2024 WAS A YEAR OF TRANSITION. Offices toyed with the new reality of hybrid work patterns and the economic impact on city centers. The re-election of Donald Trump offered a bracing reality check for Democrats across the country, as even counties in deep blue Massachusetts veered away from the incumbent party.
But a major disruption in the Bay State involved its health care systems, with the Steward Health Care bankruptcy imperiling community hospitals across the state and prompting an ugly reckoning with the role of private equity in health care systems.
Several episodes of The Codcast explored the topic, starting with the zippily titled episode “Steward: A cautionary tale complete with a Snidely Whiplash.” Former editor Bruce Mohl talked with CommonWealth Beacon’s resident health care experts – and hosts of the Health or Consequences series on The Codcast – John McDonough of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute.
Steward CEO Ralph de la Torre is “a new poster child of private equity,” McDonough said in February. The CEO is a modern Snidely Whiplash, McDonough said, “with his jets and his yachts and the amazing money he has taken out of this. It is just reprehensible behavior. We need to kind of clean the deck on this and have a little bit of a start over. These wealthy people who have abused this system, I hope they come out of this with nothing.”
Hattis and McDonough dissected Steward’s collapse throughout the year, recording Codcasts on the labor perspective into the crisis, how it interacts with the legacy of health care planning in the state, and Steward in court. Other health care-focused episodes examined the role of nonprofit community hospitals and the Merrimack Valley health care system.
Here are some of CommonWealth Beacon’s favorite and most-listened-to podcasts – covering health care to housing to human interest – along with links to the audio files and the stories we wrote about the conversations.
1. “Steward: A cautionary tale complete with Snidely Whiplash” – February
John McDonough of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute talk about what went wrong with Steward Health Care, and different paths out of the current situation.
Listen to the Codcast or read the write-up.
2. “Pulling the thread on North Shore racial covenants” – January
The Dirty Deeds Project brought to light hundreds of racially restrictive covenants in home deeds on the North Shore. Kenann McKenzie-DeFranza, North Shore NAACP branch president, and Jean Michael Fana, Harborlight Homes advocacy and education manager, discussed the project, exploring how talking about ugly history can empower Massachusetts communities to confront it.
Listen to the Codcast or read the write-up.
3. “Engagements: the business of the state?” – September
A series of articles about a buzzy Supreme Judicial Court case on the fate of a $70,000 engagement ring inspired this Codcast episode. Meredith Goldstein, love advice columnist for the Boston Globe, discussed the meaning of relationships, gender roles and marriage in the context of arguments before the high court on what happens to engagement rings when an engagement fizzles out.
Listen to the Codcast or read the write-up.
4. “Doubling down on higher education” – July
Massachusetts Sen. Jo Comerford, the Senate chair of the Joint Committee on Education, dove into higher education policy, including the free community college measure included in the recent state budget, the full range of programs that support students, and the role of higher education in economic development and public life.
Listen to the Codcast or read the write-up.
5. “Latino voters lead rightward shift in Mass.” – November
The 2024 election offered a bracing counter to “demographics as destiny” assumptions about voter behavior. As the country swung away from the Biden administration, citing painful inflation and cost of living issues, Latino voters led the pivot. Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia discussed the rightward trend of Latino voters. They discuss potential mechanisms behind the shift and lessons learned for both political parties.
Listen to the Codcast or read the write-up in English or leer en español.
6. “Eng predicts MBTA ridership will bounce back after service improves” – March
MBTA General Manager Phil Eng kicked off the year with ambitious plans to improve the quality of T commutes, with ridership still flagging thanks to the pandemic and plagued with slow zones. He talked about his first year running the T, why he’s optimistic about bringing riders back, and where things stood with train car manufacturer CRRC.
Listen to the Codcast or read the write-up.
7. “AG Andrea Campbell talks local power and gambling boom” – April
The Supreme Judicial Court is considering whether or not Attorney General Andrea Campbell can force the town of Milton to abide by the new MBTA Communities housing law. She discussed the suit, why she believes that in housing disputes “the state trumps” local control, and her other first-year priorities as attorney general.
Listen to the Codcast or read the write-up.
8. “Milton’s dilemma in the face of housing reform” – October
In arguments before the high court on the MBTA Communities law, justices wondered what the intention of the Legislature was in the first place. State Sen. Brendan Crighton of Lynn, who introduced the initial amendment, and zoning expert and consultant Amy Dain broke down the role of multi-family zoning in tackling the growing housing crisis and how lawmakers thought the law might be enforced.
Listen to the Codcast or read the write-up.
9. “Ballot questions and battles royale” and “I’d take a ballot for you” – September
In a special live podcast crossover, The Codcast and The Horse Race considered the slate of 2024 ballot measures with ballot campaign veterans Lynda Tocci of Dewey Square Group, Conor Yunits of Issues Management Group, and Steve Crawford of Crawford Strategies. The discussion dove into the history of Massachusetts ballot initiatives and the mixed bag of 2024 referendums.
Listen to the Codcast and the Horse Race or read the write-up.
10. “Introducing CommonWealth Beacon editor Laura Colarusso” – November
As the year wrapped up, so did an era of CommonWealth (once a quarterly print magazine, now the digital civic news organization CommonWealth Beacon). We have a new editor – Laura Colarusso – to replace Bruce Mohl, who retired after 16 years at the helm. The CWB team and our readers started to get to know Laura through a Codcast conversation that ranged from Laura’s history as young Pentagon reporter to editor at Neiman Reports. As CommonWealth Beacon enters a new era, we leave you this year with Laura’s philosophy of public service journalism in her own words.
Listen to the Codcast or read the write-up.
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