Jennifer Smith writes for CommonWealth Beacon and co-hosts its weekly podcast, The Codcast. Her areas of focus include housing, social issues, courts and the law, and politics and elections.
A California native who also lived in Utah, Jennifer has covered Massachusetts since 2011 for a variety of publications. She worked breaking news in the Boston Globe’s metro section and provided courtroom coverage of the Boston Marathon bomber trial for the international wire service Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) while completing her undergraduate journalism degree at Northeastern University in Boston. For four years, Jennifer was a staff writer and later news editor for the Dorchester Reporter, covering her home neighborhood and the city of Boston with a particular focus on politics and development.
Her work and commentary have appeared in WBUR, GBH News, Harvard Public Health Magazine, and Politico’s Massachusetts Playbook. She has co-hosted MassINC’s Massachusetts politics and policy podcast The Horse Race since 2018, interviewing newsmakers, journalists, and elected officials across the state.
FEMA quietly removes access to New England coastal erosion hazard tool
‘Water doesn’t know property lines’: Where Massachusetts’s climate and housing crises meet
Judge orders HUD to release $30 million in grants to fair housing groups
Anti-discrimination housing orgs sue to ‘quite literally keep the lights on’
MBTA can be sued over assault by bus driver, SJC rules
SJC gives a Second Amendment win to Mass. lawmakers looking to license non-residents
‘Are you out of your mind?’: Five moments from Mayor Michelle Wu’s immigration testimony
Wu fends off GOP critiques of Boston immigration policies
Towns gear up after auditor declares MBTA Communities law an ‘unfunded mandate’
‘If they decide to follow Trump blindly, they’re harming their own states’
Treating the ‘dire diagnosis’ of Massachusetts’ primary care crisis
AG Campbell sues Boston-based home equity investment firm Hometap
Vacation home trends add to Massachusetts housing crunch
Is Harvard responsible for the alleged sale of body parts from its medical school morgue?
More work needed on affordability in health care, says insurance group leader
SJC upholds conviction of officer who used evidence room cash to pay mortgage
Milton struggles to chart a path forward after MBTA Communities ruling
With DEI in the cross-hairs, higher ed cannot be reserved ‘for the smart and for the wealthy’
For Native issues in Massachusetts, mixed intentions and a mixed bag
Clinging to the spirit of MLK on Trump’s inauguration day
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