CommonWealth Beacon

CommonWealth Beacon offers detailed insights into politics, ideas, and community life in Massachusetts. It serves as a key resource for news and information, catering to policymakers, community leaders, and the general public.

Local

English

Online/Digital

Outlet metrics

Domain Authority

Ranking

Global

#639336

United States

#145011

Law and Government/Government

#2702

Traffic sources

Monthly visitors

Articles

Falling office building values still a concern for Boston’s budget, think tank says

2 days ago | commonwealthbeacon.org | Gintautas Dumcius

IT’S ROUND 2 for Mayor Michelle Wu and the Boston Policy Institute. The think tank that repeatedly clashed with City Hall over taxes is out with a follow-up to their report last year that Boston is facing a stormy revenue picture in the years ahead, as remote work has led to a loss in the value of office buildings.
Two companies, one roof, and the Boston mayoral race

4 days ago | commonwealthbeacon.org | Gintautas Dumcius

ON A TREE-LINED STREET in Medford, tucked away inside a strength training gym, there’s an office that’s been doing some heavy lifting in the Boston mayor’s race. The office is the registered home of CP Campaigns, a company that didn’t exist until this past March.
Feds blame 'sanctuary policies' in Milford teenager's immigration arrest

4 days ago | commonwealthbeacon.org | Colin Young |Gintautas Dumcius

EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD MARCELO GOMES DA SILVA, the Milford High School junior arrested Saturday while on his way to a volleyball practice, was not the target of a federal immigration enforcement investigation and his arrest was the byproduct of Massachusetts’s “sanctuary policies,” federal officials said Monday.
Average summer temps in Massachusetts have risen by 2.75 degrees Fahrenheit in past 55 years, according to new data

1 week ago | commonwealthbeacon.org | Bhaamati Borkhetaria

MASSACHUSETTS HAS SEEN a striking rise in summer temperatures over the past half-century, with statewide averages climbing by approximately 2.75 degrees Fahrenheit since 1970 and leading to more frequent and intense heat waves, heightened public health risks, and dangerous conditions for essential workers.
Boston stays the course, despite Trump yanking violence prevention grants

1 week ago | commonwealthbeacon.org | Michael Jonas

IT’S BECOME A rite of spring in Boston, as certain as Lilac Sunday at the Arnold Arboretum and the return of swan boats to the Public Garden: A press briefing on city plans for promoting public safety during the hot summer months when trouble ticks up with the temperature.
Senate advances scaled-back version of House spending bill

1 week ago | commonwealthbeacon.org | Sam Drysdale

THE SENATE moved to leave nearly $348 million in underfunded accounts untouched Tuesday, breaking off only a piece of a spending proposal to backfill reimbursements to child care providers who serve low-income families. Six days after the House approved a $530 million supplemental budget (H 4151) to replenish a string of state programs, the Senate gave initial approval to a scaled-back version appropriating nearly $190 million for child care services that could soon run out of money.
Pay increase doesn’t undercut union retaliation claim in Newton, SJC rules

2 weeks 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.
‘Pay now or pay greater later’: Mass. health centers CEO warns Medicaid cuts will lead to higher costs and strain to health system

2 weeks ago | commonwealthbeacon.org | Gintautas Dumcius

THE CROWD, gathered inside the Omni Boston hotel in the city’s Seaport district on Tuesday night, represented the various sectors of the Massachusetts economy, from health care and academia to financial services and real estate. As the attendees of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting mingled, talk inevitably turned to what’s happening in Washington, DC.
Senators get "enough yeses" to add $43.5 mil to budget

2 weeks ago | commonwealthbeacon.org | Alison Kuznitz

SENATORS PLOWED through more than half of their 1,000+ budget amendments during their first full day of deliberations Tuesday and recessed just before 8 p.m.The additions tacked on roughly $43.5 million onto the budget’s bottom line, according to Senate President Karen Spilka’s spokesperson Gray Milkowski.
State board approves lottery admissions for vocational high schools

2 weeks ago | commonwealthbeacon.org | Michael Jonas

IN THE END, no one seems entirely happy with the outcome, and in the messy give and take of democratic decision-making that’s often hailed as a sign that the system is working. Eight years after a contentious debate over admission policies governing the state’s vocational-technical high schools first kicked into gear, it ended on Tuesday with an 8-2 vote of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to have seats at the schools awarded through a lottery system.