CommonWealth Beacon
Minogue highlights sheriffs’ concerns with PROTECT Act
Twelve sheriffs have asked Gov. Maura Healey to consider addressing what they're calling "an unintended public safety consequence" of a law intended to guard a…
Ballotmania: Inside the flurry of measures upending Massachusetts politics
The record-tying number of initiatives on the ballot next week put Beacon Hill on the defensive, and it's resurfaced thorny questions about the powers and pitf…
Question 5 would lead to deep cuts in services that communities rely on
It would cause tremendous uncertainty in the economy, with experts predicting the necessary spending cuts to fund the question would vary wildly from year to y…
Political Notebook: Question 8 surpasses Question 3 as most expensive ballot question
An early-October burst of spending by opponents of an attempt to eliminate the recreational marijuana industry has pushed the total amount spent on that measur…
Here’s why you should view polling results on ballot questions differently than polls on races between candidates
We've been conditioned for years to read polls based on who is ahead, but we should not apply the same "horse race" lens used in candidate races to ballot ques…
When we have the chance to prevent tragedy, why would we take it away?
The question before Massachusetts voters cannot be reduced to whether firearm regulations should be more or less restrictive—it is whether the Commonwealth sho…
Regulators eye in-state path for out-of-state medical marijuana patients
Under a regulatory proposal introduced at an October 22 CCC meeting, individuals 18 and over – regardless of what state they live in – diagnosed with a "debili…
Election 2026: Your Ballot Questions, Explained
Welcome back to CommonWealth Beacon‘s Election 2026 newsletter run. There is a lot to sort through before you head to the polls on November 3, and much of the …
You have questions about ballot questions. We answered them.
On this special episode of The Codcast, we answer listener-submitted questions all about the field of nine ballot questions this November.
Many voters can’t name a single major accomplishment of Gov. Healey’s. Here’s one that has flown under the radar: saving public transit.
Gov. Healey has taken crucial steps to reverse the downward trajectory our transit systems were on. Part of the reason why this has gone unnoticed is that ther…