The crisis of child care deserts and four more stories.

 

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The Saturday Send

Welcome back to the Saturday Send, a weekly digest of stories from CommonWealth Beacon that you may have missed.  This week, Jennifer Smith delves into the data on child care deserts, where for every three children there is only one child care slot. Plus: Gateway Cities in Western Massachusetts struggle to restore blighted buildings, Josh Kraft looks to recharge his struggling mayoral campaign, our reporters break down Trump's spending and tax bill, and a look back at a 2002 article on ballot initiatives. Check out those stories below, and, as always, thanks for reading. — The CommonWealth Beacon team

70 percent of Mass. infants live in child care deserts, according to state data  By Jennifer Smith Enrollment differences between regions, student age groups, and income levels paint a picture of a system struggling to meet potential demand and where slots are most readily available to those with higher incomes. READ MORE

ADVERTISEMENT ***LET'S WORK TOGETHER TO FIND SOLUTIONS! THESE OLD MILL BUILDINGS WERE STURDY & WELL CONSTRUCTED (if they haven't been damaged by rain/snow) THE PLYMOUTH CORDAGE FACTORY IS A PRIME LOCAL EXAMPLE OF RE-USE OF A HEAVILY CONSTRUCTED BUILDING THAT HAS BEEN  RE-CYCLED****  PLYMOUTH CORDAGE FACTORY

‘Easier said than done’: Former mill cities struggle to rehab vacant, blighted properties in Western Mass.  By Hallie Claflin In recent decades, historic mills and old industrial buildings in Gateway Cities across the state have been renovated and converted into much-needed housing. But while Eastern Massachusetts cities have had success, cities farther west with weaker housing markets still struggle with an array of blighted properties that have yet to be developed. READ MORE

ADVERTISEMENT ***JOSH KRAFT IS A LOSER, WASTING TIME, NO SOLUTIONS, JUST  BLAH! BLAH! BLAH! **** ***FULL DISCLOSURE: I REFUSE TO POST AN ARTICLE THAT IGNORES THAT JOSH KRAFT IS A CARPETBAGGER & NEWTON NEBBISH WHO DISCLOSED HIS INCOME IN A CAREFULLY ABBREVIATED SUMMARY THAT CONCEALS IF HE HAS A CONFLICT OF INTEREST. IN ADDITION...HE'S A FAKE & A FRAUD FOR CIRCULATION THESE ADS!  FROM POLITICO: MONEY RACE — Boston Mayor Michelle Wu ended July with a significant cash advantage over her chief rival, Josh Kraft, according to the latest filings with the state’s Office of Campaign and Political Finance. Wu raised about $247,000 last month and ended July with close to $2.5 million on hand. While Kraft raised more than $127,000 during the same period, he spent big in July — paying $1,886,000 to cover a variety of campaign-related costs. That leaves him with under $150,000 heading into the final full month of campaigning before the Sept. 9 preliminary election. FULL DISCLOSURE: THIS ARTICLE CAN'T BE POSTED WITHOUT DISCLOSING JOSH KRAFT'S FAKE ADS & HIS FAILURE TO DISCLOSE SOURCES OF HIS INCOME! ****CARPETBAGGING NEWTON NEBBISH JOSH KRAFT IS A FAKE & A FRAUD - EVEN HIS ADS ARE FRAUDULENT! **** HE PROVIDED A SUMMARY OF HIS 'INCOME' - THE PUBLIC HAS NO WAY OF DETERMINING IF HE HAS A CONFLICT OF INTEREST! ONLY THE WEALTHY WITH NO BOSTON CONNECTIONS HAS FUNDED HIS CAMPAIGN!  THE NEWTON NEBBISH HAS NO SOLUTIONS! ****  RELATED — Prominent national Democrats ask Josh Kraft to stop using names, likenesses in unauthorized fund-raising push by Emma Platoff, The Boston Globe: “On first blush, the fund-raising solicitation sure looked like it was coming from US Senator Adam Schiff, the California Democrat well known for tangling with Donald Trump. ‘Hi — this is Adam Schiff,’ the email read, according to a screenshot shared with the Globe. ‘Josh Kraft said I could reach out with this urgent message.’ But the email came from ‘info@joshforboston.com‚’ and it was paid for by the campaign of Josh Kraft, who is running for mayor of Boston, several thousand miles east of Schiff’s district. And, it turns out, Schiff never said Kraft could reach out with that urgent message. The Kraft fund-raising email sporting Schiff’s name and likeness is one of at least five the campaign has sent in recent weeks that feature prominent national Democrats who have not publicly weighed in on the Boston mayor’s race. At least two of those politicians have now asked the Kraft campaign to stop using their names and likenesses in the email fund-raising solicitations.”

Kraft 2.0 looks a lot like the first version By Michael Jonas Boston mayoral challenger Josh Kraft is looking to recharge his struggling campaign, but it’s not clear how a speech he delivered on Sunday does much to juice his candidacy. READ MORE

The good, the bad, and the uncertain in Trump’s tax bill By CommonWealth Beacon staff On The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon executive editor Michael Jonas talks with reporter Jennifer Smith about two recent stories she wrote parsing the sprawling Trump tax and spending bill. They discuss why it’s so hard to know if Opportunity Zones have been effective, and why affordable housing advocates are mixed on the administration’s approach to low-income renters. READ MORE

Flashback Friday: Taking the laws into their own hands By John E. McDonough With nearly 50 initiative petitions filed by Wednesday’s deadline by groups hoping to put questions on the 2026 ballot, we revisit John McDonough’s November 2002 article on the history and mechanics of ballot initiatives in Massachusetts for this Flashback Friday.  READ MORE

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