A dangerous demographic cliff lies just ahead: There’s been a lot of chatter about the vast demographic bulge that we call “baby boomers” passing 65; but the real news is that the oldest baby boomers will begin celebrating their 85th birthdays in 2031.
Massachusetts has an elder care crisis – and it’s about to get a lot worse
Posted inGateway Cities
‘Couldn’t come at a better time’: Six Gateway Cities to get economic boost in downtown districts
Malden, Holyoke, Fitchburg, Chelsea, Peabody, and Lowell were selected for the latest round of support last week. Each city will receive a three-year economic development fellow who will provide on-the-ground expertise, leadership, and planning to help support small businesses, real estate development, and arts and culture projects.
Posted inEnergy
House passes landmark energy bill with deep cuts to Mass Save, sending it to Senate
The legislation reflects the larger tradeoffs around energy policy as Beacon Hill grapples with rising power demand, soaring costs, and quickly approaching climate commitments.
Posted inPolitics
Often at odds, Mariano and Spilka united by ballot question frustration
As the Legislature prepares to review 11 ballot questions with major policymaking implications, the top two Democrats came together to complain that the process is “fraught with peril.”
Posted inOpinion
Behind closed doors, big decisions loom on health care affordability
The rationale for closed-door talks is that it allows participants to take real risks. Without that courage, privacy becomes insulation rather than incubation.
Posted inEducation
Massachusetts is poised to shake up literacy instruction — and some educators don’t like it
The Bay State is poised to enact what its supporters call some of the strongest reading legislation in the nation — and some educators worry it goes too far in imposing new standards that override teacher control of classrooms.
Posted inEnergy
House tees up sprawling energy package that would cut $1B from Mass Save
The legislation thrust Beacon Hill’s Democratic supermajority into a fierce debate when an earlier version of the bill that would have weakened the state’s 2030 climate targets advanced out of committee.
Posted inOpinion
DiZoglio strikes back, but is she firing blanks?
Absent extraordinary circumstances, it is not for unelected judges to decide whenand how litigation should be pursued in the name of the Commonwealth’s citizens.
Posted inThe Codcast
‘Administrative fat’ or ‘amnesia’: How much should we spend on the MBTA?
This week on The Codcast, we dive into a long-running debate: is the significant growth in state funding for the T an acknowledgment that good public transit requires big public investment, or is it a reflection of out-of-control spending? CommonWealth Beacon senior reporter Chris Lisinski moderates a discussion with former Transportation Secretary Jim Aloisi and Pioneer Institute senior fellow Charlie Chieppo.
Posted inOpinion
In Wellesley, a determined effort to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory
What’s unfolding in the wealthy Boston suburb is not that different from other situations across the state when communities and leaders with the best of intentions lose their resolve.
Posted inPolitics
Healey won’t attend White House events with governors
“‘For years, Governors of both parties met with Presidents of both parties annually,” Healey said in a statement released after 4 p.m. Thursday. ‘This has always been an important opportunity for us to discuss the most pressing issues facing our country and how we can work together on solutions. But it should come as no surprise to anyone that President Trump has completely politicized this.'”
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: Wu and Rooney on collision course, again
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce chief Jim Rooney are cruising toward another political fight that could strain their sometimes-friendly, sometimes-cool relationship. Over the course of the past week, Wu came out in support of a rent control ballot question, while Rooney’s organization joined the real estate-led campaign seeking to defeat the measure.
Posted inHousing
Ed Augustus becomes eighth member of Healey’s Cabinet to depart
Housing Secretary Ed Augustus will step down next week to take over a Central Massachusetts bank, and the governor picked former HUD official — and onetime MassINC chief operating officer — Juana Matias to succeed him.
Posted inImmigration
It’s anyone’s guess when Beacon Hill will agree on an immigration response
Three weeks after both Gov. Maura Healey and the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus offered separate roadmaps for action, it’s still unclear how or when House and Senate Democrats will proceed amid national pressure to respond to ICE raids.
Posted inOpinion
Reviving the MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board would set the agency back
Much of today’s investment is a direct response to years of deferred maintenance and staffing shortages—conditions that worsened under the austerity-driven approach of the T’s control board.
Posted inEducation
Healey has called for universal pre-K in every Gateway City by the year’s end. Providers say they won’t get there.
Seven of the 26 cities are not currently participating in the state’s pre-K implementation program. Child care providers in cities that are participating say that while it enforces a mixed-delivery approach highly valued by preschool advocates, universal access for every 4-year-old by the end of the year is a pipe dream.
Posted inThe Codcast
Big tech is watching
This week on the Codcast – what does online surveillance look like in 2026? CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talks with Kade Crockford, director of technology and justice programs at the ACLU of Massachusetts. They discuss the biggest misconceptions about data privacy online, why your information is valuable and vulnerable, and legislation proposed at the state level to limit who can see and sell user data.
Posted inOpinion
The ‘Right to Read’ bill must include teacher preparation
The state Legislature appears poised to pass the “Right to Read Act” — legislation that would require school districts to adopt evidence-based literacy curricula. With more than half of students […]
Posted inEnvironment
Mass. falling short of key climate targets, with some bright spots, after one year of Trump attacks
The state’s self-assessment comes as it races to reduce its carbon pollution to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 and produce no new net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 — all while confronting a hostile federal government and an affordability crisis sweeping the state.
Posted inState Government
With auditor’s office funding on the line, DiZoglio and Legislature play nice for an hour
A day after Diana DiZoglio sued the Legislature over her stalled audit attempt, both she and lawmakers avoided the topic during a routine budget hearing.
Posted inHousing
Reluctant MBTA Communities start to buckle
The law will be before the Supreme Judicial Court next month, when the justices hear arguments in a case brought by Marshfield that claims the zoning law should be struck down as an “unfunded mandate” being imposed on communities.