Diversity is more than a buzzword; it’s now a strategy for success. The recent report should serve as a wake-up call to make the reality of the corporate workforce in Massachusetts match the hype.
Bridging the diversity gap in Massachusetts’s corporate sector
Posted inEnergy
Vineyard Wind takes one giant step
On Tuesday night at 11:54 p.m., the wind farm team of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid passed a major test – generating 5 megawatts of electricity from one turbine and successfully transmitting the electrons via a transmission line into the regional power grid on Cape Cod.
Posted inHousing
With housing crisis, it often feels like same old story
Drawing more attention to the housing crisis surely can’t hurt, though the persistence of the problem underscores the strength of the forces resisting efforts to put a big dent in it.
Posted inEnergy
Vineyard Wind, a couple days after target date, delivers first power
The developers behind Vineyard Wind failed to follow through on their pledge to begin delivering electricity to the power grid in 2023.
Posted inOpinion
Why is Mass. always in a state of emergency?
Notice that Healey trying to use the Civil Defense Act without invoking it is not an oversight or misunderstanding. She, as attorney general, argued before the Supreme Judicial Court in defense of Baker’s use of the Civil Defense Act. This sleight-of-hand is a choice.
Posted inImmigration
Work authorizations for migrants in shelter system soar
Between December 18 and December 28, the number of migrants in the emergency shelter system who are authorized to work under federal law rose from 813 to 2,713, according to a status report provided to the Legislture.
Posted inHousing
‘What is can be’ – A second life for the Somerville triple-decker
In Somerville, a years-long push to re-embrace the triple-decker dovetailed with a serious need for new housing units, and its city council voted in November to fully legalize new three-unit construction.
Posted inThe Codcast
Long live the triple-decker
After many years in which it was effectively illegal to build new triple-deckers in Somerville, any homeowner can now add a third unit to their property. Somerville city councilor Matt McLaughlin, and Jesse Kanson-Benanav of Abundant Housing, join CommonWealth Beacon’s Jennifer Smith to discuss the past, present, and future of the triple-decker and its contribution to affordable housing in Massachusetts.
Posted inRace/Racism
3 academic experts analyze O’Brien’s comments
After reading excerpts from Shannon O’Brien’s court filing about the allegations against her, the experts all agreed that more context and information are necessary to determine if O’Brien should be fired for racial insensitivity.
Posted inOpinion
Every police ‘bad shoot’ should be treated as a system failure
We should be streamlining the path to restoration for the victims, not saddling them with the burden of demonizing cops and proving misconduct.
Posted inOpinion
A better way to deal with the state’s shelter crisis
Using state, federal, and philanthropic resources, refugee resettlement providers helped Afghan evacuees find apartments, learn English, enter the workforce, meet their neighbors, and integrate into communities across the state.
Posted inOpinion
Meeting climate goals requires new policy, funding
There are statutory, policy, and funding changes we must adopt if we are to meet our climate goals.
Posted inState Government
Baker portrait hung at State House
Charlie Baker’s official portrait, unveiled at a private soiree December 21 in the State House library, was up on the wall this week in the lobby of the executive suite for all to see.
Posted inOpinion
State tuition support should be for private as well as public colleges
The MassGrant Plus expansion plan that Healey recently announced includes no additional support to deserving low- and middle-income students who strive to attend the best private colleges and universities in the world, which happen to be in Massachusetts.
Posted inOpinion
Drug pricing policies, proposals are a danger to Mass.
Government-mandated drug pricing policies included in the Inflation Reduction Act, and efforts to expand those policies to the commercial sector, could prevent Massachusetts and New England from remaining one of the top life science and biotechnology hubs in the nation.
Posted inMedia
CommonWealth Beacon’s most popular Codcasts of 2023
“I really take that as a kind of a philosophy, almost, at this particular point, that I want to be as optimistic as I possibly can, knowing the bleakness of my situation as a reality, but also to walk on air, meaning, I think, take chances that you might have put off at other times in your life.”
Posted inEnergy
State agency prepares to buy Salem offshore wind port land
Crowley will receive $30 million for the sale, the same amount the company paid when it originally purchased the land, according to Tyson. Another $45 million in state funding will support capital development at the site.
Posted inOpinion
Our economic future is tied to innovation, freedom
There are two simple components to our approach. We will continue to innovate and we will continue to champion freedoms and create caring, inclusive communities.
Posted inMedia
CommonWealth Beacon’s most-read commentary pieces of 2023
Perhaps not surprising at a time when it often feels like MBTA stands for “more bad transit agita,” half of the 10 most-read commentary pieces of 2023 related in some way to how we get around, two of them specifically zeroing in on the T.
Posted inMedia
CommonWealth Beacon’s top news stories in 2023
Three of the most-read stories from CommonWealth, which rebranded as CommonWealth Beacon in November, related to transportation, and the top story, about a Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation study, focused on transportation and the fallout from COVID and remote work on the downtown Boston office market.
Posted inOpinion
A New Year’s resolution: Make Mass. affordable
The big $1 billion tax cut celebrated by Beacon Hill leaders this year was, for the most part, a regressive giveaway to the already well-off, costing the state millions of dollars that could otherwise be used to support low-income people and the middle class.
Posted inGovernment
The ‘labor whisperer’ inside Boston City Hall
“Don’t demonize your opponent. Don’t question your opponent’s motives. I mean, I’m actually slipping here by even saying opponent,” said Lou Mandarini, who was called Mayor Michelle Wu’s “labor whisperer.”