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.
CommonWealth Beacon’s top news stories in 2023
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.”
Posted inThe Codcast
The road to a new Boston police contract
Mayor Michelle Wu has had to negotiate a tremendous number of labor contracts, including most recently with the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association. Lou Mandarini, Wu’s senior advisor for labor, joins CommonWealth’s Jennifer Smith and Gin Dumcius to discuss the BPPA contract and the city’s approach to collective bargaining.
Posted inOpinion
Confessions of a marijuana legalizer
We lacked the wherewithal to counter the propaganda, so we played to common fears, however unfounded, by pointedly including in the law ample authority for the proposed regulatory agency to enact rules addressing every jitter, however baseless, about marijuana.
Posted inOpinion
Finally, natural gas has no future
The future of gas order released here in Massachusetts is just the beginning. We have the opportunity to lead the nation in a just transition away from toxic gas for good.
Posted inMarijuana
Judge sides with Goldberg in dispute with O’Brien
A state judge sided with Treasurer Deborah Goldberg in her dispute with Shannon O’Brien, ruling that the suspended cannabis commission chair is not entitled to the public, name-clearing hearing she has been seeking.
Posted inEnvironment
New regulations would brace development for more severe storms
STORMS ACROSS Massachusetts have been growing in strength, with deluges this year sending bacteria-laden stormwater into the ocean and wreaking havoc in flash floods. The state’s environmental agencies are gearing […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Short takes: A (different) public apology in Stuart case
Four years before Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s public apology over the city’s handling of the Stuart murder case, Suffolk DA Rachael Rollins offered a similar, if little noticed, mea culpa.
Posted inOpinion
Transfers between state colleges should be automatic
In a groundbreaking initiative, Bunker Hill Community College and UMass Lowell have collaborated to create a program allowing Bunker Hill students to opt into simultaneous admission to UMass Lowell upon their graduation from Bunker Hill.
Posted inBy The Numbers
Emergency shelter facilities distributed unevenly across Mass.
A report released earlier this week indicates big disparities among communities in terms of emergency shelter facilities.
Posted inEducation
Dueling letters to Healey on vocational school admissions
More than two dozen lawmakers wrote to Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday, urging her to end the practice of using selective entry standards at the state’s vocational high schools and instead admit students by lottery.
Posted inCourts
Healey’s SJC pick questioned about lack of judicial experience
“I would bring a lot of experience with the different courts of the Commonwealth, in a different way,” Bessie Dewar said.
Posted inOpinion
The wheelchair repair system is broken
Bureaucracy and other complexities are creating undue delays in repairing complex wheelchairs, equipment that is essential for everyday life for thousands of people.
Posted inEconomy
For the ‘canna-curious,’ a new way to buy and ‘drink weed’
Theory Wellness, opening the state’s first drink-only cannabis dispensary in Medford, is betting on the growing cannabis beverage market and looking to make the process of buying and drinking marijuana look a lot more like the process of buying and drinking beer or the ever-more-popular spiked seltzer.
Posted inBy The Numbers
Mass. population grows slightly
The Massachusetts population was estimated at 7,001,399 in the latest “Vintage 2023” population estimates from the Census Bureau, an increase of 18,659 people (or 0.27 percent) between July 2022 and July 2023.
Posted inEconomy
Mass. to receive $1.4m in Google antitrust settlement
The $700 million settlement resolves antitrust litigation, with the attorneys general alleging that the company used its Google Play app store to engage in an unlawful monopoly.
Posted inOpinion
My advice: Go fast, go farther, and go quickly
Just imagine if you could get to Springfield from South Station in 45 minutes. This would be transformative. Suddenly you could work in downtown Boston and be home in Springfield—a place you can afford to live—in time for dinner.
Posted inHousing
Cost of emergency shelter system nearly tripling this year
The report said the cost of the program has nearly tripled, growing from roughly $325 million at the start of this fiscal year to $932 million as Massachusetts has tried to find shelter for a growing wave of migrants from other countries.
Posted inTransportation
MBTA, out $7m for tunnel mitigation, still waiting
Nearly four months after the reopening of the Sumner Tunnel, the MBTA is still waiting to be reimbursed by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation for its efforts to mitigate the traffic impact caused by the two-month closure.