CommonWealth Beacon

06/05/2026

In its redraft of a Senate bill, House lawmakers signed off on frameworks to limit collection and sale of private data, ensure consumers have a right to know about what data is being collected, opt-out of some data collection, and have their data deleted on request.

Jennifer Smith breaks down the details: https://buff.ly/MwKXxnh

06/05/2026

NEW: House wades in on data privacy: “Your data belongs to you.”

“Without exaggeration, we are living through the largest unregulated extraction of information in the history of civilization,” said Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, of Pittsfield, on the House floor.

06/05/2026

A new lawsuit filed by a coalition of students and community organizations argues that the Mass. education system amounts to state-maintained segregation. The suit has opened conversations about what, if anything, works to desegregate and improve access to quality education. https://buff.ly/fE9heBS

Dan O’Brien, professor of public policy and urban affairs and director of the Boston Area Research Initiative at Northeastern University, joins Jennifer Smith on this week’s Codcast to discuss what lessons we can take from Boston’s long record of trying to address school segregation.

06/04/2026

Lynn leaders say a new development on the site of a shuttered hospital will help alleviate the city’s housing shortage and provide an affordable, accessible option for some of its most vulnerable residents.

Though 38 percent of affordable rentals in Massachusetts are set aside for older adults, there are only 83,000 units for more than 460,000 low-income elderly households, according to the 2025 Special Commission on Senior Housing report.

Hallie Claflin has more on what the new development hopes to provide: https://buff.ly/8EcitD5

06/03/2026

BALLOT QUESTIONS: The House's top Republican described the controversial bill as an "[expletive] sandwich with extra pickles."

The House's top Republican described the controversial bill as an " sandwich with extra pickles."

06/03/2026

NEW: Transparency fight escalates as House votes to limit its exposure to audit, public records requests

The House's top Republican described the controversial bill as an " sandwich with extra pickles."

06/03/2026

New in OPINION: Ending the requirement that legal ads be published by news outlets would harm democracy and journalism

Legal ads are one leg of a three-legged stool -- along with public-records laws and open meetings -- ensuring government transparency.

06/03/2026

Nearly four years after receiving federal approvals, Massachusetts has yet to deploy any EV chargers through the Biden-era National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, despite heightened concerns of federal funding clawbacks under the current Trump administration.

The data around Massachusetts’s EV push offers a mixed bag, as it races to cut its greenhouse gas emissions in half compared to 1990 levels by 2030. https://buff.ly/11vbkJS

06/03/2026

NEW: Massachusetts’s slow adoption of EV chargers through federal program is ‘mystifying’ to transit advocates

While Massachusetts ranks fourth in the country for charging ports per capita after a sharp increase in installments over the past few years, the state is still about 2,000 charging ports short of what...

06/03/2026

The many ballot questions but few contested legislative races is less a study in contrasts than a snapshot of correlates.

The many ballot questions but few contested legislative races is less a study in contrasts than a snapshot of correlates.