In one of the greatest statements on American history ever written, Douglass demands that the country live up to the promises of 1776.
At a forum Wednesday, Rep. Marjorie Decker and maternal healthcare advocates cheered the fast-approaching reopening of the Cambridge Health Alliance Birth Center, which closed in March 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The poll highlights a clash between how people feel about homeownership and what it means for their finances. Gateway City homeowners were more likely to skip urgent home repairs due to cost, buy in neighborhoods that were not their first choice, and say that competition with other buyers was a barrier they faced.
THE GREATEST THREATS to children’s safety are no longer confined to dark alleys or strangers cruising in vans. They are embedded in the digital spaces children enter every day — […]
When technology is used to fabricate sexual images of children, the response cannot be a vague AI policy, a delayed committee review, or a scramble after the images have already spread. It has to be immediate, concrete, and centered on protection: preserve the evidence, support the targeted student, notify families, stop the circulation, and hold those responsible to account.
The Stop the Repeal campaign will rely on grassroots efforts to encourage Bay Staters to "vote no" against the ballot measure funded by "out-of-state" interests, said chair Ryan Dominguez, the executive director of the Massachusetts Cannabis Coalition.
Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito said the law allows "no judicial review" of any presidential administration’s termination of TPS designation. He also rejected the claim of a race motive in the Trump administration's order.
An overhaul of the state's approach to funding rural school districts is desperately needed in order to provide their students with the education they deserve.
Three ballot measures are dead because they ran afoul of Article 48 — the part of the state Constitution that governs the ballot process. A bad summary, a forbidden subject, and an attempt to direct the Legislature kept them from voters.
Gov. Maura Healey along with Massachusetts labor and energy leaders celebrated the completion of the country’s first commercial-scale offshore wind project, which concluded construction in March. She touted its benefits while shrugging off the wind development company’s recent financial disputes that have made headlines and threatened the project.
Bay Staters are increasingly unable to afford care, with many forgoing doctor's visits and other health care services due to escalating cost concerns that are exacerbated by rising premiums and the prevalence of high deductible plans
The bill reveals just how deep a chasm has formed between the Legislature’s two Democratic-controlled branches over energy policy after the House passed its version in February
A trio of good-government and transparency organizations backed the House's proposal to craft a new public records framework for the Legislature, but they're straining to avoid the riptide of the audit-the-Legislature debate that representatives tied to the same bill.
The pilot will include about 25 to 30 programs, as EEC collects data and feedback from educators and families. EEC will use those findings to help guide future decisions about family child care capacity, staffing ratios and licensing structures.
The decision averts a months-long season of aggressive campaigning that seemed sure to generate tens of millions of dollars in spending on attack ads and dire warnings about economic upheaval.
Massachusetts Democrats do not need to embrace Donald Trump’s education vision to recognize an opportunity when they see one.
Given how dramatically the landscape has changed around climate change since Hoffer took office, an obvious question emerges: What exactly is her job? And what kind of influence does she hold within the Healey administration?
The plant on Industrial Drive will close on December 15, after the company previously eyed shutting down the facility in 2023.
As concern over the nationwide spread of measles grows, advocates for legislation intended to boost childhood vaccinations in Massachusetts have their fingers crossed that the bill, after being filed four times, will finally make it to passage this year.
Should Massachusetts run its elections more like California? That question is cleared to appear on the ballot, according to the state’s highest court, possibly teeing up a major shift in our notoriously uncompetitive races.
Gov. Maura Healey’s administration estimates that the state will need 222,000 by 2035 to deal withe existing need and population growth. Her new housing secretary, Juana Matias, says we can meet that goal, and joins CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith to talk about chipping away at decades of sluggish housing production.
Those navigating the state’s special education complaint process often describe experiences marked by lengthy delays, procedural obstacles, limited remedies, and a growing perception that the system is more responsive to institutional interests than to the needs of children.
A Massachusetts political commentator criticizes state lawmakers for distorting facts around a legislative audit to advance their own interests.
The regulations specify that for the first 12 months they're in place, only social equity businesses are eligible to get up to six retail licenses and non-social equity businesses can hold up to five retail licenses.
Officials and transit advocates have criticized the mayor's approach and questioned whether the youth disturbances at Union Station can be attributed to the availability of free bus rides. Some have cited the success of the fare-free program and instead called for more policing.
