Category: MA

The corner office at the State House had a lot to say recently about the state topping a personal finance website’s ranking for best economy.

But the Gov. Maura Healey has remained mum about a homegrown study that depicts a troubling state of Massachusetts’ economic health.

Healey promoted WalletHub’s ranking as a “testament to the incredible businesses, universities, and research institutions that drive our innovation economy, and to the top-notch talent that continues to choose Massachusetts as the place to grow their careers and their futures.”

The ranking compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 28 “key indicators of economic performance and strength.” It gave each state a total score, which placed Massachusetts topped by a slim margin.

Across sectors of economic activity, health and innovation, the commonwealth ranked highly. It has the highest share of jobs in high-tech industries, the third-highest share of STEM professionals, and the second-most invention patents per capita.

Experts told the personal finance website that while a strong state economy doesn’t guarantee success for its residents, it makes financial health more attainable.

Despite its lofty rank, Massachusetts only topped the country in one category, “innovation potential,” while placing sixth for “economic activity” and 17th for “economic health.”

Another report on the state’s economic viability released last week would appear to more closely reflect the sentiments of those who actually live and work here.

According to the Pioneer Institute, a conservative Boston think tank, Massachusetts remains in an economic slowdown that began in 2020, with the professional, scientific, and technical services sector hard hit throughout the state.

“Massachusetts’ flagging leadership in the professional, scientific, and technical sectors is clear and troubling,” said Aidan Enright, Pioneer research associate and author of the report.

“It is the engine of Massachusetts’ innovation economy. Continued inaction on longstanding barriers to growth, like housing and taxes, leaves the state less able to compete for talent and investment — and even more vulnerable to new federal policy pressures.”

The report shows that while Massachusetts remains one of the “most economically productive states in the nation,” the growth of the state’s Gross State Product has slowed “significantly” over the past five years.

Researchers drew on data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and Census Bureau.

Despite the slowdown, Massachusetts still holds the second-highest real GSP per capita in the country at nearly $90,000 in 2024, “thanks to its concentration of advanced industries and world-class elite educational institutions,” the report stated, behind only New York.

“Unlike previous downturns, today’s challenges are structural: weak private sector job growth (among the slowest in the country), a severe housing affordability crisis, anemic rates of new development activity and slow permitting, an aging labor force, and sustained net outmigration — particularly among younger and higher-income residents,” the report states.

“The Trump administration’s actions on NIH grants and tariffs will create a significant drag on Massachusetts’ growth,” said Jim Stergios, executive director of the Pioneer Institute. “But it’s our own policies that are driving up housing costs and pushing residents and employers out.”

Until this state begins mass producing housing that the average worker can afford, Massachusetts likely will remain mired in a stagnant economic growth environment.

Consider what’s characterized much of the last few years in boys volleyball.

Needham’s dynasty. Westfield’s dynasty. Western Mass.’ surge. Wayland’s surge. A loaded Bay State Conference. New leagues showcasing success. A whole lot of parity.

Those fingerprints were all over this spring, too. And yet, this season reached a rare, historic level to admire.

Brookline’s junior setter Alec Smagula spoke confidently about the heights his Warriors could reach when he was just a freshman, declaring them underrated all the way through a Cinderella run to the Div. 1 Final Four in 2023. Two years later, senior outside hitter Kris Vaivars set the program’s all-time kills record as arguably the state’s top player, pairing with Smagula’s mastery as a do-it-all setter to anchor Brookline’s emotional run to its first Div. 1 state title since 1992.

Star power, depth and versatility were the bones of a sparkling, 23-1 year. But the program’s passion – shown through its contagious energy all the way down the bench – was the heart in a rare year for Brookline.

Needham may not have won another state title, but the dynasty is alive and well in perhaps one of its more impressive runs. The Rockets had a very new rotation this year, and a much different look from the star power that fueled its unbeaten three-peat from 2021 to 2023. But defensive tenacity improved throughout the year, rising to its pinnacle to upset Natick in the state semifinals for a fifth straight appearance in the Div. 1 state final.

By all measures, the Bay State Conference has been formidable for years. Between Brookline, Newton North and Needham, it’s had representatives win each of the last five Div. 1 state finals. Though, never in the power rankings era – or possibly ever – had any conference claimed all four spots in one Final Four in any MIAA sport. Brookline, Needham, Natick and Newton North changed that.

