Pacheco claimed a 14-vote win with 2,493 votes to Medeiros' 2,479 after the recount, according to results from the secretary of state's office.

Why Massachusetts parties are allowing the slow-moving self-destruction to continue is anyone’s guess.

Lawmakers this year could move forward with changes to how initiative petitions get on the ballot. Now, other voices are also starting to weigh in, amid a particularly active election cycle for citizen-led petitions.

The insurance challenge for coastal states like Massachusetts has been a vexing one. Inflation and tariffs are scrambling rebuilding costs, and the rise in climate-driven natural disasters has contributed to a recent increase in private insurers not renewing policies and the state’s insurer-of-last-resort seeing a growth in the number of enrollees.

The results conclude a nail-biting primary race for the Suffolk and Middlesex District, which became a proxy war over voter dissatisfaction with the Beacon Hill status quo and a test of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu's political prowess.

The unfolding legal drama marks a major pivot point for a project intended to provide 20 percent of Massachusetts’s electricity — and exposes just how fragile and volatile the state’s energy mix continues to be.

Newly filed financial reports shed light on this election’s battle lines, which will pit business groups against unions, the marijuana industry against an out-of-state opponent, and transparency advocates against Beacon Hill itself.

We are asking more of our students than ever before. Now we need to build the pipeline of teachers who can get them there.

The results of this week's recount will settle who wins the district – a longtime incumbent and the third-most powerful Democrat in the Senate, or a challenger with the backing of political rival Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. 

Healey can cast the utility companies as a critical partner when it’s advantageous for her to do so — or turn them into a political punching bag and convenient foil when it benefits her.

EARLIER THIS YEAR, Governor Healey’s Anti-Hunger Task Force released its final report. I read it closely. Much of it is right, fortunately, since 40 percent of households in Massachusetts are […]

The guardrails, which include expectations for securing tax breaks, stipulate that new data centers should directly procure or develop the energy resources to support their operations — without raising energy costs for ratepayers and straining the electric grid.

This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Hallie Claflin talks with Alecia McGregor, assistant professor of health policy and politics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Katie Murphy, president of the Massachusetts Nurses Association. They dig into the consequences of recent maternity unit closures in Springfield and Methuen, discuss where Massachusetts stands in terms of maternal health care access, and detail what power the state has, if any, to regulate health service closures and consolidations.

A new coalition filed paperwork seeking to suspend and ultimately repeal the measure in the 2028 election cycle.

It is easy to see how that storyline can spark the ire of voters and the scorn of opinion writers. But it is a fundamentally flawed reading of legislative productivity for reasons that are virtually never acknowledged amid the easy targeting of lawmakers.

Elections have come down to just a few votes in the high-profile showdown between 19-year legislator Sen. William Brownsberger and challenger Daniel Lander.

The test is simple: Are people safe, and do they feel safe, walking through downtown’s streets, stations, and parks? Judge our progress by that standard.

“In short, the town's stated purpose for the taking is a proper public purpose” that aligned with past actions by the town indicating interest in preserving the area, and not a bad faith ploy, wrote Justice Elizabeth Dewar for a unanimous court.

Tompkins and his attorneys argued prosecutors had not presented sufficient evidence of a quid pro quo or corrupt intent.

Shortsleeve and Oliver pitched themselves as the "only unified ticket in the Republican gubernatorial primary," but Oliver on Tuesday night spoke about aligning with Minogue as as part of the GOP's larger quest in the general election cycle.

On Beacon Hill, with a reputation for opacity and top-down leadership, swapping sitting senators for first-time progressives may have limited utility when it comes to vote count. But Tuesday sent the signal that local representatives perceived as unfriendly to the city’s goals should expect rockier roads in future primaries.

Koh will face Republican Micah Jones in November. If Koh wins, as he is heavily favored to do, he would be Massachusetts’s first Asian American congressperson.

Markey's sound win on Tuesday further signals that voters found him to be the unalloyed progressive.

Minogue will need to overcome heavy odds to unseat Healey, who starts the race widely favored to win reelection. 

The well-intended legislation was aimed at addressing persistent racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps, but what Beacon Hill perhaps didn’t foresee was the greater financial pressure it would place on municipal budgets as sluggish state aid growth that has not kept pace with inflation, strict limits on local tax increases, and rising costs continue to trap many local governments between a rock and a hard place.