Jennifer Smith

Boston, United States

Journalist at @CWBeacon once found at @DotNews, @BostonGlobe, @dpa. Cohost of @The_HorseRace and the Codcast. The parties are advised to chill.

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Articles

MBTA Communities law is not an unfunded mandate, judge rules - CommonWealth Beacon

2 weeks ago | commonwealthbeacon.org | Jennifer Smith

A PLYMOUTH COUNTY judge overseeing a bundle of municipal lawsuits from towns seeking to halt enforcement of the MBTA Communities housing law has denied their motion for a preliminary injunction and dismissed their complaints. In a 40-page decision released Friday afternoon, Superior Court Justice Mark Gildea considered lawsuits brought by the towns of Duxbury, Hanson, Holden, Marshfield, Middleton, Wenham, Weston, and Wrentham, plus a taxpayer suit brought by Hamilton residents.
Milton complies with the MBTA Communities law, with an asterisk

2 weeks ago | commonwealthbeacon.org | Jennifer Smith

AFTER ALMOST TWO years of contentious back-and-forth over whether to abide by the MBTA Communities housing law, Milton has submitted a plan to the state that lays out a path to compliance. But the next two weeks will be a bumpy ride. In the 10 days before Town Meeting voters may decide to give their stamp of approval or reject two plans to up-zone parts of Milton, town officials may decide to square up for another legal battle.
On reproductive and transgender care, Massachusetts urged not to rest on its laurels

3 weeks ago | commonwealthbeacon.org | Jennifer Smith

MASSACHUSETTS MAY HAVE been the first state to pass a sweeping shield law protecting patients and providers of reproductive and gender-affirming care across state lines, but the national landscape has shifted in three years and advocates are anxiously asking lawmakers to close gaps in the legislation. “There’s so much fear,” Polly Crozier, a senior staff attorney at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, told the Senate Committee on Steering and Policy on Wednesday.
Pay increase doesn’t undercut union retaliation claim in Newton, SJC rules

1 month ago | commonwealthbeacon.org | Jennifer Smith

MONEY CAN’T BUY LOVE, according to the saying. It also can’t buy an employer the right to take action against a worker that, on its own, would qualify as illegal retaliation. That is the essence of a Supreme Judicial Court ruling issued Thursday in a dispute between the City of Newton and a sergeant on the city’s police force.
New England AGs to Trump: ‘Bring it on’

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Jennifer Smith

Attorneys general from left to right: William Tong of Connecticut, Peter Neronha of Rhode Island, Andrea Campbell of Massachusetts, Charity Clark of Vermont, Aaron Frey of Maine. (Image from MassAGO livestream)Attorneys general from around New England struck a defiant posture at a town hall gathering on Friday evening.
Boston pushes forward on ranked-choice voting

1 month ago | commonwealthbeacon.org | Jennifer Smith

THE BOSTON CITY COUNCIL voted 8-4 to implement ranked-choice voting for city elections on Wednesday, tapping on what many consider the first domino in the latest round of ranked-choice voting pushes. The system asks voters to select their candidates in order of preference. In general terms, candidates with the fewest numbers of first choice votes are eliminated over multiple rounds of vote counting, until a candidate emerges with the largest amount of consensus support.
Voters support more action to boost housing, new poll finds

1 month ago | commonwealthbeacon.org | Jennifer Smith

IN HOUSING DEBATES, it’s only a matter of time before critiques of damaging “neighborhood character” and some flavor of “not in my back yard” clash with assertions that the Massachusetts housing market is so squeezed that building almost anything at all should be a priority. Common wisdom usually boils down to residents wanting to preserve their community while home values rise, suggesting that other communities would be better suited for more units.
High court probes whether former state senator should be immune from conflict of interest charges

1 month ago | commonwealthbeacon.org | Jennifer Smith

AN ATTORNEY FOR former state senator Dean Tran referenced famed attacks on the floor of Congress and 200-year-old case law as he argued before a somewhat skeptical high court that Tran should be immune from criminal ethics violation charges. Tran, a Fitchburg Republican, was indicted in 2023 for allegedly violating the state ethics law by directing members of his legislativestaff to campaign for him during two reelection campaigns.
Without FEMA resilience money, Mass. communities scramble to save flood prevention projects

1 month ago | commonwealthbeacon.org | Jennifer Smith

WHEN THE AXE FELL on $882 million in federal funding aimed at helping communities prepare for future flooding, it came paired with a critique of the program’s very purpose. The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program “was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program,” an unidentified FEMA spokesperson wrote in a press release on April 4.
Faced with a housing crunch, a local move to ‘do something’

2 months ago | commonwealthbeacon.org | Jennifer Smith

PRICES ARE BALLOONING, unit construction is stagnating, populations are declining, and a housing crisis deserves to be treated as such, the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates declared on Wednesday. The regional legislative body voted 14-1, which counts as 79 percent to 21 percent because the delegates’ votes are weighted by their town’s population, in favor of a resolution declaring a housing crisis on Cape Cod.