ADVERTISEMENT

New from CommonWealth Beacon NEW CODCAST: John McDonough of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute spoke with Matt Veno, the Group Insurance Commission’s executive director, about the “colliding crises” in Massachusetts’ health care system.  RULES IN ORDER: House and Senate Democrats, for the first time in six years, have reached an agreement on joint rules to guide their work in the legislative session that began six months ago. Colin Young of the State House News Service has the details.

In Washington, Campbell defends states’ efforts against Trump’s executive overreach June 24, 2025 By Jennifer Smith The firehose of Trump administration actions has not slowed down one bit since blue state attorneys general last month touted their efforts to push back on what they see as dramatic executive overreach.   Speaking before a group of Democratic members of Congress on Monday, the top state prosecutors from Massachusetts, Minnesota, Illinois, and New Jersey laid out their litany of lawsuits over the last six months. A coalition of about two dozen Democratic attorneys general have fought the administration, often in New England federal courts, over issues including National Institutes of Health funding for medical research, the ability of Harvard University to enroll foreign students and defend its tax status, consumer protection policy, endangered green energy options like offshore wind, and immigration policy including birthright citizenship.

ADVERTISEMENT

Campbell identified both birthright citizenship and the due process violations of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement as two major areas of concern.  Both Tufts doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk and Milford High School student Marcelo Gomes da Silva were arrested off the streets by federal agents, who Campbell noted were masked and unidentified.   “ICE and local authorities would have you or have us believe that they were doing it all to promote public safety, which is total nonsense,” Campbell said. “They were doing it to create fear in our communities and they're continuing to do that.” READ MORE

More Context Attorney General Andrea Campbell gears up for Trump round two (November 2024) New England AGs to Trump: ‘Bring it on’ (May 2025)

More from CommonWealth Beacon LAYING TRACK: Even as towns become compliant with the MBTA Communities law, some hold out hope for legislative or judicial intervention. Jennifer Smith has the details.  OPINION: The people behind the state’s initiative petition process, adopted in 1918, never anticipated it being used to undermine the separation of powers, argue Jerold Duquette, a political science professor at Central Connecticut State University, and Lawrence Friedman, who teaches constitutional law at New England Law.

What We're Reading HEALTH CARE: Massachusetts’s top public health official and a one-time senior policy advisor for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robbie Goldstein, says he’s skeptical about possible recommendations from the newly assembled CDC vaccine advisory panel. (GBH News)  ****BANK OF AMERICA:  MORTGAGES NOT DISCHARGED! ****** ECONOMY: Years after a Bank of America merger with FleetBoston Financial, the company says it discovered some 16,000 mortgages that had been paid off, but no one ever filed the paperwork to formally discharge the loans. The fallout has been baffling for impacted homeowners. (WBUR)  ****PLANNED PARENTHOOD! **** ABORTION ACCESS: On the anniversary of the US Supreme court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, the four women in the Massachusetts federal congressional delegation gathered at Planned Parenthood headquarters in Boston to warn about new challenges to reproductive care access. (MassLive)  INTERNATIONAL POLITICS: Massachusetts congressman Seth Moulton says Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are "outright lying” when they state that US bombing operations obliterated key Iranian nuclear-enrichment facilities. (GBH News)  HEALTH CARE AND HOUSING: Mass General Brigham has opened new housing – three apartment buildings and four duplexes – on Martha’s Vineyard, aimed at combatting soaring housing costs. (Boston Business Journal – paywall)

Published by MassINC CommonWealth Beacon 11 Beacon Street, Suite 500 Boston, MA 02108 United States