This week on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon editor Laura Colarusso sits down with Gateway Cities reporter Hallie Claflin to talk about her recent reporting in Holyoke – where city leaders and housing developers have struggled to restore vacant mills and blighted industrial buildings.
Restoring blighted properties is easier said than done in Western Mass.
Posted inOpinion
Without a watchdog, T operating costs spiral
But making T finances more sustainable by bringing them in line with other large urban transit agencies takes more than just capital improvements. It will require legislative leaders and Gov. Healey to reinstate and empower an entity like the Fiscal and Management Control Board to explicitly focus on operating cost control.
Posted inEnergy
Cuts to federal solar tax credits send Mass. farmers ‘scrambling’
Federal solar tax credits that once covered 30 percent of project costs are being phased out. For farmers, that can mean fewer opportunities to use agrivoltaics to offset rising costs and keep farmland in production.
Posted inHousing
The new Seaport District? Restoration of Lynn’s waterfront has developers closing in on city’s South Harbor
The waterfront is one of Lynn’s major attractions and has been a key part of the city’s ongoing growth and economic revitalization plans. But affordable housing advocates have raised concerns about the kind of development that Harbor Park has attracted – comparing the South Harbor to Boston’s wealthy Seaport District.
Posted inEnvironment
“They’re in everything:” Massachusetts lawmakers explore solutions to forever chemicals
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, at least 45% of the nation’s tap drinking water is estimated to have one or more types of PFAS. State data show that at least 171 public water systems in 96 cities in Massachusetts have contaminated water that exceeds the state’s limit.
Posted inEconomy
Tax change lifts plans for “hyperscale” data center campus in Westfield
The increasingly digital world — in which people and businesses are constantly searching the Internet, turning to AI for help, or storing information in the cloud — has led to a growing need for data centers to support online activity.
Posted inOpinion
At a moment of crisis, Boston’s top two public media leaders argue that building community is the way forward. They’re right.
Boston’s two leading public media executives say that rebuilding trust and community are the keys to survival in the face of the loss of $1.1 billion in federal funds for public broadcasting over the next two years.
Posted inHousing
Rent control measure triggers ballot eligibility debate
The months ahead could feature court battles, a hefty signature-gathering effort and a bruising campaign to sway voters.
Posted inOpinion
The Fair Share Amendment is delivering
Nearly three years after its passage, it’s becoming clear that the millionaires tax has been a total success, and an incredible benefit for our state’s businesses.
Posted inOpinion
Legacy admissions must go
Some argue that the practice builds alumni tradition and a culture of financial giving, but it remains an affront to equity in education.
Posted inEnergy
Massachusetts signals new gas customers may soon have to pay full hookup costs
Line extension allowances – which allow gas companies to charge the cost of hooking up new customers to existing ones – may be on their way out in Massachusetts.
Posted inOpinion
Don’t let public access TV go dark
In communities across the Commonwealth, these stations have kept the lights on in meeting halls and school auditoriums, ensuring that local democracy happens in the open.
Posted inArts and Culture
Ali Noorani tapped as new Barr Foundation president
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.
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?