The latter two were right in the mix as worthy potential champions themselves, and all four were dominant over the rest of the division. The lone exception was Lexington, who proved tough in one of the program’s best years with a personal record 17-game win streak.

Regardless, what the BSC’s power-four produced was rare. Almost as rare was how tight much of the rest of the field played out.

Last year’s parity had us on our toes with how the whole tournament would unfold, only for it to follow the chalk up until No. 2 Newton North beat No. 1 Needham in the state final. But this year, the first round alone produced more upsets than each of the previous three whole tournaments combined.

Barnstable felt a massive emotional lift with a win over New Bedford in the regular season. Taunton got the same when it split with Milford to share the brand-new Hockomock League title. Both went from needing preliminary-round wins to upsetting their way to the state quarterfinals as the 26th and 27th seeds – the two lowest seeds to reach that far in the sport. And beside them, Milford, Weymouth and St. John’s of Shrewsbury also shook off their sub-20 seeding to advance at least once in an all-time showing of parity.

Part of such a wild tournament stemmed from a level playing field. The major driver, though, was the first year the MIAA’s power rankings system seemed to miss the mark – which had been spot on in the other three tournaments.

That didn’t carry over to Div. 2, which saw all eight of its top seeds reach the state quarterfinals.

Wayland was hungry all year to avenge its reverse-sweep loss in the 2024 state finals to Westfield. Premier outside hitter Finn Bell anchored an otherwise deep group to reach the title game for the second straight year – exorcising the Warriors’ demons by beating the Bombers in the state semifinals. Yet, powers out of Western Mass. once again forced Wayland one win shy of the program’s first title.

Top-ranked Agawam looked like a wagon all year, only losing once; when star setter David Dzhenzherukha missed a regular season game against Chicopee Comprehensive. Otherwise, a deep crew of standout pins surrounded Dzhenzherukha for one of the state’s top attacks, and its defense shined in the final to secure its second state title in three years.

Afterward, head coach Kevin Pender had much to say about the strength of Western Mass., and the pride that comes with the growth the area has shown.

By taking the title, Agawam and Westfield have traded Div. 2 state championships over the four years since the sport expanded to two divisions. West Springfield rose up to nearly knock off the Brownies in the state semifinals, and six of those top-eight teams to reach the state quarterfinals hail from the region.

Five teams from the West had reached the stage in 2024, and only three did in 2023

The Iranian regime’s tragic miscalculations continue. As Israeli’s air offensive wreaks havoc on Tehran and environs, Iran now leaks through diplomatic channels that it is prepared to talk about a deal involving its nuclear program. But what incentive is there for Israel to back down when it has become increasingly clear that Iran’s defenses aren’t up to the challenge?

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that “Tehran has told Arab officials it would be open to returning to the negotiating table as long as the U.S. doesn’t join the attack.” This is an apparent reference to the possibility that the White House may be amenable to providing military technology that would allow the Israelis to do damage at Fordow, a key nuclear enrichment site for Iran buried deep within a group of mountains.

Yet it’s becoming increasingly clear that President Donald Trump’s patience with Iran has evaporated. On Tuesday, he ramped up his rhetoric against the nation. “I don’t know,” Trump said. “I’m not too much in the mood to negotiate.” He also said he wants “a real end” to Iran’s nuclear program, with Tehran “giving up entirely” its enrichment activities, CBS News reported.

Trump has also been more vocal in support of Israel, at one point urging Tehran residents to “immediately evacuate.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his nation prepared up to two weeks of strikes but will continue its campaign until it has eliminated Iran’s nuclear threat and its ballistic missiles. Trump gave his tacit approval. “You’re going to find out over the next two days,” the president said about Israel’s intentions. “You’re going to find out. Nobody’s slowed up so far.”

Iran’s pleas smack of desperation. Israel has freely taken out a number of Iran’s top military leaders and damaged the nation’s nuclear ambitions. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is apparently in hiding. The terror proxies — Hamas and Hezbollah — that long ran interference for Iran against the Jewish state have been decimated by Israel’s superior intelligence and military capabilities. Where was this sense of urgency when the mullahs were attempting to deceive U.N. inspectors while sandbagging U.S. efforts to diplomatically scuttle the country’s nuclear efforts?

