Everett's new chapter 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, Hallie Claflin sits down with Everett's incoming mayor, Robert Van Campen, following his upset defeat of incumbent Carlo DeMaria. Plus: a state audit zeroes in on the 2023 closure of a Leominster maternity unit and Jennifer Smith breaks down the legal, legislative, and political processes for Massachusetts ballot question campaigns. Also, Michael Jonas and Jim Peyser discuss restoring civic discourse on The Codcast and Rhode Island Current's Shauneen Miranda explains the latest developments in the ongoing legal battle against the Education Department's restructuring plans. Check out those stories below, and, as always, thanks for reading. — The CommonWealth Beacon team

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How incoming mayor Robert Van Campen will write Everett’s next chapter By Hallie Claflin In a closely watched upset, City Councilor Robert Van Campen beat DeMaria by 9 percentage points. His promise to restore trust and accountability in City Hall wasn’t hard to sell. But Van Campen has a tough act to follow, despite DeMaria’s scandals. READ MORE

State audit claims 2023 maternity unit closure in Leominster was preventable By Hallie Claflin The issue appears to be a spat about accounting records, but it highlights the struggles health providers had during the height of the first COVID waves, when frontline medical personnel were stretched thin, and how the business of health care has made it increasingly difficult to deliver services like maternity care across the state. READ MORE

Ballot measures must clear courts, lawmakers, and voters By Jennifer Smith As the secretary of state’s office certifies hundreds of thousands of signatures submitted on behalf of the proposed 2026 ballot questions, campaigns and ballot initiative veterans estimate about half of the questions could be vulnerable to legal challenges, though not all may materialize. READ MORE

Restoring civic discourse in an age of polarization By CommonWealth Beacon staff On this week’s episode of The Codcast, Jim Peyser, who served as secretary of education under Gov. Charlie Baker, talks with CommonWealth Beacon executive editor Michael Jonas about the yearlong series of essays he wrote for CommonWealth Beacon on the need for civil discussion of often controversial issues in an era of polarized debate. READ MORE

Suit to block Education Department closure expanded amid agency transfers plans By Shauneen Miranda, Rhode Island Current In May, a federal judge in Massachusetts granted a preliminary injunction in the consolidated case, blocking the administration’s efforts, including a reduction in force effort at the agency. READ MORE

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