The Scholarship Credit Healey Has Not Yet Claimed Massachusetts has until January 1 to opt into a federal program that could send hundreds of millions to local students, or leave those scholarships in states that already signed up. chestermtam.substack.com/p/t…

Massachusetts says it holds $3.4 billion in unclaimed property. A watchdog says that is not the full count. Treasurer Deb Goldberg’s office says the total is $3.4 billion. A watchdog says about $450 million is missing from that figure. chestermtam.substack.com/p/m…

Massachusetts Ratepayers Have Spent $11.6 Billion on Mass Save. The Fight Over What They Owe Next Is Still Unsettled. The House & Senate remain divided on a proposed $1 billion cut, & Governor Maura Healey has declined to endorse it as winter approaches. chestermtam.substack.com/p/m…

Massachusetts Fuel-Tax Pause Remains Stalled as Pump Prices Stay Elevated The two-month suspension has reached House Ways and Means, but neither chamber has voted and the full tax remains in place. chestermtam.substack.com/p/m…

Massachusetts Spends $40.3 Million on Backup Batteries at Critical Sites The awards will keep selected schools, housing, and treatment plants running during outages, but they will not meaningfully lower household bills or rebuild the regional grid. chestermtam.substack.com/p/m…

Massachusetts Posts Little MCAS Progress as English Scores Fall Further Behind New 2026 results show about six in ten statewide tests below expectations, with tenth-grade reading down six points from last year and sixteen points from 2019. chestermtam.substack.com/p/m…

Wright’s $10 Trillion Claim Meets a 30-Cent Kilowatt-Hour The world’s wind, solar, & battery buildout is still a sliver of total energy. In Massachusetts, the bill remains high for reasons that go well beyond those three technologies & also include them. chestermtam.substack.com/p/w…

The Custody Question Massachusetts Never Quite Settled The fight is not the label. It is whether a local jail holds someone for federal pickup. chestermtam.substack.com/p/t…

A two-month gas-tax pause is not a winter heating plan Massachusetts drivers may see 24 cents off at the pump. Households that heat with oil, gas, or electricity will still face the season’s full bill. chestermtam.substack.com/p/a…

Healey’s Affordability Pitch Meets the Kitchen Table Tax credits, housing pipelines, utility fights, and health-cost caps are real. Whether they have made Massachusetts cheaper is a different question. chestermtam.substack.com/p/h…

Massachusetts Replaces Its 24-Week Exceptions with Physician Judgment Chapter 188 takes effect November 8 unless opponents collect enough signatures by October 23 to suspend the law and put repeal before voters in 2028. chestermtam.substack.com/p/m…

Massachusetts Loses Residents & Firms While Labor Backs the Incumbents Census outflows, last-place business formation, & high housing & energy costs supply a record against which voters can weigh endorsements of Healey, Markey, & Beacon Hill Democrats. chestermtam.substack.com/p/m…

The $80 After-Hours Fee Taxpayers Now Cover Since 2024, Massachusetts has billed the Trial Court, not the person released on recognizance, for nights, weekends, and holidays. The annual cost is measured in the millions. chestermtam.substack.com/p/t…

Boston Offers $100 Million in Tax Relief to Restart Stalled Apartment Projects Four projects could add 1,400 homes; debate turns on market costs versus city mandates. chestermtam.substack.com/p/b…

New Bedford Still Has No Answer on Station 9 Mayor Mitchell skips a special council meeting as unsigned funding orders leave Engine 9’s future unresolved chestermtam.substack.com/p/n…

Massachusetts Lost Ground While the Country Added Jobs From March 2025 to March 2026, U.S. employment rose 0.1 percent while Massachusetts employment fell 0.9 percent, with the steepest losses in the high-skill sectors that built the state’s reputation. chestermtam.substack.com/p/m…

The Public Price of Unlimited Prison Calls in Massachusetts A 2023 law ended family phone bills and shifted an uncapped tab to taxpayers. The argument now is not whether contact matters, but how many minutes the state should buy. chestermtam.substack.com/p/t…

August WARN Filings List 647 Massachusetts Jobs Across Seven Employers Acquisitions, contract losses and plant closings, not one statewide slump, explain last month’s WARN filings. chestermtam.substack.com/p/a…

Governor Healey’s 2,500 Homes and a $278 Million Promise Massachusetts still needs 222,000 units by 2035. One funding round will not decide whether costs fall for everyone. chestermtam.substack.com/p/g…

The Meeting Circuit Is Not a Campaign After the primary, Republican nominees have eight weeks. Spending them talking to committee members who already support them is how you lose the voters who decide November. chestermtam.substack.com/p/t…