and converted into much-needed housing. But while Eastern Massachusetts cities have had success, cities farther west with weaker housing markets still struggle with an array of blighted properties that have yet to be developed.
Posted inEducation
70 percent of Mass. infants live in child care deserts, according to state data
Enrollment differences between regions, student age groups, and income levels paint a picture of a system struggling to meet potential demand and that is most available to those at the highest income brackets.
Posted inBallot Questions
Remove restrictions that limit more housing? Rein in rents? Voters may face dueling ballot questions advancing competing ideas.
Housing advocates often fall into two camps, offering very different solutions to the housing crisis.
Posted inOpinion
Healey’s veto of funding for GLP-1 drugs harms public employees and the economy
Shouldn’t Massachusetts lead the way, rather than leave its citizens behind on this critical issue?
Posted inPolitics
Kraft 2.0 looks a lot like the first version
Boston mayoral challenger Josh Kraft is looking to recharge his struggling campaign, but it’s not clear how a speech he delivered on Sunday does much to juice his candidacy.
Posted inOpinion
SNAP cuts are an abdication of our shared moral responsibility
SNAP is not a wasteful program – it is our nation’s first line of defense against hunger. It is a trusted and proven program to support our most disadvantaged residents in putting nutritious food on the table.
Posted inThe Codcast
The good, the bad, and the uncertain in Trump’s tax bill
CommonWealth Beacon executive editor Michael Jonas talks with reporter Jennifer Smith about a series of stories parsing the sprawling Trump tax and spending bill. They discuss why it’s so hard to know if Opportunity Zones have been effective, and why affordable housing advocates are mixed on the administration’s approach to low-income renters.
Posted inOpinion
A nation of immigrants imperiled
In both of his terms in office, Donald Trump has taken aim at each of the principal ways that people from other countries can become naturalized United States citizens.
Posted inEnergy
Boston struggles to find takers for green roof grants
The Boston Water and Sewer Commission has had a hard time persuading residents to take them up on their offer to help subsidize green roofs to reduce stormwater runoff.
Posted inState Government
Deal to raise bar advocate pay panned as ‘a slap in the face’
Legislative leaders on Wednesday rolled out a take-it-or-leave-it proposal that some dissatisfied attorneys quickly slammed as insufficient.
Posted inHousing
Trump policies offer mixed messages on affordable housing
“There is just no way to subsidize housing development processes enough” to be affordable to the lowest income residents, said Matt Noyes of CHAPA, “without affordable rental assistance.”
Posted inOpinion
Nicotine bans are tired ‘nanny state’ politics
In an era where transparency, government accountability and personal freedoms are in peril every day, it is rather stunning that state legislators want to impose bans on tobacco and nicotine products that will forever prohibit anyone born after January 1, 2006, from being able to purchase legal adult products.
Posted inState Government
Despite widespread support, ‘menstrual equity’ bill has stalled for two sessions in the House
Despite seeming widespread support and no public opposition, Massachusetts’s menstrual equity bill has stalled over two sessions in the House Ways and Means.
Posted inEnvironment
Lynn, Swampscott team up to clean Greater Boston’s dirtiest beach
A three-month pilot program is working to tackle the century-old problem of pollution at King’s Beach using ultraviolet light. The initial results have been promising, but between the high cost projected for a long-term fix and cuts to federal funding, whether the system could be permanently implemented remains to be seen.
