Through 200 years of manufacturing in the South Coast communities of Fall River and New Bedford, Shaun Nichols outlines cycles of growth and decline in multiple industries, raising compelling and uncomfortable questions about regional economic development.
Questioning competitiveness
Posted inTransportation
Tibbits-Nutt comments raise questions about I-90 Allston funding
“I don’t want this to be characterized as an oversight by our staff because it wasn’t,” said Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt.
Posted inState Government
Legislature should appoint Cannabis Control Commission receiver
At this point, I respectfully submit that there is an urgent need for the legislative leadership to take immediate action to statutorily authorize the appointment of, and appoint, a receiver with clearly delineated authority to manage the day-to-day operations of the CCC.
Posted inHealth Care
The artificial intelligence frontier hits health care
A panel moderated by Rahsaan Hall, president and CEO of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, considered the practical applications and equity red flags of incorporating artificial intelligence into regular practice.
Posted inArts and Culture
Rename Logan Airport for Celtics legend Bill Russell? Mass. officials don’t rule it out
“Naming the airport for Russell would send a powerful message about the region it serves,” wrote Mark Leibovich.
Posted inOpinion
Flooding is only getting worse. The time to begin addressing it is now.
For people across Massachusetts, flooding from storms and sea-level rise presents an existential threat to their homes, businesses, and communities. The Commonwealth must engage in long-term planning to mitigate flood risk, increase resiliency for communities, and, for those who are ready, move people to safer places.
Posted inEnergy
Senate to go first on climate legislation with wide-ranging bill
Two bills are expected to come up for votes on Thursday, one dealing with nitty gritty aspects of the clean energy transition and another more narrowly focused measure attempting to curb the use of plastics in everyday life.
Posted inThe Codcast
Massachusetts health care by the numbers
This week on The Codcast, John McDonough of the TH Chan School and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute are joined by Lauren Peters, executive director of the MA Center for Health Information and Analysis. They discuss the center’s role in informing public policy discussions, its involvement in the Steward saga, and a variety of significant trends in MA health care, including overall spending and the shortage of primary care physicians.
Posted inHealth Care
Data indicate warning signs for Massachusetts health care
CHIA’s most recent total health care expenditure data show a 5.8 percent growth rate, Peters said, which represents the highest one-year growth trend since measurement began in 2012, with the exception of the “anomalous” COVID year of 2021.
Posted inPolitics
Seeking a right to medical aid in dying
Margaret Miley is frustrated, in pain, and dying. But Massachusetts has thus far resisted the movement, now law in nearly a dozen other states, to allow patients near their end of their life to obtain medication that would hasten their death.
“Who benefits from this?” she asks.
Posted inPublic Records
Court orders DiZoglio to remove audit redactions
A judge ordered state Auditor Diana DiZoglio to release unredacted reports on two Massachusetts sheriffs’ departments, ruling that public disclosure of the information that had been blocked would not pose a risk to public safety or cybersecurity.
Posted inOpinion
A professional soccer stadium in Franklin Park is a bad deal for Boston
The plan to convert White Stadium in Boston’s Franklin Park into a stadium for a professional women’s soccer team, with the city committing $50 million toward the project, is bad financial deal for the city, a subsidy of $30 million or more for a for-profile sports enterprise at a time when municipal revenues are under stress.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Political Notebook: Never-ending State Police problems | Transit beer summit? | Ranking Boston’s choices
The woes of the Massachusetts State Police never seem to end, with the latest black eye coming at the high-profile murder trail of Karen Read, where a State Police investigator copped to making comments about the defendant that Gov. Maura Healey termed “disgusting.”
Posted inOpinion
Reform of ‘prior authorization’ rules crucial to patient care
Prior authorization began as a tool to monitor and control spending on costly or novel treatments, but it has proliferated to apply broadly to many medications, services, and treatments, including common life saving devices like inhalers.
Posted inGovernment
Healey’s capital spending plan puts bond bills in perspective
The state’s plan for actual capital spending dedicates $2 billion for housing over the next five years, and $400 million in fiscal 2025, which is a 30 percent increase over fiscal 2024.
Posted inMarijuana
Cannabis regulators allow marijuana to be transported over state waters
“This was turned around in a really quick time frame,” said Commissioner Kimberly Roy. “At the end of the day, this was about public health and public safety and patients and consumers alike having access to safely regulated products.”
Posted inBallot Questions
SJC green-lights tipped wages ballot measure
A ballot initiative that would raise the minimum wage for tipped workers and let employees pool tips cleared the state’s highest court, with justices concluding the petition’s language is just fine to put before voters.
Posted inState Government
Much ado about the multibillion dollar housing bond bill
Major bond bills set the widest parameters for possible spending. But there’s little to no chance that $6 billion in bonding power actually gets pointed at the housing crisis.
Posted inOpinion
Automatic solar for the people: Why Massachusetts should adopt electronic permitting
Rather than relying on time-pressured municipal employees manually confirming numerous require municipalities to accept electronic submission of solar permit applications.
Posted inHousing
New guidance offers key details of family shelter limits
A new law agreed to this year by the Legislature and Gov. Maura Healey put a limit on how long families can stay in shelter, and it also said no more than 150 families should be removed by the state every week, not counting families who leave on their own.