MassInsider - Massachusetts Politics & Policy News

Must-Reads

Massachusetts

State’s plan for post-MCAS graduation requirements features both tests and projects

WGBH

The Mass. Legislature cuts World Cup funding in half, despite Healey's $20 million request
NEPM
Nature groups say ballot proposal would tap $100 million from Mass. sales tax for conservation
WBUR
Moulton says 'inhumane' conditions persist for detainees at ICE Burlington office
WBUR
South Shore Health resolves contract dispute that could have affected 2,000 patients
Boston Globe
Healey outlines ‘framework’ for new high school graduation requirements including end-of-course tests, capstone projects
Boston Globe

Graduation framework recommends new high school tests
Commonwealth Magazine
Healey environmental bond bill clears committee
State House News Service
Bye-bye Markey? Ayanna Pressley Senate bid may be imminent
Contrarian Boston
‘People have a right to know’: Flood disclosures poised to step into legislative limelight next year
Commonwealth Magazine

National

Trump vowed to slash the federal budget deficit. Analysts say his policies will increase it by $4.1 trillion.

Boston Globe

How Trump Is Using Claims of Antisemitism to End Free Speech
The Nation
Rise of crisis pregnancy centers highlights shift in anti-abortion movement
PBS Newshour
Dozy Don: A Pictorial History
The Borowitz Report
It’s Election Day in Tennessee
punchbowl
Trump Administration Live Updates: Honduran Ex-President Is Freed From Prison After Pardon
New York Times

Here Come the Nick Fuentes Clones.
The Bulwark
Trump’s Kill List, Brought To You By Obama And Cheney
The Lever
Witkoff and Kushner meet Putin to discuss Ukraine peace plan
Axios
Michael Dell to fund 25 million "Trump accounts" with $6.25B gift
Axios
Pete Hegseth, Moral Failure, and the Erosion of Military Legitimacy
The Bulwark
Pete Hegseth Needs to Go—Now
The Atlantic

Today on Beacon Hill

1:15am

Office of Behavorial Health Promotion and Prevention Launch

Grand Staircase, State House, Boston

8:00am

2025 Boston Biotech Summit

Boynton Gateway, 495 Columbia Street, Somerville

9:00am

2025 New England Energy Summit hosted by NEPGA & The Dupont Group

The Colonnade Hotel, 120 Huntington Avenue, Boston

9:30am

Mass. Gaming Commission Public Hearing

Via conference call

10:00am

Special Commission on Extremely Low-Income Housing Meeting

Executive Office of Housing & Livable Communities, 100 Cambridge Street, Conference Room 2A, Boston and via Zoom

1:00pm

Joint Committee on Education: Committee Hearing

State House, A-2 and Virtual

1:00pm

Mass. Commission for the Blind (MCB) Rehabilitation Council Meeting

Via Zoom

6:00pm

Division of Marine Fisheries Public Hearing

Via Zoom

Quote of the Day

“Vice President JD Vance, who falsely blames high housing prices on immigrants, said that “it is totally reasonable and acceptable for American citizens to look at their next door neighbors and say, ‘I want to live next to people who I have something in common with.’” This is precisely the argument made by segregationists when opposing the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which made it illegal for landlords to refuse to rent to someone based on their race, religion, or national origin. Vance also insists that Canada is “stagnating” because it has too much diversity.”

Public Notice's Joseph Dye

Dye argues Vance’s claim that people should live near those “like them” echoes segregationist arguments used to oppose the 1968 Fair Housing Act. It also says he falsely blames immigrants for housing costs and frames diversity as harmful.