Trump has consistently made clear that the United States will not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons. On Air Force One this week, Trump said, “We’re looking for better than a cease-fire.” Presumably that would be an end to the hostilities once Iran either agrees to dismantle its nuclear program or Israel and the United States do the job instead. The choice is Iran’s to make.

Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service

“Globalize the Intifada.”  This is the malevolent mantra, using the Arabic word for “uprising” or “struggle,” that Hamas supporters in America invoke to justify illegal encampments, vandalism and property damage, verbal harassment, and even physical assaults against persons in their path. Their objective is the destruction of Israel, and once that is accomplished, the transformation of America into something resembling an Islamic Caliphate.

Recently, this endeavor has adopted fire-bombing as its tactic of choice. Just as Hamas burned Israeli babies to death on Oct. 7, so, too, have their supporters in America attempted the same to an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor in Colorado and to the Governor of Pennsylvania, who is Jewish, and his family.

That much of this criminality has occurred on American college campuses is because many who inhabit these campuses – faculty, administrators, and students – either support it or refuse to condemn it.  This, in turn, is because the prevailing ethos in academia reduces the complexities of politics to a crude dichotomy in which everyone who is white is an oppressor of everyone who is not.  Because most Jews in America are white, they are oppressors notwithstanding the long history of antisemitism in America. Through this conjunction of white Americans and American Jews, those in academia who accept it hate America for the same reason they hate Israel, the nation-state of the Jewish people. Both, in their view, are irreversibly evil and morally unsalvageable.

On my own campus, Central Connecticut State University, this hatred of all things American and a healthy dose of hostility to Israel are virtually a requirement for graduation.  Although the president of CCSU, Zulma Toro, to her great credit authorized the creation of a committee on antisemitism shortly after Hamas began its genocidal war against Israel in 2023, the university requires students to take a course in “Social Justice” – a seemingly neutral term that disguises its real objective.  As expressed on the webpage of the John Lewis Institute of Social Justice, established at CCSU after the George Floyd riots in 2020, it is the extirpation of “inequality and racism in American society.”

The intended result are cadres of graduates committed to making the personal politics of their professors the politics of America.  This is not just a violation of students’ academic freedom, which includes the avoidance of ideological indoctrination.  It is also the consequence of a profound misreading of recent history.  America is not systemically racist.  Nor is Israel an apartheid regime.  It is instead the most tolerant and democratic country in the Middle East.  Homosexuals are thrown from roofs in Gaza and hanged from cranes in Iran.  Israel holds Gay Pride parades.

I cannot overstate the number of students who tell me in confidence and in whispered tones that their professors devote a percentage of their classes to proselytizing students in this left-wing politics that conjoins hatred of Israel and hatred of America. The preferred term for the commingling is “intersectionality.”  In its warped view of reality, it melds the evils of America imperceptibly into the mirage of the “settler colonialism” that ostensibly explains the original sin of the establishment of Israel.

But there is an additional enemy of those in academia who hate Israel and America in equal measure that even their most vocal critics almost always ignore: Western Civilization, to the eradication of which the execrable “Columbia University Apartheid Divest” is explicitly committed. By this one means the civilization of which American politics and culture are both a product and an essential part.  Among the attributes of Western Civilization that make it different from, indeed preferable to all others in the world are individual rights, representative democracy, separation of religious and secular authority making religious toleration possible, and a belief in the equality of everyone as creations of God.  It is these virtues that enabled the West, for all its failings, to end slavery, defeat Nazism, weaken Soviet Communism to where its internal contradictions destroyed it, and through an Industrial Revolution provide prosperity to more people than anywhere else and by any other civilization in the world. Indeed, much of what other civilizations have accomplished has been by borrowing all that is best in the West.

Hamas and its supporters are not merely oblivious to this.  They are unalterably hostile to it.

At stake in preventing the globalization of the intifada is nothing less than the survival of Western Civilization.

Jay Bergman is Professor of History at Central Connecticut State University and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Scholars.

Researchers at cybersecurity outlet Cybernews say that billions of login credentials have been leaked and compiled into datasets online, giving criminals “unprecedented access” to accounts consumers use each day.

According to a report published this week, Cybernews researchers have recently discovered 30 exposed datasets that each contain a vast amount of login information — amounting to a total of 16 billion compromised credentials for platforms including Google, Facebook and Apple.

