Middleboro Review and so on

  THE COMMONWEALTH BEACON WROTE ABOUT ANOTHER CHALLENGE TO THE  CHARLIE BAKER'S MBTA COMMUNITIES ACT....CLEARLY EXPLAINED:  MBTA Communities fight heads back to the SJC   December 18, 2025 By  Jennifer Smith The deadline for the final batch of communities to submit plans on how they expect to boost multifamily housing near transit is now just two weeks away, but the controversial MBTA Communities housing law saga will drag into 2026. Most cities and towns, the state housing office regularly emphasizes, have gotten on board and submitted plans to zone for a district of multifamily housing near MBTA service areas, as called for in the 2021 law. But a group of holdouts is banking on the very court that declared the legislation mandatory –  and enforceable  – in January to rule that the mandate is illegal without dedicated funding included in the law. Marshfield was one of a bundle of towns that wanted a Plymouth County Superior Court judge to declare they cann...

  ADVERTISEMENT Sponsored by  The Boston Foundation The Best of  CommonWealth Beacon    OPINION On bail policy, Massachusetts must catch up   November 23, 2025 By  Katy Naples-Mitchell Massachusetts has positioned itself as a leader on a  range of policy domains  under attack by the Trump administration. But as a  national conversation  has arisen about  cash bail  and  public safety , fueled by  misinformation from the White House , Massachusetts is on the sidelines.   At the same time, Massachusetts has been undergoing its own experiment with  releasing people  who would otherwise be detained pretrial this summer—people who were  denied their right to counsel  while bar advocates declined taking new appointed cases,  holding out for a pay raise  to continue serving as  public defenders .   In light of these developments, now is a critical time to pursue evidence-based pol...