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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.

Governor Healey at State of the Commonwealth on Jan. 22, 2026.

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>


PROMO-milneil

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.

mbta-2026-budget-forecas

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.

MBTA_Comm_status_12_26_25

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.

Massachusetts_State_House_-_Boston_MA_-_DSC04664-e1572379463454

‘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.

State Legislators Update Event Cover Slide

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.

Pressley Bus Ad

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

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A sidewalk buried in a messy mixture of snow and slush along a busy city street in a neighborhood commercial area lined with one-story retail buildings.

Harvard Ave sidewalk snow near Brighton Ave 01.28.2026

Walking

Eyes On the Street: Days After the Storm, Boston’s Sidewalks Are An Inaccessible Mess

A coach bus with a headsign reading "904 Pittsfield TC" and a logo that says "Link413" drives down the main street of a small city on a sunny winter morning.

Link413 in Northampton on Jan 28 2026 credit PVTA

Regional Transit Authorities

Link413 Launches Three New Bus Routes Linking North Adams, Pittsfield, Greenfield, and Northampton

Crowds of people in winter coats pack the platform of a Red Line subway station.

Red Line crowds on platform

MBTA

The Red Line’s Old Trains Can’t Cope With the Cold

Healey Budget Bill Would Balance MBTA Budgets for One More Year

A view down a long, straight two-lane highway lined with street lamps and newly planted trees. To the left is a large grassy area, several hundred feet wide, with rows of multi-story houses in the distance on the other side.

Fall River Davol St redevelopment land looking SE from Brightman 11.25.2025

MassDOT Begins Marketing Former Freeway Land In Fall River For Transit-Oriented Housing Development

A row of armed masked police in confront a row of protesters on a snowy winter street.

Renee Good protest confronts ICE in Minneapolis credit Chad Davis

Policing

‘Kavanaugh Stops’ Are Making Streets More Dangerous

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Three people stand behind a TV studio desk with the GBH logo.

Christian on GBH BPR March 26

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".

28BusOnBlueHillAve

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