Boston Mayor Marty Walsh was among the most vocal opponents of the ballot question to legalize marijuana and, once it passed, complained that Massachusetts cities would become the default centers […]
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.
Political payback and whatnot
JAMES VALLEE. CHARLEYÂ Murphy. John Rogers. Jonathan Hecht. To that list of past and present lawmakers, you can add state Rep. Russell Holmes as someone who has crossed House Speaker Robert […]
Lawmakers reach pot compromise
FIRE UP THE SMOKING lamp. House and Senate negotiators finally reached a compromise on amending the voter-approved law legalizing marijuana in Massachusetts, agreeing to levy a tax of up to […]
Beating the craps out of each other
Illustration by Phil Foster CASINOS ARE ABOUT GAMBLING. Take away the restaurants, the shops, and the entertainment and what remains is the foundational reason for a casino’s existence—getting people to […]
More unclaimed money
THERE’S ANOTHER UNCLAIMED money fund in the state treasurer’s office that most people have never heard of. Unlike the traditional abandoned property fund, which consists of money left behind by […]
Dempsey pitches higher pot tax
THE HOUSE’S TOP BUDGET OFFICIAL on Friday made a pitch for a higher tax rate on recreational marijuana during a press conference unveiling the Legislature’s fiscal 2018 budget proposal. Rep. […]
Top House leader unaware of budget, pot links
THE HOUSE’S TOP POT negotiator said on Thursday he’s not aware of anyone from either the Senate or House who has tried to link the negotiations over the budget and […]
DeLeo puts pot talks on hold until budget done
HOUSE SPEAKER ROBERT DELEO said Wednesday evening that he asked House members of the committee negotiating marijuana legislation to pull out of talks with the Senate until an agreement is […]
Cusack denies retaliation over Lottery move
THE HOUSE CHAIR of the Legislature’s marijuana committee denied that his ire at State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg over a potential Lottery headquarters move out of his hometown was connected to […]
House reneged on pot agreement, say sources
HOUSE LEADERS ABRUPTLY walked away from an agreement between Gov. Charlie Baker, Speaker Robert DeLeo, and Senate President Stan Rosenberg that would have kept oversight of the emerging legal pot […]
House has to backtrack on pot bill
HOUSE LEADERS DECIDED to pull back and revamp their rewrite of a voter-approved ballot question legalizing marijuana after concerns were raised that their bill would give Massachusetts the highest tax rate […]
House guts voter-approved pot law
THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE will unveil a measure Wednesday that completely overhauls the voter-approved referendum legalizing recreational marijuana while also moving oversight of medical marijuana under the same regulatory umbrella. About […]
Uber, Lyft changing traffic patterns at Logan
RIDE-SHARING SERVICES appear to be changing traffic patterns at Logan International Airport, boosting the number of people paying for chauffeured services while causing a slight drop in the use of […]
Drivers urge DPU to alter background checks
EDWARD HARUNK SAID driving for Uber gave him the flexibility to take care of his sick wife and bring her to doctor’s appointments whenever she needed. “Being an Uber driver […]
Getting Trump’s attention
Someone needs to take away President Trump’s cellphone or shut down his Twitter account. Stat. Trump raised the specter of recording his January dinner conversation with now-fired FBI director James […]
Steward, physician group swap fraud charges
ONE OF STEWARD HEALTH CARE SYSTEM’S largest physician groups has filed a fraud and breach of contract suit for as much as $60 million against the for-profit hospital chain, triggering […]
Brown seeks donors for group attacking Warren
A CONSERVATIVE MASSACHUSETTS political action committee has sent out a fundraising request attacking Sen. Elizabeth Warren that includes an appeal to donors from former US senator Scott Brown, whose nomination as […]
State’s highest-paid employee survived 2 bad reviews
THE STATE’S HIGHEST PAID EMPLOYEE the past four years managed to hang onto his million-dollar-a-year job even after receiving back-to-back unsatisfactory performance reviews. Derek Kellogg, the former UMass men’s basketball […]
MBTA misses capital spending mark
THE MBTA, WHICH has struggled to spend money to bring the system up to a state of good repair, will increase expenditures on capital projects to update the system but […]
T sees spike in reported injuries
MBTA OFFICIALS SAID on Monday the number of on-the-job injuries among transportation operators soared during the first three months of the year as the transit authority tried to reduce the […]
Boston says it’s studying whether to rebuild Long Island Bridge
A SPOKESWOMAN FOR Boston Mayor Marty Walsh issued a statement saying the city is doing a cost-benefit analysis on rebuilding the Long Island Bridge, which is a shift from the […]
Boston abandons Long Island Bridge
A correction has been added to this story. BOSTON MAYOR MARTY WALSH appears to be backing away from plans to rebuild the bridge to Long Island, partly because of opposition […]
Pot panel looks to let ex-cons in
THE LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE shaping the state’s new marijuana law wrapped up its final session of hearings Monday with an impassioned plea from a convicted drug felon to change the laws […]
Death of a cancer lab
FEW PLACES HAVE the resources and brain power to match Boston when it comes to biomedical research, including the search for effective ways to treat and prevent cancer. Internationally renowned […]
