Mass. Fiscal Alliance’s recent critique of the state’s pending clean energy legislation regarding battery storage procurement is heavy on alarmism and light on accuracy. The conversation around costs and benefits must be rooted in facts—not misinformation and back-of-the-envelope calculations designed to undermine progress.
Setting the record straight on energy storage and clean energy costs
Posted inTransportation
State officials must ‘repent’ for MBTA’s ‘crippling debts,’ watchdog says
An independent group took a deep dive through the history of public transit in Boston for its latest report about funding woes.
Posted inThe Codcast
Introducing CommonWealth Beacon editor Laura Colarusso
This week on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon’s Jennifer Smith introduces CWB’s new editor, Laura Colarusso. They discuss her background in journalism, motivation for public service, and the challenges and opportunities in the ever-changing field.
Posted inMedia
CommonWealth Beacon’s new editor on public service journalism
Colarusso comes to CommonWealth after more than three years at Nieman Reports, which is the Harvard University Nieman Foundation magazine focused on the journalism industry.
Posted inOpinion
Why both sides are wrong about the millionaires tax
Despite strong claims from both sides, two years after Massachusetts voters approved a new 4 percent surcharge on income over $1 million, we don’t really know how the tax is working.
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: Golden Gate earthquake felt in Boston
When the fog in San Francisco lifted and the mayoral election tally rolled in, the outcome caught the attention of some people 3,000 miles away in Boston.
Posted inOpinion
Voters overwhelmingly rejected the MCAS grad requirement. Here’s what should happen now.
NOW THAT THE public has definitively rejected MCAS as a graduation test, there is much pressure to create new graduation requirements. We at Citizens for Public Schools believe any major […]
Posted inHousing
Report says Gateway Cities need to double housing production to meet rising demand
Gateway Cities can play a key role in addressing the state housing shortage, but they need to build 83,000 new housing units over the next decade – double their pace of production over the last 10 years – in order to bring supply and demand into balance and stabilize prices.
Posted inBallot Questions
An uphill climb for rideshare unionization
RIDESHARE WORKERS are celebrating the passage of Question 3, which gave them a legal framework to unionize, but the path to unionizing may still prove to be an uphill climb […]
Posted inOpinion
Bruce Mohl made CommonWealth must-reading — and brought me back into civic life
CommonWealth Beacon editor Bruce Mohl retired last week after 16 years. Longtime opinion contribtor Jim Aloisi offered this tribute and reflection on the mark he made. I’VE BEEN A somewhat […]
Posted inPolitics
Attorney General Andrea Campbell gears up for Trump round two
ONE WEEK AFTER the 2024 presidential election results, Attorney General Andrea Campbell has a staggering legal to-do list. “I think there are many out there doing the blame game or […]
Posted inPolitics
Everett soccer stadium language survives in $4B jobs bill
Top Democrats filed a compromise economic development bill months after their deadline-day talks collapsed, packing the measure with state support for the life sciences and climate technology industries and more.
Posted inHousing
Emergency shelter system should move away from one-size-fits-all model, officials say
The state’s emergency shelter system, hit with an influx of migrant families, should seek financial stability by shifting away from a one-size-fits-all model and reducing reliance on hotels and motels, according to members of a state commission studying the system.
Posted inOpinion
Students and families pay the price when teachers go on strike
The parties can and should continue to negotiate in good faith, demonstrating a mutual willingness to compromise, while schools remain in session, providing a first-rate education to the students and families we serve.
Posted inPolitics
Lessons for the Democrats from Latino cities
Days after the presidential election, Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia reflects on the pronounced shift toward Donald Trump by Latino voters.
Posted inPolitics
Lecciones para los Demócratas de las ciudades Latinas
Read in English. CON LAS ELECCIONES presidenciales todavía frescas y el alcance de una segunda administración Trump empezando a tomar forma, políticos, encuestadores y expertos buscan respuestas. En las autopsias […]
Posted inOpinion
Not all Mass. hospitals are in terrible financial shape
STEVE WALSH, the president and CEO of the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association, struck a nerve with his recent commentary suggesting the state’s hospital industry is teetering on the brink […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Latino voters lead rightward shift in Mass.
This week on the Codcast, Commonwealth Beacon’s Jennifer Smith is joined by Mayor of Holyoke Joshua Garcia to reflect on the rightward trend of Latino voters in the 2024 presidential election. They discuss potential mechanisms behind the shift, and lessons learned for both political parties.
Posted inOpinion
The politics of subtraction
Democrats face two major structural headwinds on the path to regaining a majority coalition. First is governance in blue states, which have not exactly created a progressive utopia in recent decades. The second problem is interest groups that dominate the party coalition by practicing a politics of subtraction, whereby policy purity tests seek to narrow the big tent required for progressives to wield power nationally.