As the National Grid lockout of 1,200 gas workers nears two months, there is growing pressure on the company by local officials to end the impasse. But there doesn’t seem to […]
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 inEconomy
Worcester lands the PawSox
IN A COUP THAT WAS three years in the making, Worcester officials were able to woo the owners of the AAA Pawtucket Red Sox to move the team into a […]
Posted inThe Back Story
Anatomy of a smear
SECRETARY OF STATE William Galvin has not survived 43 years in the rough and tumble arena of Massachusetts politics by being meek. So when there’s a threat to his fiefdom, […]
Posted inPolitics
The gloves are off in race for secretary of state
THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY race for the normally staid office of the Secretary of State is turning into one of the most bruising battles of season. About the only thing missing […]
Posted inUncategorized
Pot notes: Everything but the labs
THE STATE CANNABIS Control Commission approved seven more provisional licenses for recreational marijuana, bringing the total to 19 retail stores, cultivation facilities, and manufacturers. But the commission still has not […]
Posted inPolitics
Another twist for legal pot
THE STATE’S MARIJUANA oversight board wants to put a halt to communities demanding payments from legal pot businesses in excess of what’s allowed by law but the panel’s decision could […]
Posted inUncategorized
Silencing speech or rejecting hate?
WHEN THEN-GOVERNOR Deval Patrick stepped to the microphone for the first press conference the evening of the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013, the first question stopped him and nearly everyone in […]
Posted inPolitics
Words matter in immigration debate
To say there’s a chasm as wide as the Rio Grande between both sides of the immigration debate would be an understatement. The conversation about compromise is a non-starter because […]
Posted inThe Back Story
US Attorney carries Trump’s message on immigrants
WHEN PRESIDENT TRUMP took office 19 months ago, the US Attorney’s office in Massachusetts started issuing more and more press releases about cases where the defendants were identified by their […]
Posted inEducation
Maybe busing isn’t the (only) problem
SCHOOL BUSING IN BOSTON is a four-letter word, a phrase often spewed as a profanity whenever the subject of the city’s schools comes up in conversations, which is to say […]
Posted inEconomy
Health care watchdog: BI-Lahey merger will hike costs
A REPORT ON by the state’s health care industry watchdog analyzing the proposed merger of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Lahey Health says the marriage won’t produce the kinds of […]
Posted inEconomy
Is a Boston soccer stadium Kraft’s gooooaaaaalllll?
THE NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS have long been viewed as the NFL’s equivalent of the CIA with secrets held close to the vest and little useful information disseminated to the masses. […]
Posted inUncategorized
Globe clears McGrory of sexual harassment
AN OUTSIDE INVESTIGATOR hired by the Boston Globe cleared top editor Brian McGrory of violating the company’s sexual harassment policy but admitted he exchanged “personal” messages with former Boston.com editor […]
Posted inUncategorized
Busted unions
Labor unions may be taking a beating these days but they’re not going down without a fight and somebody is going to emerge bloodied. The latest battlefield is right here […]
Posted inUncategorized
Alan Dershowitz will not be quiet
Could someone on Martha’s Vineyard please buy Alan Dershowitz lunch? Or a drink? Or some Beluga caviar? The 80-year-old Harvard Law professor emeritus, who now makes his home on the […]
Posted inUncategorized
Globe meets with McGrory accuser
THE ATTORNEY FOR former Boston.com staffer Hilary Sargent said on Monday that his client sat down for five hours with an investigator hired by the Boston Globe and laid out […]
Posted inEconomy
State’s first pot store to open in Leicester
THE STATE’S CANNABIS Control Commission on Monday awarded its first license for a retail recreational pot store to a medical marijuana facility in Leicester, where sales will probably start sometime […]
Posted inUncategorized
The marijuana blame game
July 1 has come and gone and no one legally bought marijuana in Massachusetts. Plenty of people bought illegal marijuana and legally smoked it, sort of a “don’t ask/don’t tell” situation. But […]
Posted inUncategorized
Je suis Capital Gazette
If you don’t have thick skin and a dark sense of humor, your ability to survive in the news business is greatly diminished. Apparently, we’ll have to add a bullet-proof vest […]
Posted inPolitics
The message of 2018 elections
Hello, Mike Capuano and Richard Neal? We have a message for you. That message was delivered loud and clear and if they weren’t paying attention, they’ll learn it in a […]
Posted inEconomy
Sales tax boon – or not?
It’s going to cost some people a little more to make online purchases after the Supreme Court ruled in a case involving Massachusetts-based Wayfair that states can collect sales tax on […]
Posted inUncategorized
Massachusetts issues first marijuana license
THE CANNABIS CONTROL COMMISSION marked a historic milestone Thursday with the approval of the first license for recreational pot in the state – the first ever granted east of the […]
Posted inThe Back Story
Globe’s day to dump news
IT IS KNOWN by reporters as the “Friday news dump,” that time, often in the warm weather months, that officials release bad news late in the afternoon on the verge […]
Posted inPolitics
The politics of payback
“Womp womp.” That pretty much sums up the reaction from the Trump administration and its supporters over the uproar of separating children from their parents trying to cross at the […]
