Massachusetts residents are deeply concerned about the prospect of violence as the 2024 presidential election approaches, according to a new CommonWealth Beacon/GBH News poll, with 72 percent of respondents saying political tensions in the United States are either very bad or constitute a crisis, while 64 percent said it’s either somewhat or very likely that the US will see major violence in relation to the presidential election.
By The Numbers
Posted inBy The Numbers
Massachusetts political parties are fading away
If current trends continue, party registration will be so unusual that a young registered Democrat will be an unusual sight and young Republicans will go on the endangered species list.
Posted inOpinion
Debate over Everett soccer stadium shows flaws of decision-making by municipal boundary
Decisions about a possible professional soccer stadium along the Mystic River are being driven entirely by the City of Everett, though plenty of people in adjacent communities live closer to the site than some Everett residents. Does that make any sense?
Posted inOpinion
Is it time to rethink municipal financing?
Newton and communities like it need to look at the way they finance municipal government operations and at least look at some possible alternatives.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Incarceration and crime rates both down sharply since 2018 reforms
Five years after Massachusetts enacted sweeping reforms aimed at reducing incarceration and addressing racial disparities in the criminal justice system, a new study says the state has seen sharp decreases in both incarceration and crime rates.
Posted inBy The Numbers
How do Mass. academic medical centers stack up?
According to an analysis of the data, the 10 academic medical centers in Massachusetts generally performed poorly compared to 200 other peer institutions around the country when it comes to patient outcomes and patient safety, but fared well in avoiding the overuse of certain “low-value” medical procedures.
Posted inEconomy
Mass. springs up the progressive state tax rankings
With the passage of the Fair Share Amendment, or “millionaire’s tax,” Massachusetts is now the seventh most “progressive” state tax system in the country, according to a sweeping new report.
Posted inBy The Numbers
Emergency shelter facilities distributed unevenly across Mass.
A report released earlier this week indicates big disparities among communities in terms of emergency shelter facilities.
Posted inBy The Numbers
Mass. population grows slightly
The Massachusetts population was estimated at 7,001,399 in the latest “Vintage 2023” population estimates from the Census Bureau, an increase of 18,659 people (or 0.27 percent) between July 2022 and July 2023.
Posted inHousing
Yes, building more housing does lower rents, study says
Does increasing the supply of housing, even if it’s mainly higher-cost, market-priced units, temper the runup in costs that has so many residents straining to make ends meet? The idea follows the basic economic principle of supply and demand – when more of something is made available, its price falls. But there are plenty of “supply skeptics” who aren’t convinced that simply opening the housing production spigot will lower costs, and argue instead that it often just drives up prices by promoting gentrification.