The Download: A new year, new stories
Massachusetts roundtable: a look at 2025 legislative priorities
Commonwealth Beacon’s Jennifer Smith sits down with Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo, Brad Campbell, president of the Conservation Law Foundation, and Jessica Collins, executive director of the Public Health Institute of Western MA to discuss key statehouse priorities. They reflect on past achievements and look ahead to future efforts in education, climate, transportation, and housing.
Carter and Kennedy: Foes whose battle gave rise to a shared legacy of perseverance
Jimmy Carter and Ted Kennedy, who fought a bitter primary battle in 1980, both did something nearly unheard of American politics following their face-off and the devastating loss each suffered that year: both got back up and went on to build enduring legacies of service, transforming setbacks into decades of meaningful work that shaped the nation and the world.
Political Notebook: Super PACs could make a big comeback in Boston
Prior election cycles in Boston offer a possible preview of what’s to come in this year’s mayoral contest.
With new term dawning, Spilka eyes K-12 funding reform, primary care overhaul
A newly reelected Senate President Karen Spilka previewed some of her legislative priorities for the 2025-2026 session: reexamining the state’s education funding formula, pressing for primary health care delivery reform, and pushing again to expand juvenile court jurisdiction to include young adults aged 18.
Five threats to health care in second Trump term
Health care advocates in Massachusetts are preparing for five potential attacks on health care under a second Donald Trump administration: undermining the ACA, slashing Medicaid, threats to immigrants and their health care coverage, restrictions on reproductive and gender-focused health care, and risks to public health.
Massachusetts health care concerns under Trump 2.0
John McDonough of the T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute sit down with Amy Rosenthal, executive director of Health Care for All, to discuss the potential impacts of a second Trump term on Medicaid and Medicare in Massachusetts.
Healey task force on transportation funding will miss its December 31 deadline
The task force Gov. Maura Healey created to propose a new funding model for transportation in Massachusetts is going to miss its end-of-2024 deadline.
‘Eso no va a ser bonito’
Los defensores de los inmigrantes piensan que exista la posibilidad de que New Bedford será un blanco clavo en una gran lista de lugares clavos en una nueva campaña de deportación baja la nueva administración.
Outgoing Rep. Bill Straus considers the fate of Mass. transportation
CommonWealth Beacon’s Jennifer Smith interviews Rep. Bill Straus of the 10th Bristol district on past, present, and future transportation issues in Massachusetts.
Leaving Beacon Hill after 32 years, Rep. Straus looks down the road
REP. BILL STRAUS would like everyone to stop talking about commuter rail. Not the system, of course. The Mattapoisett representative, who decided not to seek reelection after holding the 10th […]
CommonWealth Beacon’s best Codcasts of 2024
Looking back at 2024 through our favorite podcasts of the year.
‘It’s not going to be pretty’
Immigrant advocates have good reason to think New Bedford may figure prominently on a list of places that will be targeted under an aggressive deportation campaign by the new Trump administration.
The best CommonWealth Beacon commentary of 2024
A robust exchange of views is crucial to a healthy democracy, and we try to do our part by providing a forum for well-argued commentary that reflects a broad range of perspectives on issues facing the Commonwealth. Here is our top 10 list of CommonWealth Beacon commentary for 2024, either individual pieces or a group of them on a topic.
The top ten CommonWealth Beacon stories of 2024
ALL ROADS lead to home, or perhaps the nearest T station. Housing and transportation are both issues that roiled policymakers on and off Beacon Hill, as state officials sought to […]
Political Notebook: What they read this year on and off Beacon Hill
CommonWealth Beacon rounds up the end-of-year reading lists for politicians and policy leaders across the state.
‘We need more people to work’
In rural locations such as areas of Cape Cod and western Massachusetts, community health centers face significant workforce challenges amid a statewide primary care physician shortage.
Winthrop rejects MBTA Communities zoning plan
With the December 31 MBTA Communities Act deadline fast approaching for 129 cities and towns, the Winthrop town council has rejected the only viable zoning plan that would allow the community to comply with the law, which was passed to help alleviate the housing shortage plaguing Massachusetts.
How Frank Bellotti helped launch my career — and saved my life
Frank Bellott, who died at 101, led a large, impactful life, not because of its extraordinary length, but because of what he did, and the ways he served as a role model and mentor, and shaped much of Massachusetts public life over more than three decades.