South Shore News Podcast

Contains AI Generated Content The Veiled Patriot: Southeastern Massachusetts’ Revolutionary Mulan A Special 4th of July Feature Centuries before modern women integrated into combat roles, and oceans away from the legendary Chinese warrior Hua Mulan who bound her chest to take her ailing father’s place in the imperial army, an American woman performed a similarly breathtaking act of masquerade. She...

Contains AI Generated Content The Kingston Line: A Century and a Half of Boom, Bust, and Rebirth on the South Shore The transportation corridor connecting Boston with the historic South Shore represents one of the oldest and most volatile transit sectors in the United States. Today, commuters know it as the MBTA’s Kingston Line, a vital artery carrying thousands of passengers a day. But the modern...

AI Generated Content PLYMOUTH - In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a high-stakes jurisdictional battle erupted between the state of Massachusetts and Plymouth County over who should manage millions in federal relief funds. While state officials and even some local leaders initially urged the county to relinquish the money, the Plymouth County Commissioners chose a path of “institutional c...

Contains AI Generated Content If you stood in the center of Whitman or Brockton in the early 1900s, the dominant sound wouldn’t be the roar of car engines, but the hum of electric wires and the clang of trolley bells. During World War I, Massachusetts boasted a spectacular infrastructure oddity: its electric interurban and streetcar network was so incredibly dense that its 3,056 miles of track act...

Contains AI generated content If you are a municipal leader on the South Shore of Massachusetts, you are likely intimately familiar with the tightening vice grip on your annual operating budget. You’ve probably heard the primary culprit cited in town halls and finance committee meetings: the Plymouth County Pension Obligation. But what exactly is going on, why is it placing such a stranglehold on...

In October 2025, South Shore News reported on a profound policy vacuum surrounding the regulation of kratom in Massachusetts. Seven months later, as the state legislature remains paralyzed, that vacuum has only widened, forcing local Boards of Health across the South Shore into the trenches of a complicated public health battle. Here is our updated deep dive into what kratom is, the fierce debate...

Listen closely on certain streets in Norwell or Hingham just as the sun comes up, and you might hear a sound that belongs to another century: the soft clinking of glass milk bottles on a front porch. It is a comforting, nostalgic noise, but make no mistake—the survival of that sound is the result of decades of stubborn resilience, economic maneuvering, and an outright refusal to let the South Shor...

Contains AI Generated Content The Menu Override: Abington’s Democratic Strategy for Fiscal Sustainability On Saturday, May 16, 2026, Abington voters will head to the polls to face one of the most consequential financial decisions in the town’s recent history: a $3.625 million Proposition 2½ override. Unlike traditional override requests that present a single, all-or-nothing dollar amount, Abington...

Town of Halifax is asking residents if they’ll approve an operational tax override for the first time in two decades. Facing what Town Administrator Steven Solbo calls a “fiscal cliff,” the town government must close a significant structural deficit for Fiscal Year 2027. If approved, the $1.5 million Proposition 2½ override will maintain current town services. If it fails, voters will see sweeping...

Contains AI Generated Content HINGHAM — For over a decade, Hingham has debated how to care for its rapidly aging population. On April 27, 2026, the debate finally ends at the ballot box. Since our last deep dive, “The Battle for Bare Cove,” the proposed Center for Active Living (HCAL) has navigated a labyrinth of state environmental approvals, value engineering, and intense municipal financial scr...

The longest-surviving form of direct democracy in the Western world was born right here in Southeastern Massachusetts, and nearly four centuries later, it continues to dictate how our local governments tax, spend, and build. The New England Town Meeting and its executive counterpart, the Select Board, are deeply woven into the civic DNA of the Commonwealth. But as populations swell and municipal b...

AI Generated ContentFor local policymakers sitting in Bridgewater’s Council Chambers and Raynham’s Select Board meetings, the numbers defining the Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School District (BRRSD) have become distressingly familiar. But behind the spreadsheets lies a stark reality: high school students sitting in empty cafeterias for 80-minute study halls, class sizes ballooning to over 40 stud...

Across Massachusetts, a quiet financial catastrophe is forcing local governments to make agonizing choices. Cities, towns, and school districts are grappling with a “budget nightmare” driven by staggering health insurance premium hikes, which are typically rising between 10% and 20%, and in some extreme cases, up to 40%. Editors note: South Shore News is going paid in April, subscribe now to make...

