Walking is always good, and even a short, “mindful” walk can be calming by refocusing your thoughts on the simple act of taking one step followed by another.

What to Do Today: A Walking Meditation, and Distractions

A smiling black woman with long braided hair wearing a black-and-yellow plaid patterned sweater

Meghan Volcy

A crowd of people are seated at desks arranged in a semicircle facing a speaker in a red jacket standing at a dias in the front of a large, ornate room.

Elections and Politics

Healey’s ‘State of the Commonwealth’ Boasts About MBTA Turnaround, Promises to Fill Budget Shortfall

<p>Got tips? Send them to me via Signal, the encrypted messaging app, at 207-310-0728. You can also follow me on <a href="https://better.boston/@cmilneil" rel="me">Mastodon.</a></p>


Christian MilNeil

A bar chart showing three pairs of bars (with a red bar for "expenses" next to a stacked pair of bars of an equal combined hight, with a green bar for "revenues" and a black bar on top of the green for "budget gap". The x axis shows three budget years: FY2026, FY2027, and FY2028. The y axis runs from 0 to 4K and is labelled "Millions of dollars". The bars get progressively taller over the three years, but the red and black bars (expenses and deficits) grow more than the green bars (revenue). The left set of bars shows $3,103 million in expenses, $2,864 in revenues, and $239 in deficit. The right set of bars (FY2028) shows $3,640 in expenses, $2,802 in revenue, and $837 in deficit.

Another Year, Another Budget Gap: Gov. Healey Still Needs A Long-Term Solution for Funding the T

A map of MBTA communities, with dark blue indicating compliant municipalities, blue striped ones indicating those that are conditionally compliant, light blue indicating zoning plans that have been adopted and/or submitted for review, red indicating noncompliant municipalities, grey indicating adjacent small towns whose zoning plans that were due as of December 31st of 2025, and white indicating inapplicable areas.

Housing

MBTA Communities Act Holdouts Are Losing State Funding

Front view of the Massachusetts State House with sunlight glinting off the gold dome at the top and a Massachusetts state flag at right.

‘Fair Share’ Millionaire Tax Continues to Exceed Expectations

A blue event slide titled “State Legislators Update,” with the Massachusetts State House in the background. The date, November 20, 2025, and time, 2:45 PM–4:30 PM, are on the right. At the bottom are photos of Senator Brendan P. Crighton, Representative James Arciero, and Carolyn Ryan, with their roles listed, along with the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and State Street logos.

Legislation

Lawmakers Say Infrastructure Needs More Funding, and Congestion Pricing Should Be On the Table

A Black woman gestures while talking with a white woman seated next to her on a city bus.

Rep. Pressley Lobbies for Stronger Transit Funding, Fare-Free Programs In Next Federal Transportation Bill

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A bar chart titled "ticketed civil violations of Mass. speed limit laws since 2013, source: MassDOT driver citation portal, drivercitationdata.dot.mass.gov. The chart x-axis goes from 2013 (left) to 2025 (right) and the y-axis from 0 to 120,000. The bars show a steady downward trend from 2013 (112,503) to 2020 (55,314), then rebound slightly and plateau around 65,000 in 2024 and 2025.

Policing

Mass. Law Enforcement Data Show Dramatic Decline In Speeding Tickets

Two MBTA buses, white with yellow and black stripes under the windows and the word "ELECTRIC" above, sit in a parking lot under an elaborate steel gantry with charging equipment.

MBTA

Volkswagen’s Crimes Help Finance New Electric Buses In Massachusetts

About 40 cars occupy five lanes of highway in crawling traffic that stretches off to the horizon..

The Climate Emergency

Climate Report Card Gives MassDOT A Failing Grade As Mass. Misses Key Climate Goals

Locator map showing Pittsfield MA, with downtown labelled on the right edge of the map, and W. Housatonic St. (Rt. 20) running horizontally across the center. A red dot in the upper right on Linden St. is labelled "initial crash site"; another red dot along W. Housatonic in the lower left corner of the map, several miles away, is labelled "body recovered"

Crashes

Pittsfield Cops Suspect Driver Killed Pedestrian Then Dragged His Body Across the City

Daily headlines

Friday’s Headlines Are Full of Hot Air

A bus drives up a long, straight city street lined with parked cars and 2-3 story buildignsat dusk.

Uncategorized

MBTA Announces Minor Bus Route Changes Coming In April

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An extra-long articulated bus in the white, yellow, and black MBTA color scheme waits in traffic on a wide multi-lane street with a red light in the distance. An electronic sign in a side window of the bus says "28 MATTAPAN." A street sign on the left says "Rexford Street".

Paying With Their Time: Increasing Traffic Congestion Erodes Benefits of Boston’s Fare-Free Buses

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