CommonWealth Beacon

1 day 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.

2 days ago | commonwealthbeacon.org | Tom Keane

MASSACHUSETTS IS considering a statewide“generational” ban on cigarettes and other nicotine products – just like Brookline and a number of other Bay State towns. The idea is that anyone born January 1, 2006, or later will not be permitted to buy these products. Eventually, as the population ages, that means that 80 years from now, only centenarians will still be puffing away. But why stop there?

6 days ago | commonwealthbeacon.org | Gintautas Dumcius

DIANNE WILKERSON, the former state senator who now works at a financially struggling Boston nursing home, defended her salary after a Superior Court judge raised concerns. A year ago, after the Benjamin Healthcare Center was placed into receivership to avoid closing the long-term care facility, the court-appointed receiver hired Wilkerson as his executive assistant. But her role at the facility, located in Boston’s Mission Hill neighborhood, has come under scrutiny over the last several months.

6 days ago | commonwealthbeacon.org | Bhaamati Borkhetaria

AS MASSACHUSETTS LAWMAKERS work to craft a budget, facing an ever-shrinking pile of money coming from the federal government and rattled by economic uncertainty, the leaders of one of the state’s most troubled agencies – the Cannabis Control Commission – are saying that they cannot make crucial improvements without more money from the Legislature. But legislators, so far, aren’t buying it.

6 days ago | commonwealthbeacon.org | Colin Young

US HOUSE SPEAKER Mike Johnson sent signals Tuesday about the approach his caucus will take to Medicaid as it works this month to craft a budget bill that is expected to seek $1.5 trillion in savings to pay for President Donald Trump’s domestic policy and tax cut agenda.