Contains AI Generated Content Grab your green, and keep the Guinness chilled, South Shore! St. Patrick’s Day may be here, but the celebration is going to continue here on the “Irish Riviera.” Thanks to the historic Blizzard of 2026, the beloved Scituate and Abington St. Patrick’s Day parades have both been rescheduled for Sunday, April 12 . Consider it an extended holiday season—a perfect excuse t...

AI Generated content The town of Foxborough, Massachusetts, is geographically closer to a quaint colonial village than a bustling metropolis. With a population of just 18,000, its primary governing body is a five-member Select Board whose members—including a restaurant worker, an insurance agent, and a chiropractor—earn a modest $90 a month. Usually, they deal with local issues like sewer hookups,...

If you sit on a School Committee in Massachusetts, you know the feeling of dread when the annual transportation contract comes up for renewal. You budget for a moderate increase, only to be hit with a massive spike in costs—and often, just a single bidder for the multi-million-dollar contract. In Fall River, transportation costs exploded from $8 million in 2021 to nearly $16 million in 2025. Dartm...

To understand the political earthquake that just hit Quincy, Massachusetts, you first have to understand the city’s psychology. This is the “City of Presidents,” the birthplace of John Adams and John Quincy Adams. It is a place where history is revered, where public monuments are sacred, and where Mayor Thomas Koch has reigned with near-absolute authority for eighteen years. For nearly two decades...

EAST BRIDGEWATER — The Town of East Bridgewater is advancing a long-awaited infrastructure development along the Route 18 corridor, known as the North Bedford Street Sewer District, a project leaders hail as the key to sustainable economic growth for the community. This infrastructure initiative marks the town’s first-ever municipal wastewater system, designed to break the “septic ceiling” that ha...

HINGHAM — As Hingham approaches its April 2026 Annual Town Meeting, local decision-makers face a vote that is about far more than a building budget. The proposal to construct a new Center for Active Living (CAL) at Bare Cove Park has evolved into a complex referendum on the town’s values, pitting the undeniable demographic reality of a rapidly aging population against a fierce commitment to enviro...

In town halls from the South Shore to the Berkshires, the mood is grim. Select Boards and Finance Committees, historically tasked with balancing modest books, are staring down what the Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA) has branded a “Perfect Storm”—a converging fiscal crisis unlike anything seen since the early 1990s. The narrative is consistent whether you are in affluent suburbs or Gatew...

HANSON — Following a tumultuous autumn marked by a multimillion-dollar budget deficit, staff reductions, and leadership changes, the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District is beginning the process of stabilization. What began as a discovery of a budget shortfall in October escalated into a district-wide crisis that resulted in the loss of 23 staff positions and the resignation of Superintendent J...

Across the Commonwealth, the sound of the school day is changing. In the hallways of Ipswich and the classrooms of Weymouth, the constant “ping” of notifications is being replaced by something nearly forgotten: the chatter of students engaged in face-to-face conversation. As Massachusetts legislators deliberate on Senate Bill S.2561 , which would mandate a statewide “bell-to-bell” cell phone ban b...

BROCKTON - The 2025 mayoral election in Brockton, Massachusetts, was destined for the history books long before the first ballot was cast. In a city that has transformed from a white working-class manufacturing hub into a "majority-minority" municipality, the contest between Moises Rodrigues and Jean Bradley Derenoncourt was a referendum on the future of the new Brockton. For months, the city rema...

Massachusetts is currently poised to face its busiest ballot season in state history, with voters potentially deciding on a record-breaking 12 ballot questions in the 2026 election. As of January 2026, the Secretary of State’s office has certified 11 initiative petitions that have successfully cleared the initial signature-gathering threshold, in addition to a previously approved veto referendum....

SOUTH WEYMOUTH - For over eighty years, the 1,400-acre expanse straddling Weymouth, Abington, and Rockland has served as a mirror for the region’s shifting ambitions. Once a critical front in the Battle of the Atlantic, the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station (NAS) is now a “big blank canvas” that has spent nearly three decades caught in a cycle of grand visions and spectacular failures. As a...