On the monthly Health or Consequences episode of The Codcast, John McDonough of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute spoke with Audrey Gasteier, executive director of the Massachusetts Health Connector. Gasteier about the current crisis facing residents of the Commonwealth should the federal government fail to renew premium tax credits.
Codcast
Posted inThe Codcast
The profit and price of October in Salem
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Hallie Claflin talks with Dominick Pangallo, Mayor of Salem. Every year in October, Salem experiences a massive tourism boom as more than a million visitors flock to the site of the Salem Witch Trials for the spooky season. How does a small city of 45,000 manage the influx of tourists? How do Salem residents feel about the influx? And how lucrative is the tourism industry? Pangallo addresses these and encourages all to explore the great things Salem has to offer all year round.
Posted inThe Codcast
Shutdown squeeze ups the odds of a Mass. recession
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talks with Mark Williams, finance lecturer at the Questrom School of Business at Boston University. Now two weeks into the federal shutdown, Williams reviews an already bleak estimate of Massachusetts’s financial health if officials continue on their current spending path. Facing federal cuts, immigration policy changes, and the knock-on effects of the shutdown, Williams warns that the Bay State could be heading for a recession within a year.
Posted inThe Codcast
The math of rural health access
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talks with Michael Leary, director of media relations for Berkshire Health Systems. They dive into what makes Berkshire County such a complicated place for health care access – with rural towns, busier cities, college students, and of course the seasonal visitors looking to peep some leaves or take in the snowy mountains. The far-flung region’s geography is a challenge on its own, and that’s before factoring in the system-wide staffing crunches and looming Medicaid
Posted inThe Codcast
A super PAC longshot
This week on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talks with Harvard professor Larry Lessig about the ill-fated attempt to restrict Super PAC contributions in Massachusetts and the successful effort in Maine that was struck down by the lower court. The Maine coalition thinks it has a shot at convincing higher courts, not to overturn Citizens United but to embrace an originalist argument to limit money in politics.
Posted inThe Codcast
Health care workers struggle to navigate closures and immigration fearsÂ
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith continues health care month coverage in a conversation with 1199SEIU executive vice president Cari Medina and Anestine Bentick, lead medical assistant at South Boston Community Health. They discuss existing pressures on stretched workforces, the impacts of recent closures, and how immigration policy bleeds into the health care space.
Posted inThe Codcast
Mass. HHS secretary on protecting health equity and accessÂ
On the monthly Health or Consequences episode of The Codcast, John McDonough of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute spoke with Dr. Kiame Mahaniah, Massachusetts secretary of Health and Human Services, about looming Medicaid cuts, the primary care crisis, and how to make sure the vulnerable can still access health services.
Posted inThe Codcast
Blocking and tackling with Massport CEO Rich Davey
This week on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talks with Rich Davey, who just finished his first year as CEO of Massport. They talk about his long history of ground transportation work, plans to improve air travel, and whether Boston actually could have handled the 2024 Olympics.
Posted inThe Codcast
After ruling on consumer protection violations, BlueHub digs in its heels
This week on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talks with Elyse Cherry, CEO of BlueHub Capital, to discuss the recent court decision that BlueHub violated consumer protection statutes around lending. Where does the case go next, and why did lawmakers push for new rules tailored to BlueHub’s controversial lending practices?
Posted inThe Codcast
Restoring blighted properties is easier said than done in Western Mass.
This week on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon editor Laura Colarusso sits down with Gateway Cities reporter Hallie Claflin to talk about her recent reporting in Holyoke – where city leaders and housing developers have struggled to restore vacant mills and blighted industrial buildings.
Posted inThe Codcast
Can Mass. turn the health care crisis around?
John McDonough and Paul Hattis welcome Eric Dickson, president and CEO of UMass Memorial Health, to discuss the primary care crisis and a troubling federal landscape. Dickson lays out a grim picture of health care in Massachusetts if the state and federal trajectory does not change.
Posted inThe Codcast
The good, the bad, and the uncertain in Trump’s tax bill
CommonWealth Beacon executive editor Michael Jonas talks with reporter Jennifer Smith about a series of stories parsing the sprawling Trump tax and spending bill. They discuss why it’s so hard to know if Opportunity Zones have been effective, and why affordable housing advocates are mixed on the administration’s approach to low-income renters.
Posted inThe Codcast
Massachusetts leans into artificial intelligence
This week on The Codcast, it’s the state angle on artificial intelligence. CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talks with Sabrina Mansur, director of the Massachusetts Artificial Intelligence (AI) Hub. Mansur explains how she uses AI in her daily life and why keeping Massachusetts competitive means a $100 million taxpayer-funded effort to get into the AI race.
Posted inThe Codcast
Reconsidering school receivership
CommonWealth Beacon executive editor Michael Jonas joins reporter Jennifer Smith to trace the last decade in state takeovers of local school districts. The results, as Jonas has reported, are a far cry from a silver bullet to fix struggling schools.
Posted inThe Codcast
Keeping time with MBTA’s Phil Eng
More than 800,000 people ride the T everyday. This week on the Codcast, reporter Gin Dumcias is joined by Phil Eng, General Manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority or “the T” to talk about the state of the system and what lies down the track.
Posted inThe Codcast
The introvert’s guide to being mayor
CommonWealth Beacon reporter Gintautas Dumcius interviews Boston Mayor Michelle Wu about her start in politics and being both an introvert and a politician, why she’s a Democrat, the super PACs crowding this year’s election, and her media diet.
Posted inThe Codcast
Why a quasi-independent state agency needed a quick $240 million
John McDonough, Paul Hattis, and Matt Veno of the Group Insurance Commission discuss the GIC’s last-minute $240 million infusion from state coffers to cover claims for the rest of the 2025 fiscal year.
Posted inEnvironment, Media
Top Codcast: Three scrappy women from Somerset
COMMONWEALTH’S MOST POPULAR Codcast of 2022 was an interview with three women from Somerset who fought back against a scrap metal export operation at Brayton Point that was launched after […]
Posted inTransportation
Straus lays out rationale for transpo revenues
WITH THE HOUSE PREPARING to take up transportation funding legislation this week, Rep. William Straus explains the rationale behind many of the bill’s provisions. Straus, the House chair of the Legislature’s […]
Posted inThe Download
Straus lays out rationale for transpo revenues
With the House preparing to take up transportation funding legislation this week, Rep. William Straus explains the rationale behind many of the bill’s provisions. Straus, the House chair of the […]
Posted inThe Download
Advocates call for T control board extension
Some of the state’s leading transit advocates are calling for extending the life of the existing MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board for six months to a year and making […]
Posted inTransportation
Advocates call for T control board extension
SOME OF THE STATE’SÂ Â leading transit advocates are calling for extending the life of the existing MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board for six months to a year and making buses […]
Posted inTransportation
Campbell: Blue Hill Ave. conversation needed
ADD BOSTON CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT Andrea Campbell to the list of officials talking about creating a dedicated bus lane along busy Blue Hill Avenue. In a wide-ranging interview on the […]
Posted inThe Download
Baker increasingly isolated on transportation taxes
Gov. Charlie Baker finds himself increasingly isolated on Beacon Hill with his opposition to new revenues for transportation. House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Karen Spilka are both open […]