LOTS OF POSTS IGNORED BY BLOGGER.....
OR REMOVED ON THEIR WHIM!
ALL POSTS ARE AVAILABLE ON
MIDDLEBORO REVIEW AND SO ON
BLOGGER DOESN'T LIKE TRUTH OR FACTS!
BLOGGER DOESN'T LIKE FUND RAISERS AND DELETES
POSTS THAT INCLUDE FUNDRAISING THAT 'VIOLATES THEIR
UNDEFINED COMMUNITY STANDARDS SO ALL 'FUND RAISING'
IS DELETED - CONTRIBUTE AS YOU ARE INCLINED TO SUPPORT
IMPORTANT ISSUES! THESE ARE NOT SOLICITATIONS
CommonWealth Beacon Turns 30 |
|
|
|
When CommonWealth magazine published its first edition in 1996, the State House press gallery was packed with reporters from local papers around the state. Today, those reporters have dwindled, but we are still there providing in-depth, nuanced reporting on the issues shaping daily life across Massachusetts. That’s why we want to celebrate our 30th anniversary with you, the readers and supporters, who have sustained us for 30 years and counting. |
|
|
Next week, we're holding a big celebration to mark this milestone, and we'd love to have you join us in downtown Boston. Marty Baron, the former editor of The Boston Globe and Washington Post, and Ali Noorani, the new president of the Barr Foundation, will be featured speakers. You can purchase your tickets here. |
|
|
While one of us has been here for over 20 years and the other arrived just 18 months ago, we share a deep pride in our history and tremendous excitement about our future. With your help, we plan to further expand our coverage because our readers deserve to know what policymakers are doing, and our policymakers need to know what impact their decisions are having on people and communities across the state. Independent, public service journalism is more important than ever. |
|
|
We hope you’ll join us on Thursday, May 14, at the State Room to mark this achievement and help fuel the work still to come. If you’re not able to attend, please consider making a gift to support our newsroom and sustain this important work. |
|
|
We look forward to seeing many of you on May 14. |
|
|
|
|
|
New from CommonWealth Beacon |
|
|
HOUSING PAIN: A new poll finds housing is a particular pain point for Massachusetts residents – still a staple of middle-class life but feeling profoundly out of reach for many. Jennifer Smith dives in. |
|
|
KALSHI CLASH: Massachusetts's high court is wading into a national fight over whether prediction markets like Kalshi are circumventing state gambling laws by calling sports bets federal commodities. Nicole Belcastro has more. |
|
|
OPINION: Conevery Bolton Valencius, a professor of history at Boston College, explains why she is one of the Quincy residents to sue the city to block installation of two 10-foot-tall bronze saints in front of the public safety building. A Christian herself, Valencius writes that “installing two larger-than-life Christian saints to loom over the entrance of our public safety building sends a clear message that non-Christians are not welcome.” |
|
|
|
|
|
For many residents, the Bay State has a “good on paper” problem. Massachusetts is well-educated, well-insured, well-employed, and relatively prosperous. |
|
|
It is also very expensive. People here can have a nice life – if they can afford it. |
|
|
In a new poll on the middle class, Massachusetts residents report financial anxiety, driven by a cost of living that feels difficult to manage even for people who say they have relatively good standards of living. The state has preserved its middle class, or at least the proportion of people who identify themselves as middle class, but few residents describe having the kind of financial flexibility to think much beyond paycheck-to-paycheck. |
|
|
The survey of 854 Massachusetts residents (Topline | Crosstabs) conducted for CommonWealth Beacon and WBUR by the MassINC Polling Group finds that most people still describe their quality of life as decent — 69 percent rate it good, very good, or excellent. But that assessment is shot through with precarity. |
|
|
Forty-two percent say they are worse off financially than they were a year ago. Forty percent expect to be worse off a year from now. |
|
|
Over the last decade and change, the self-described class composition of Massachusetts has barely budged. About 40 percent of residents identify as middle class, 32 percent as working class, 13 percent as upper middle class, and 11 percent as poor — figures nearly identical to what The MassINC Polling Group found when it first asked the question in 2003. The middle class has not collapsed. |
|
|
But residents have growing doubts about whether the state is structured in their favor. And affordability remains the buzzword of the moment as Gov. Maura Healey and her GOP challengers battle it out over plans to manage energy, health care, transportation, and housing costs. |
|
|
For residents like Cherise Kenner, life hovering around the middle class is “just stressful in general, especially living in Massachusetts. Costs are high, high taxes, even the deduction from my paycheck seems high, and that comes with stress,” she said. “I do the best that I can.” |
|
|
More from CommonWealth Beacon |
|
|
NEW CODCAST: Cape and Islands leaders fear that a lack of available housing for the tourism-dependent region’s workforce could hamstring its future. On the latest episode of The Codcast, Jennifer Smith hosts Sen. Julian Cyr and Janet Lesniak, executive director of the Local Journalism Project, to discuss employee housing and the new strategy taken by the Provincetown Independent weekly newspaper, which bought a condo in town to house three reporters. |
|
|
OPINION: Caroline Rose, an 8th grade English teacher in Boston, says – whether we like it or not – AI is coming to classrooms, and teachers need to spend time now debating its use, experimenting, and figuring out how it fits in. |
|
|
|
|
|
BALLOT QUESTIONS: A special panel of lawmakers tasked with analyzing potential ballot questions concluded, for the second year in a row, that none deserve legislative action. (State House News Service – paywall) |
|
|
OVERRIDE: Salem voters passed an override on Tuesday to pay for a new high school by a margin of about 1,000 votes. The average tax bill is expected to increase by roughly $700 per year. (GBH News) |
|
|
COURTS: MassLive profiles Sarah Bloom, who left the Department of Justice after 30 years to join a Boston‑based nonprofit legal clinic and advocacy organization responding to what its founders call a major breakdown in the Massachusetts and federal immigration system. (MassLive – paywall) |
|
|
AI: A new artificial intelligence program could help detect breast cancer risk, but right now the tool remains mainly in a research phase. It’s been used in over 100 hospitals that are helping test its accuracy, but it is not yet a routine part of American healthcare. (WBUR) |
|
|
HOUSING: The Archdiocese of Boston is proposing 105 affordable apartments in Mattapan – part of a growing cluster of units in the southern Boston neighborhood. (Boston Business Journal – paywall) |
|
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.