Nursing homes in Massachusetts continue their steady descent into chaos, leaving seniors struggling to find adequate care as more facilities shutter, and fewer affordable beds are available.

Five nursing homes owned by Skyline Healthcare are shutting down in Massachusetts, as employees miss weeks’ worth of paychecks, and seniors endure lower quality care standards stemming from employees leaving after not being paid.

The closure was first reported by the Standard-Times on Wednesday, when a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health confirmed that Skyline would voluntarily surrender the licenses of all of their Massachusetts nursing homes. Bedford Gardens Care & Rehabilitation Center, Bedford Village Care & Rehabilitation Center, Rockdale Care & Rehabilitation Center in New Bedford, Dighton Care & Rehabilitation in Dighton, and Highland Manor Care & Rehabilitation Center in Fall River are all shutting down, and their residents relocated.

Bedford Gardens, a 111-bed facility, had started cramming three people to a room after it had to close its third-floor last weekend from lack of staff, according to Bedford Gardens director Steven Haase.

Employees, some of whom have complained to Attorney General Maura Healey’s office, had dealt with bounced checks and late payment for some time. Haase told news outlets that he’s lost touch with Skyline, which is based in New Jersey. The company is no stranger to failure — it had similar payroll problems in Kansas and Nebraska facilities, causing shutdowns.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is also investigating whether Skyline owner Joseph Schwartz committed fraud. In Massachusetts, a long-term care ombudsman selected by the Executive Office of Elder Affairs will work to relocate residents to other facilities.

The situation is not completely out of left field. Twenty Massachusetts nursing homes shut down in 2018, with over 1,900 beds lost to vulnerable seniors.

In a hearing in early April, Massachusetts Senior Care Association said up to 35 more nursing homes are at risk of closing this year due to financial problems. The group is promoting a bill that would give nursing homes an additional $70 million annually from state and federal money. The state currently provides nursing homes with less money for long-term care covered by Medicaid, but still provided them with $1.4 billion in 2018.

Advocates propose improving reimbursement from MassHealth, which covers about 30,000 people in long-term care facilities in the state.

State Sen. Harriette Chandler said at the hearing that the gap in coverage between what the state pays and what it actually costs to provides care creates an annual loss of about $900,000 per facility.

The burden of that cost falls primarily on patients, who pay out of pocket.

SARAH BETANCOURT

BEACON HILL

Gov. Charlie Baker insists new taxes are not needed to address congestion or bolster the MBTA, a stance that puts him at odds with key Beacon Hill lawmakers, many in the business community, and the public. (State House News) The state is preparing to release a report on congestion statewide, and congestion pricing will be analysed in it, Baker says. (MassLive) Baker says he supports a proposed Massport move to ban Uber and Lyft from making curbside pickups at airport terminals. (Boston Globe)

The Mass. Biotechnology Council scored a big win with heavy lobbying that got the House to soften a Baker administration proposal to rein in drug spending. (Boston Globe)

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

Northeastern’s Dan O’Brien says it’s time to reject the prevailing smart cities narrative and its focus on flashy science fiction-like technologies. (CommonWealth)

Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu is generating a lot of buzz — and she neither confirms nor denies that she might challenge Mayor Marty Walsh in 2021. (Boston Herald)

Petitions to recall Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell and Vice Chairwoman Jessie “Little Doe” Baird have been filed, citing wrongful conduct and mentioning more than $500 million owed to the tribe’s financial backer, Genting Malaysia. (Cape Cod Times)

WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

Hillary Clinton calls for Watergate-style hearings into Robert Mueller’s report, which she describes as documentation of “a serious crime against the American people.” (Washington Post)

US Rep. Lori Trahan, already facing scrutiny over campaign spending issues, is facing a new call from a DC watchdog group for an investigation of her campaign finances. (Boston Globe) Congresswoman Katherine Clark tells WGBH she has “no reason to doubt” that Trahan’s financial dealings were above board.