Massachusetts has become "a victim of our own affluence," said Andrew Mikula, the report's author. "It's like we forgot how to build smaller homes that can be more affordable for folks."
FFN caregivers are the reason parents can get to work, keep their jobs, and provide for their families. Yet for years, policies shaping Massachusetts's childcare system have failed to reflect that reality.
The House Ways and Means Committee slimmed the Senate's bond authorizations (S 3064) down by more than 20 percent, advancing a new draft Tuesday that would authorize $3.078 billion in borrowing compared to the Senate-supported $3.94 billion.
A recent survey of 11- to 17-year-old boys found that around a third gambled in the last year. A new state program aims to prevent problem gambling in youth.
With just two weeks until a controversial rent control ballot measure could be locked in, a flurry of negotiations — and pockets of sustained resistance — puts Beacon Hill in a tricky position.
AS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE races forward with lightning speed, Congress is scrambling to catch up. Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have proposed various bills to address the […]
The compromise resolves two of the most closely watched disputes between the House and Senate versions of the legislation: whether to explicitly restrict the controversial "three-cueing" reading approach and whether to provide immediate state funding to help districts transition to new curricula.
Through policies rooted in transparency, stewardship, and innovation, Massachusetts can open the door to right-sized, smartly sited data centers.
Authorizing a pilot program like this is inviting a larger debate about how Massachusetts should weigh the complicated tradeoffs associated with reaching ambitious climate targets, especially for hard-to-decarbonize sectors like air travel.
Chris Harding, who Gov. Maura Healey tapped to lead the CCC in May, said during a meeting Thursday that his priorities for the role include engaging with staff and understanding their focuses as well as the agency's organizational challenges and opportunities.
For generations, it was virtually guaranteed that American children would out-earn their parents. But as Raj Chetty explains in this special live episode of The Codcast, recorded at the recent WBUR Festival, that dream is fading. What factors are contributing to economic stagnation?
As the American dream has slipped out of reach for many, few have done more than Chetty to try to understand the fading of the American dream and what could be done to change that dispiriting trendline.
Facing shortages of housing and open land in our densest cities, we should not construct a police station, a fire station, a library, or a school without providing opportunities for housing to be constructed above.
Regulators have been intrigued about the prospect of an innovative care model to expand primary care access, but the sticker shock continues to linger and the HPC said Thursday it "remains uncertain" whether or when MinuteClinic will "provide comprehensive, high-quality primary care."
The first of four expected rulings about ballot question eligibility went in favor of the campaign, with justices deciding that a push to reverse the 2016 statewide pot vote was properly certified and summarized.
Inviting a political fight with influential hospital systems, the Senate plans to approve legislation that would more than double the share of health care dollars that go toward the ailing primary care sector.
As the agency navigates how to minimize coverage losses, cope with federal funding cuts and keep MassHealth members informed, the 2026 Medicaid Summit on Tuesday brought together state government policy experts and researchers from around the country to make sense of the impacts of the nearly one-year-old federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Getting Phase 1 across the finish line was no easy feat. And just over a year later, state officials still have not rolled out a plan to finance and finish the second phase — also called the “full build” — that was proposed nearly a decade ago.
New test mandates like those in the governor’s proposal are not likely to help our children prepare for satisfying and productive adult lives.
She also hopes to elevate Judge Zachary Hillman, associate justice of the District Court since 2021, to serve as a judge in the Appeals Court.
Transit agency leaders will seek approval Thursday on a $3.4 billion budget that would add another 550 positions, embracing an eager-to-spend approach that supporters say has improved service and safety.
While advocating for increased housing supply, we can and must protect our water supplies from pollution and ensure that housing development is accelerated in places and ways that are safe, healthy, and resilient.
The money expanding child care access this year comes from one-time surplus funds. Maintaining long-term funding will mean finding a permanent home for it in next year's state budget.
We need a two-pronged approach: generational investments in urban and Gateway districts to modernize facilities and develop appealing and effective community schools alongside policies and investments designed to make public school district boundaries more porous, including the expansion of inter-district school choice and programs like Metco, as well as the creation of regional magnet schools.
The two setbacks signal the continued challenges ahead for how to bring on new clean energy sources to move off fossil fuels and meet growing power needs while maintaining reliability.