Middleboro Review and so on

  ❤️  Donate Thursday, February 12, 2026 ☀️   Mostly sunny, with a high near 34. Good Morning Boston, It's Thursday. As Beacon Hill budget writers  proverbially pinch pennies  amid challenging conditions, one lawmaker is trying to tackle a more literal penny problem: Rounding era:   What does exact change look like in a future with no pennies? Following the Trump administration's move to  stop producing the increasingly worthless coins last year , a top Massachusetts lawmaker is pushing to clear up the confusion, as penny shortages begin to hit local stores. " This is actually more serious than I think anyone realized," state Rep. Tackey Chan, a Quincy Democrat who chairs the Legislature's consumer protection committee, told WBUR's Dan Guzman. The backstory: Just over a year ago, President Trump announced that he had instructed the U.S. Mint to stop making pennies. It was a move that came after decades of debate and had  broad support  among ...

  ADVERTISEMENT Sponsored by  The Boston Foundation The Best of  CommonWealth Beacon   OPINION Bill Russell and Red Auerbach on a mural of Boston sports legends at the Sports Museum at the TD Garden. (Photo via Creative Commons/Flickr by Lorianne DiSabato) How Boston – of all places – offers lessons for the NFL on hiring diversity   February 8, 2026 By  Colette A.M. Phillips Over the past week, much of the sports focus nationally—and nearly all of it in New England—has been on the Super Bowl. But while excitement was building and we were busy planning our best 7-layer dips and other watch-party staples, the NFL found itself confronting a familiar and uncomfortable reality: Another head coach hiring cycle came and went, and  only a single vacancy was filled by a person of color . The ensuing  media coverage  and  handwringing  was predictable. What may be surprising to many is that Boston—a city hardly seen as a leading light on matters o...