Wu's rough primary night and four more stories: The Saturday Send

 

The Saturday Send

Welcome back to the Saturday Send, a weekly digest of stories from CommonWealth Beacon that you may have missed. This week, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu took the unusual step of publicly backing primary challengers against two sitting state senators serving city districts. It was a risky bet for the mayor, as she put her sway over Beacon Hill politics to a public test. And while Wu’s challengers had a rough night, Tuesday’s races sent the signal that local representatives seen as unfriendly to Boston’s goals should expect some political heat. Jennifer Smith has more. Plus, a bill celebrated for boosting overall funding for low-income school districts is squeezing local budgets, and cities like New Bedford are responding with cuts; GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue had a big primary win on Tuesday, but he will need to overcome heavy odds to unseat Democratic Gov. Maura Healey; US Sen. Ed Markey’s sound primary win signals voters found him to be the truest progressive, while Moulton struggled to prove he was in step with Massachusetts priorities; and Northeastern University lost an eight-year battle over land it owns in Nahant, with the Supreme Judicial Court ruling that the town had the right to seize the parcel and preserve it for open space. Check out those stories below, and, as always, thanks for reading. — The CommonWealth Beacon team

Senator Nick Collins at the annual St. Patrick's Day South Boston breakfast in 2025.

Collins survives Wu-backed primary challenge, Brownsberger-Lander race too close to call By Jennifer Smith 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.

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The unintended consequences of the Student Opportunity Act By Hallie Claflin 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.

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Minogue wins GOP primary for governor, setting stage for matchup with Healey By Jordan Wolman Minogue will need to overcome heavy odds to unseat Healey, who starts the race widely favored to win reelection.

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Markey’s unvarnished liberalism ages well By Michael Jonas In what became practically his campaign mantra, Markey repeated the line to all who raised the issue: “It’s not your age, it’s the age of your ideas that are important.”

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SJC says Nahant can take Northeastern University land By Jennifer Smith “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.

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How New England’s largest nonprofit senior care and housing provider is handling immigration and Medicaid changes We all need care as we age. Adam Scott leads New England’s largest nonprofit provider of senior care and living communities. He says demand is rising as the Commonwealth’s average age continues to increase. This week on Health or Consequences, John McDonough of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute talk with Scott about how the broader health care crisis is impacting long-term care. excerpt: Scott placed his organization’s struggles in the context of a shrinking statewide sector: Massachusetts has lost 34 skilled nursing facilities and 3,500 nursing beds since 2020, even as demand climbs among residents over 85. About 1,200 hospital patients a day are stuck waiting for discharge because of limited space at skilled nursing facilities, he said. LISTEN NOW

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