A Tweet ( an "x...?" I don't know, I still call it Twitter like everyone else ) I posted about Marblehead's public school troubles this week hit a nerve I didn't fully expect. From shock to outrage to disbelief to finger pointing at all sorts of different causes. The numbers are stark. Since the 2016–2017 school year, enrollment in Marblehead Public Schools has fallen from 3,144 students to roughly 2,389, a 24% decline. Over the same stretch, the share of residents 65 and older climbed from...

Why the Commonwealth we love is at a turning point Brian Halligan’s recent take on Massachusetts should be a gut check for anyone financially, emotionally or personally invested in the Commonwealth’s future. The HubSpot co-founder and MIT lecturer didn’t sugarcoat the situation: biotech losing momentum, AI companies choosing other regions, federal research cuts threatening flagship institutions, and young talent questioning whether this place is even “cool” enough to justify the soaring cost...

Five years after passage, the MBTA Communities law is finally producing what housing advocates asked for: real projects, real units, and real zoning changes. But new data from housing researcher Amy Dain of the Boston Indicators makes one thing clear, this reform is working exactly as designed: incrementally, unevenly, and at nowhere near the scale needed to solve Greater Boston’s housing crisis on its own. That’s not failure... It’s a lesson. First, the good news: housing is being built!...