IN NOVEMBER 2024, when I launched Kicking It Together, a soccer program for kids in foster care, I hoped it would be a fun, recreational outlet for children going through […]
Massachusetts must stop separating siblings in foster care
Posted inHousing
One year in, backers of Massachusetts’s eviction sealing law say there is promise — and an awareness problem
The idea behind the law is to let tenants wipe the slate clean from certain evictions and not have those cases present obstacles to renting an apartment, securing a mortgage to buy a home, or finding employment.
Posted inOpinion
What does $1.7 billion get you in the Boston Public Schools? Abysmal student achievement and declining results.
A majority of Boston students are unable to read or do math at grade level. In a district spending $1.7 billion a year, it should be unconscionable to rest on good intentions without the ability to show real results.
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: Healey underwater in new poll
A new MassINC Polling Group survey finds the incumbent governor with a net unfavorable rating among voters, but don’t overread the significance of one snapshot this far out from the election.
Posted inMiddle class
‘I want a legacy for my family’
For years, small business ownership has served as a “gateway” to the middle class, particularly for residents in Gateway Cities like Holyoke where economic mobility is otherwise limited and educational attainment is low. But since the pandemic, experts and advocates have warned that Massachusetts’s small businesses are struggling to survive.
Posted inOpinion
Massachusetts should join the 43 states that allow psychologists to provide telehealth therapy across state lines
Competing priorities and legislative inertia are the only reasons Massachusetts has not caught up to the other states that have already taken this step to enhance access and continuity of behavioral health care.
Posted inOpinion
Hampshire College, as we know it, is closing. We still think it has a future.
The question is no longer whether Hampshire’s existing financial model is viable—it is not—but whether what remains can be guided through a structured transition rather than resolved through rapid liquidation.
Posted inPolitics
Healey’s reelection bid confronts volatile energy politics
Healey’s shift on climate is now starting to bleed into her campaign for a second term as players across the spectrum are looking to leverage their support in the November election to make gains on their issues.
Posted inEducation
As school districts cut budgets, DEI work may be first to go
Brookline’s school district is one of at least four in Massachusetts that have cut DEI initiatives or positions despite community support, citing shrinking student enrollments and rollbacks in federal funding that threaten school budgets.
Posted inOpinion
The Health Policy Commission is concerned about health care costs — but powerless to do much about it
It was created in 2012 as part of legislation aimed at containing health care costs, but not vested with much authority.
Posted inThe Codcast
The historic tightrope of middle-class life
Defining the middle class is harder than it might seem – it might mean owning a home, having steady work, keeping a pot of savings, or the kids and white picket fence vision of the “American Dream.” Historian Andrew Seal, whose research and writings focus on how the middle class thinks of itself, joins CommonWealth Beacon senior reporter Jennifer Smith on The Codcast to interpret recent Bay State polling and dive into how a middle-class identity intersects with race, media portrayals, and American individualism.
Posted inMiddle class
It’s hard work making it in the middle class
If there’s a single unifying theme to the Massachusetts middle-class outlook in 2026, it’s contradiction: We have more than ever, and in many cases, that’s not enough to enjoy the stability of prior generations.
Posted inOpinion
Voting Rights Act ruling can harm belief in fair representation, even in bluest states like Massachusetts
Civic participation is shaped as much by trust as it is by policy. That’s why leadership at the state level must be proactive, visible, and unequivocal in the face of federal rulings that set us back.
Posted inOpinion
Norwood Hospital was done in by inadequate state regulations. Here is the fix.
Massachusetts has shown it knows how to prevent the next Norwood-like crisis. The question is whether it will build the tools to help the communities already living through one.
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: Data centers get their tax breaks, taxpayer group side-eyes ballot measures
State officials had been working on crafting the tax exemption since the Legislature required it in the 2024 economic development measure that Gov. Maura Healey signed. But 18 months after that law was signed, the tax break comes at a fraught time for the artificial intelligence industry.
Posted inPolitics
Lawmakers complete bid to kill legislative stipend reforms
Supporters have framed the measure as a pro-democracy reform aimed at rebalancing power in a system that they say rewards loyalty to Democratic leadership. Lawmakers have pushed back harshly against that characterization.
Posted inOpinion
In Boston police shooting and LaGuardia tragedy, strikingly different approaches to the ‘decisive moment’
If we learn to look, every “decisive moment” can teach us what came before it, what lay beneath it, and what we can do beyond it to prevent recurrence.
Posted inOpinion
In charging Boston police officer with manslaughter, Suffolk DA ignored broader framing mandated by US Supreme Court
Under the Constitution, the question is not whether the officer was ultimately right. The question is whether a reasonable officer, confronted with the same tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving circumstances, could have perceived an immediate threat and responded in this way.
Posted inBallot Questions
Mass. voters might face 11 ballot questions this fall. Here’s where each measure stands.
Ballot campaigns are racing into their final stretch of signature collection – some facing court challenges and all facing Legislative ambivalence.
Posted inCourts
High court justices weigh deadline for Campbell-DiZoglio resolution
During oral arguments, the Supreme Judicial Court signaled it might order Attorney General Andrea Campbell and Auditor Diana DiZoglio to agree on a narrow scope of issues by a certain date, in an attempt to force forward movement in the long-running fight about auditing the Legislature.
Posted inMiddle class
In Mass., the middle class is holding on, but financial anxiety continues to climb
A new poll finds that most residents say their quality of life is good, but many expect to be worse off next year.
Posted inMiddle class
For Mass. residents, housing is where affordability hits hardest
New poll finds housing prices eating household budgets, and homeownership feels out of reach.
Posted inOpinion
I want statues of saints at my church, not at my police station
Installing two larger-than-life Christian saints to loom over the entrance of our public safety building sends a clear message to non-Christians.
Posted inOpinion
AI is coming to schools. Teachers need time to debate its use, experiment, and figure out how it fits in
THERE’S A CERTAIN feeling right before summer camp ends. It’s the feeling that through the new friendships, conversations, and activities, you’ve met a revised and better version of yourself. You’re […]
