by CommonWealth Beacon | Dec 22, 2025
A former Exxon oil storage facility on an industrial plot of land just 4 miles from downtown Boston could be Massachusetts’s ticket to a green energy future – and lower utility bills.
by CommonWealth Beacon | Dec 16, 2025
The most common refrain from officials and experts looking for answers to the state’s infamous housing crunch is that there are no silver bullets. But there may be a divine opportunity.
by CommonWealth Beacon | Nov 24, 2025
A decades-in-the-making project to transform a mostly vacant former military base south of Boston into a buzzy mixed-use development is poised for a major step forward with an assist from Beacon Hill.
by CommonWealth Beacon | Nov 10, 2025
Massachusetts environmental officials are ripping the band-aid off what was once a third rail: calling on the state to establish a voluntary buyout program for homes at risk of being consumed by rising seas.
by CommonWealth Beacon | Nov 6, 2025
Nearly a year into the second Trump administration, Democrats atop Beacon Hill are not the only ones unable to shake a sense of economic agita.
by CommonWealth Beacon | Nov 2, 2025
Boston is feeling one of the most pronounced housing crunches in the country. But Mayor Michelle Wu has shied away from setting housing production targets.
by CommonWealth Beacon | Oct 29, 2025
You don’t have to read between the lines too closely to see the more constrained approach MBTA officials want to take to construction projects and big-ticket maintenance in the near future in its capital investment plan.
by CommonWealth Beacon | Oct 14, 2025
Facing waves of federal funding cuts, Massachusetts’s financial picture was already looking bleak as October approached. Then, Congress entered a budget stalemate, adding uncertainty to the mix.
by CommonWealth Beacon | Oct 5, 2025
Housing advocates say the design of Massachusetts’ highest-profile housing reform to date hobbled it from being able to create housing at scale – and might have hurt future moves.
by CommonWealth Beacon | Aug 14, 2025
In Gateway Cities – where housing production is already only half of what it needs to be to meet rising demand – increasing the cost of construction materials threatens an already tenuous housing market.
by CommonWealth Beacon | Aug 6, 2025
One set of housing advocates wants voters to repeal the statewide ban on local rent control laws. Another wants to lift yet another big barrier to building moderately-priced homes.
by CommonWealth Beacon | Jul 23, 2025
It’s a rare Trump policy aimed at lifting poor communities, but it’s unclear how much it’s doing locally.
by CommonWealth Beacon | Jul 9, 2025
The fate of short-term rentals on the small, wealthy island of Nantucket is, for now, treading water.
by CommonWealth Beacon | Jul 8, 2025
The massive package of tax and spending cuts President Trump signed into law on July 4 eliminates a federal grant program that set aside $335 million for the nearly $2 billion I-90 Allston highway-and-transit project in Boston.
by CommonWealth Beacon | Jun 24, 2025
With several towns opting this week to finally get into compliance with the MBTA Communities housing law, some municipalities who claim the law asks too much of them are still looking to the courts and the Legislature for relief.
by CommonWealth Beacon | May 2, 2025
A project that would keep floodwaters out of Everett’s booming Commercial Triangle development zone and Chelsea’s Mystic Mall could be dead due to Trump administration cuts.
by CommonWealth Beacon | Apr 22, 2025
Prices are ballooning, unit construction is stagnating, populations are declining and a housing crisis deserves to be treated as such, Barnstable County’s legislature said last week.
by CommonWealth Beacon | Apr 14, 2025
At some point between February and early March, as seasonal wind and rain hammered New England coasts, a relatively new but enthusiastically embraced tool for predicting erosion slipped off the Federal Emergency Management Agency website.
by CommonWealth Beacon | Mar 31, 2025
His abrupt reversal comes after his entry into the race was all but assured last week, and leaves the field to Mayor Michelle Wu and other challengers hoping to topple the first-term incumbent.
by CommonWealth Beacon | Mar 28, 2025
A federal judge in Massachusetts has ordered roughly $30 million in grants that were stripped midstream from fair housing organizations reinstated, after organizations including a Holyoke-based center sued the Trump administration demanding the return of their grant...