The Legislature might want to award a few more racing dates to Suffolk Downs to hedge against the growing view that Amazon will site its $5 billion HQ2 project somewhere other […]
Jack Sullivan
Jack Sullivan is now retired. A veteran of the Boston newspaper scene for nearly three decades. Prior to joining CommonWealth, he was editorial page editor of The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, a part of the GateHouse Media chain. Prior to that he was news editor at another GateHouse paper, The Enterprise of Brockton, and also was city edition editor at the Ledger. Jack was an investigative and enterprise reporter and executive city editor at the Boston Herald and a reporter at The Boston Globe.
He has reported stories such as the federal investigation into the Teamsters, the workings of the Yawkey Trust and sale of the Red Sox, organized crime, the church sex abuse scandal and the September 11 terrorist attacks. He has covered the State House, state and local politics, K-16 education, courts, crime, and general assignment.
Jack received the New England Press Association award for investigative reporting for a series on unused properties owned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, and shared the association's award for business for his reporting on the sale of the Boston Red Sox. As the Ledger editorial page editor, he won second place in 2007 for editorial writing from the Inland Press Association, the nation's oldest national journalism association of nearly 900 newspapers as members.
At CommonWealth, Jack and editor Bruce Mohl won first place for In-Depth Reporting from the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors for a look at special education funding in Massachusetts. The same organization also awarded first place to a unique collaboration between WFXT-TV (FOX25) and CommonWealth for a series of stories on the Boston Redevelopment Authority and city employees getting affordable housing units, written by Jack and Bruce.
Posted inPolitics
A question of money and speech
All the talk in Massachusetts about the referendums before voters next month focuses on Questions 1 and 3, with little acknowledgement that there’s a number missing in between. However, unlike […]
Posted inEconomy
Canada cannabis
THE BONG, ER, GONG, sounded early Wednesday morning for the nationwide sale of marijuana in Canada, only the second country in the world to legalize the drug and the first […]
Posted inHealth Care
ER visits continue to impact health costs
DESPITE A GROWING number of free-standing retail clinics and urgent care centers in the state, there is still a heavy reliance on costly hospital emergency department visits, with more than […]
Posted inPolitics
Correia arrested on federal fraud charges
FEDERAL AGENTS ARRESTED Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia early Thursday morning and charged him with defrauding investors in a company he started as a teenager, then using the money to “pay […]
Posted inPolitics
Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em – at home
In the language of the emerging marijuana industry, where cannabis is the preferred term, they are called social consumption sites. Years ago, we would have called them pot bars. The cafes […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
State police sought to destroy Logan pay records
STATE POLICE OFFICIALS tried to destroy 12 boxes of payroll files for detail and roster assignments involving its embattled division at Logan Airport but were blocked because of the ongoing […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker getting nicked by those around him
NOVEMBER 6 CAN’T come soon enough for Gov. Charlie Baker. The Republican who is more popular with Democrats than his own party is getting nicked by clouds of scandal around him […]
Posted inUncategorized
More cuts at the Herald
THE STRUGGLING BOSTON HERALD laid off about 20 more staffers Thursday, including at least two award-winning veteran photographers for a tabloid that thrives on pictures. Longtime photographer Mark Garfinkel posted […]
Posted inUncategorized
Final approval given to two retail pot stores
THE STATE BOARD overseeing the nascent marijuana industry gave final approval to the first licenses for retail stores Thursday with some conditions. But the vote, one of the most momentous […]
Posted inUncategorized
Home is where the house is
THERE IS A housing crunch in and around Boston. The city’s population is growing at a near-record pace and jobs are coming to the area with the potential for thousands more, […]
Posted inUncategorized
The women of pot
THE “BRO” CULTURE OF POT is a dominant image of marijuana. Cheech and Chong are the dudes who most represent the “stoner” generation while the legal industry is increasingly seeing […]
Posted inThe Back Story
A stash of cash for troubled pols
EARLIER THIS YEAR, on April 13, the city of Fall River signed a host community agreement with Northeast Alternatives, which already operates a medical marijuana dispensary in the city, to open up a retail recreational pot operation in a strip […]
Posted inTransportation
New option for Pike redesign
THE PANEL OF experts tasked with redesigning a 1,500 foot stretch of the Massachusetts Turnpike and rail tracks running along the Charles River has thrown a new wrinkle into the […]
Posted inTransportation
MBTA: “May Be Trains Arrive”
Perhaps it’s delay fatigue (as opposed to delayed fatigue), but the operators of the MBTA’s commuter rail had an awful, bad, terrible evening commute Tuesday in the warm drizzle of […]
Posted inPolitics
The politics of disasters
DISASTERS HAVE A WAY of defining politics and elections. Many believe Hurricane Sandy, and then-Gov. Chris Christie’s embrace of President Barack Obama, helped push the president over the top for […]
Posted inEconomy
A new Quincy
QUINCY MAYOR THOMAS KOCH calls the MBTA’s Red Line the “spine” of his aging city. With four stops in North Quincy, Wollaston, Quincy Center, and Quincy Adams, the T’s Red […]
Posted inUncategorized
Spotlight on Spotlight
FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS, the Boston Globe’s award-winning Spotlight Team – not the same people, they do change them – has put a spotlight on corruption, scandal, and inequity […]
Posted inPolitics
Questions about ballot questions
WITH PRIMARIES OUT OF THE WAY and the November elections bearing down on voters, the push for two of the three referendums on the ballot is beginning to heat up. […]
Posted inPolitics
The Bay State Trump bump
Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn’t there He wasn’t there again today I wish, I wish he’d go away… “Antigonish” […]
Posted inPolitics
Pressley leads changing of the guard
CHANGE HAMMERED ON US Rep. Michael Capuano’s door at about 9:15 Tuesday night after making the rounds at a few other stops. It couldn’t wait. For Ayanna Pressley, the 44-year-old […]
Posted inUncategorized
AG: Towns can’t ban medical pot
IN A STARTLING TURNAROUND, Attorney General Maura Healey has reversed her office’s decision that allowed communities to ban medical marijuana dispensaries after opening the door earlier this summer for cities […]
Posted inUncategorized
Boston moves to the Herald?
DESPITE ALL THE ANGST over Digital First’s $12 million takeover of the Boston Herald earlier this year, employees are about to see a $3,100 boost in their paychecks. The downside […]
Posted inPolitics
Women haven’t come a long way in politics, baby
THERE IS A MINDSET that, with the extraordinary number of women running for office in local, state, and federal elections this year, it’s causing a problem for women’s groups and female […]