Peter Lucas contends that Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the de facto leader of the US House, and he convinces a skeptical editor to go along with that theory. (Lowell Sun)

ELECTIONS

Joe Biden ends months of hesitation and says he’s running for president. (New York Times)

Brian Jencunas says Biden’s strength is his appeal to moderate Democrats and his ability to tap into lingering fondness for the Obama administration, assets that outweigh the liabilities he carries. (CommonWealth)

Congressman Seth Moulton tells voters in New Hampshire that the impeachment debate should have started in Congress long ago. (Eagle-Tribune)

Joan Vennochi sees trouble ahead for Democrats if they nominate Bernie Sanders. (Boston Globe)

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Stop & Shop says the 11-day strike cost the company between $90 million and $110 million. (MassLive)

Boston real estate firm A.W. Perry signs a deal to buy the Garelick Farms plant on the Lynnway. “We like the real estate dynamic and resurgence in Lynn,” says the company’s executive vice president. (Daily Item)

The end could be here for Mul’s Diner in South Boston, where the eggs usually came with a side of political chatter. (Boston Herald)

EDUCATION

The third and last candidate to face a set of interviews for Boston school superintendent, Oscar Santos, says the status quo in the city’s schools isn’t good enough. (Boston Globe)

In a speech at Amherst College, former US attorney general Jeff Sessions says universities need more diversity of thought on their campuses. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

The lawsuit filed by former Diman superintendent Thomas Aubin against members of the Fall River regional school committee has been dismissed, one week after a separation agreement reached between Aubin and the school committee stipulated that Aubin will receive his full $165,000 annual salary next year if he does not get another job in education. (Herald News)

HEALTH/HEALTH CARE

A study says more than half of middle-income seniors will soon not be able to afford to live at private assisted-living facilities. (Boston Globe)

The embattled Bedford Gardens nursing home and four other facilities owned by Skyline Healthcare will close, a Massachusetts Department of Public Health spokeswoman told The Standard-Times Wednesday.

ARTS/CULTURE

Boston Architectural College is hosting an exhibit called Undesign the Redline, which looks at the government-sponsored racist maps that discouraged investment in neighborhoods where black people lived. (WBUR)

The Nao Santa Maria, a replica of the ship Christopher Columbus sailed, will visit Newburyport for more than a week later this spring. (Gloucester Daily Times)

TRANSPORTATION

Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu proposes an ordinance that would charge $25 for a resident parking sticker and higher amounts for additional stickers. (Dorchester Reporter) Boston City Councilor Michael Flaherty argues against Wu’s proposal, saying it would result in increased handicapped placard fraud, and suggests meeting with the MBTA because a reduction in the amount of bus stops would free up parking. (Boston Globe)

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

Designed by Harvard architecture professor Ali Malkawi, a structure in Cambridge called HouseZero is a lab space trying to perfect the passive style design that makes homes energy efficient to the point where they are not a net contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. (WGBH)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS

A new report says Massachusetts has the lowest incarceration rate in the country. (State House News)

Former Dedham police officer Michael Schoener is convicted of giving his badge and handcuffs to two men who used them to pose as constables, pick up James Robertson at his home, and then murder him. (MassLive) The Brockton Enterprise has more from the trial.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian represents 25 Massachusetts residents who say they were molested as Boy Scouts and he claims the scouting organization behaved similarly to the Catholic Church as supervisors allegedly “turn[ed] their backs on innocent children.” (WGBH)

Attorney General Maura Healey’s lawsuit against Purdue Pharma has unearthed records about the company’s lobbying in Massachusetts where it opposed efforts by former Rep. Robert Fennell to ban the drug Oxycontin. (WBUR)

MEDIA

Given that Russian hackers supplied the information for damaging articles about Hillary Clinton in 2016, Kathleen Hall Jamieson thinks newsrooms should develop policies around the use of hacked or stolen materials in articles. (Boston Globe)

Filmmaker George Lucas and his wife are seeking control of the archives of Ebony and Jet. (Wall Street Journal)