Pioneer watchdog portal

The fiscal watchdog Pioneer Institute has launched “Boston Datalabs,” a site devoted to “accessible insights into city payroll and budget data.”

This tool offers a comprehensive look at how public funds have been “earned, allocated, and spent in Boston through multiple mayoral administrations. Developed collaboratively by the Pioneer Institute and the Boston Policy Institute.”

Boston PR firm’s new GM

Former Baker-Polito aide Christian Nakkashian has been promoted to the position of general manager of PR firm Regan Communications Group.

Nakkashian will oversee all administrative, operational, and logistical functions of the company, including personnel, financial, and business development responsibilities. He will also perform numerous external-facing duties, including managing high level client and partner relations. He previously served as the firm’s chief of staff.

“Christian’s leadership, organizational, and communications skills ensure that our company runs smoothly and successfully across our numerous offices,” RCG Chairman George K. Regan Jr. said.

With our national debt in excess of $36 trillion and rising, there can be little doubt that putting America’s fiscal house in order should be our priority. As budget discussions continue, conservatives are rightfully demanding greater fiscal responsibility. However, putting our nation’s finances back on track should not be done on the backs of the poor, the disadvantaged or the infirm.

We may not agree on the causes, but all Americans can attest to the effects of economic pressures on their daily lives. Life often brings unexpected harm and misfortune, and during unfortunate times, Americans rely on Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program as safeguards to survive life’s storms.

As policymakers begin initial markups on budget reconciliation, now is not the time to overhaul programs that protect Americans when they need them the most.

Fiscal responsibility, limited government and compassion for all Americans are what conservatism is all about. Our philosophy is one of limited government — an honest government that exists to do for people what they cannot do for themselves.

Not only would any degree of federal cuts to these programs cause real, immediate harm, but these proposed cuts also contradict our foundational values.  Eliminate waste, fraud and abuse, of course, in an effort to improve the Medicaid program — but leave the program intact.

The proposal for more stringent work requirements, which has grown in popularity, poses a particular threat to our most vulnerable. While it may seem a logical first step in weeding out bad actors, the reality is that most recipients already work. Heightened standards could harm single mothers trying to make ends meet for their young children, and veterans seeking care in their final stages of life.

It could strain the already tenuous grasp caregivers have on the health of the elderly or the disabled. This is not to mention the difficulty and high cost of implementing requirements as states seek to comply with new standards.

Additional work requirements wouldn’t achieve their apparent goal; it would terminate coverage for countless Americans who count on it.

Recent polling of GOP voters finds they are not supportive of overhauling Medicaid. In fact, a majority (82%) want lawmakers to protect or expand these programs. Same goes for SNAP. Republican voters don’t see these programs as handouts — they view them as lifelines extending to all Americans, regardless of political affiliation.

The vast majority of SNAP recipients and Medicaid enrollees engage with these programs honorably. If cuts persist, single-parent households will buckle under increased food insecurity, and empty pantries will push children and adolescents from the house or school.

Veterans, who rely on SNAP to complement their VA benefits, will be stretched thin in their final years. Loved ones will forgo care due to revoked access, and could develop chronic conditions, often more deadly, and ultimately more expensive for the American taxpayer. Hospitals will shutter; care deserts will grow. These are not only probable but likely scenarios.

There is no doubt that federal belt-tightening is badly needed, but Medicaid and SNAP cuts would upend state and local economies. SNAP spending injects vital funds into communities. Sure, grocery stores benefit up front, but what is less visible is the ripple effect of subsequent purchases at surrounding, often small, businesses. Federal cuts may fortify the balance sheet in the short term, but state and local economies will be stifled in the long run.

The argument isn’t for unchecked spending; we need smart, targeted investments. SNAP and Medicaid are not immune to error. It’s important to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse, but we must preserve the only healthcare and nutritional access that many children, veterans and caregivers have.

Don’t ignore the reality that these programs are pro-work, pro-family and pro-economy. These programs should be viewed as short-term investments in low-income communities that ultimately enable them to weather life’s storms. We must advocate for commonsense, conservative legislation that balances fiscal restraint with human dignity.

President Trump has said that, besides waste, fraud and abuse, Medicaid won’t be touched.  All conservatives should follow his lead.

Dee Stewart is the president and CEO of Americans for a Balanced Budget