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
To mark the 30th anniversary of CommonWealth Beacon, editor Laura Colarusso and publisher Joe Kriesberg appeared on the What Works podcast about the future of local news with Dan Kennedy – media critic and professor of journalism at Northeastern, as well as CommonWealth Beacon advisory board member. |
|
|
During the episode, we discussed our mission, our place in the broader Massachusetts journalism ecosystem, and our path to sustainability. |
|
|
|
|
|
New from CommonWealth Beacon |
|
|
POLITICAL NOTEBOOK: Gov. Maura Healey is underwater in a new poll, voters largely support the income tax ballot measure until they learn about potential impacts, and indicted state Rep. Chris Flanagan has decided not to file papers for re-election. Chris Lisinski has the round-up. |
|
|
OPINION: Despite statements from Boston Public School district leadership to the contrary, writes Mary Tamer, executive director of MassPotential, “historic levels of investment” in the city’s schools are not leading to student success, with more than 80 percent of Black and Latino students not reading or doing math at grade level in grades 3 through 8. |
|
|
|
|
|
After more than a decade of advocacy, a new law took effect a year ago that lets tenants petition to seal the court records of past eviction cases. The biggest roadblock for implementation turns out to be that almost no one knows the option exists. |
|
|
Massachusetts courts logged more than a million eviction case filings since 1988. In the year since the law took effect last May, just 6,284 petitions to seal case have been filed. |
|
|
Advocates see both promise in the process and plenty of work to be done to make tenants aware of their right to seek to have past eviction cases – the "Scarlet E” – sealed from public view. |
|
|
"Few people actually know about the law," said Annette Duke, senior housing attorney at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, which helped develop the legislation and has led outreach since it took effect. "If you had an eviction 20 years ago or 10 years ago, you may not be paying attention." |
|
|
The eviction sealing law, included in the Affordable Homes Act signed by Gov. Maura Healey in August 2024, gives tenants the right to petition courts to remove certain eviction records from public view. An eviction record — even from a case a tenant won, or that was dismissed — shows up in the public court database and in the paid screening algorithms most landlords use to screen applicants. |
|
|
The process for sealing the record depends on the outcome of the case, the type of eviction case, and whether the appeal period has passed. Broadly, cases where the tenant won or the case was dismissed can be sealed immediately, but if the eviction involved an agreement to pay late rent or claims of some sort of criminal activity, there can be additional steps during court proceedings. |
|
|
Black renters in Massachusetts are on average 2.4 times more likely to have an eviction filed against them than white renters, a disparity that is wider for Black women. |
|
|
The idea behind the law is to let tenants wipe the slate clean from certain evictions and not have those cases present obstacles to renting an apartment, securing a mortgage to buy a home, or finding employment. |
|
|
More from CommonWealth Beacon |
|
|
MIDDLE CLASS: Entrepreneurship in Gateway Cities is a valuable opportunity, and sometimes the only option, for lower-income people to build wealth and chart a course into the middle class. But it’s an increasingly tenuous option, Hallie Claflin writes after extensive reporting in Holyoke. |
|
|
|
|
|
TRANSIT: Thirty employees at the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority signed a letter expressing “no confidence” in the agency’s leadership – citing morale, leadership, and communication concerns. (The Berkshire Eagle – paywall) |
|
|
ELECTIONS: A recent US Supreme Court decision weakening the Voting Rights Act will be felt on the state and local level, with at least 17 voting maps or election systems now being challenged. (WBUR) |
|
|
ENVIRONMENT: New proposed legislation would reduce “mystery” oil spills in New Bedford Harbor by eliminating the state regulation that prevented the city from installing a bilge pump-out facility at its port. (The New Bedford Light) |
|
|
HEALTH CARE: Point32Health, the parent company of Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Plan, is now posting a profit after recent staff cuts and expense management changes. (Boston Business Journal – paywall) |
|
|
ABORTION: Massachusetts politicians and advocates cautiously cheered a ruling from the US Supreme Court that will preserve telehealth access to widely used abortion drug mifepristone while a case winds through lower courts. (GBH News) |
|
|
|
|
|
