NOW IT’S EVERETT’S turn in the spotlight. The community best known these days for its massive casino is also one of a handful of Massachusetts cities that still elects all […]
Michael Jonas
Michael Jonas works with Laura in overseeing CommonWealth Beacon coverage and editing the work of reporters. His own reporting has a particular focus on politics, education, and criminal justice reform.
Posted inPolitics
Hearing draws support for scrapping special election for Boston mayor
CITY COUNCILORS HEARD broad support on Tuesday for scrapping a possible special election for mayor in Boston, as the city prepares for the expected departure of Mayor Marty Walsh. A […]
Posted inPolitics
DeLeo lands post at Northeastern
DON’T CALL HIM “Mr. Speaker.” He’s now a “University Fellow for Public Life.” Longtime Massachusetts House speaker Robert DeLeo, who resigned last month and said he was in talks with Northeastern University about […]
Posted inPolitics
Walsh gets COVID-19 vaccine as cabinet nominee
BOSTON MAYOR MARTY WALSH has yet to be confirmed as President Biden’s labor secretary, but he has already been accorded one privilege of his cabinet nomination: vaccination against COVID-19. Walsh’s […]
Posted inPolitics
Trump leaves, but the chaos sown remains
DONALD TRUMP will be the first president in more than 150 years not to attend his successor’s inauguration, jetting off this morning to Florida in a denialist huff about his […]
Posted inPolitics
Debate over special elections heated — and complicated
WITH THE SUDDEN EXIT of the mayor of Lawrence and imminent expected departure of Boston’s mayor, officials in both communities have scrambled to head off special elections that are called for […]
Posted inPolitics
Walsh evolution in confronting racism takes center stage
THE BOOKENDS TO Marty Walsh’s seven-year run as mayor are all you need to look at to understand how the issue of race has gone from long-simmering, but often backburner, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Gross would face hurdles, opportunity in mayoral run
IF WILLIAM GROSS jumps into the race for mayor of Boston, one thing is clear: He’ll do so at a time when issues he oversees as the city’s top police […]
Posted inEducation, Health Care
A shopping bag held the key to safe school opening
A LITTLE BEFORE 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Liz Ruark started out from the small Worcester County town of Harvard on the 30-mile drive to Kendall Square in Cambridge. Nestled on […]
Posted inPolitics
Biden taps Boston Mayor Marty Walsh for labor secretary
PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE BIDEN has tapped Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to serve as his labor secretary, a move that would elevate the former union leader to a prominent national post and set in motion […]
Posted inPolitics
Mass. delegation stunned, outraged by mob invasion of Capitol
FOR JAKE AUCHINCLOSS, the first days in office as a new member of Congress have felt the same as they likely did for hundreds of lawmakers before him — momentous […]
Posted inPolitics
For Mariano, the spotlight isn’t kind
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OFTEN count for a lot, and for Ron Mariano that’s probably not a good thing. The new House speaker gave an interview to Channel 5 reporter Sharman Sacchetti […]
Posted inPolitics
An emotional DeLeo bids farewell
TWELVE YEARS AFTER he assumed power amid a punishing economic recession, Speaker Robert DeLeo took his leave during the unprecedented upheaval of a pandemic, delivering farewell remarks on Tuesday afternoon […]
Posted inPolitics
For DeLeo, slow, steady — and firm — were the watchwords
THERE WAS NOT a lot of flash to Robert DeLeo’s tenure as Massachusetts House speaker. Rising from amiable constituent-focused Winthrop lawmaker to one of the most powerful positions in state government, DeLeo had an understated […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
With police bill, compromise was the key
MAJOR POLICE REFORM is all but a done deal on Beacon Hill. The surest sign that the bill has been fully squeezed through the legislative wringer? No one is happy […]
Posted inPolitics
Holmes says he will run for speaker
STATE REP. RUSSELL HOLMES, one of the most outspoken critics of the top-down centralization of power in the House of Representatives, said he will run for speaker, presuming rumors are […]
Posted inPolitics
Can there be a DC return to ‘normality’?
MONDAY’S MEETING OF presidential electors in state capitols across the country is the kind of ritual that usually gets cursory news coverage, one of those quadrennial stories reported more as […]
Posted inHealth Care
Baker’s deliberate mixed message on COVID-19
MIXED MESSAGES are not usually held up as a quality of good leadership, but a lot of things have been different about life amid a global pandemic. That included Gov. […]
Posted inPolitics
Katherine Clark’s fast rise in the House
LAST YEAR, The Hill called Rep. Katherine Clark “the most powerful woman in the Capitol you’ve probably never heard of.” Plenty of people have heard of her now, and many […]
Posted inEducation
Tortured charter school building battle takes a new turn
ROXBURY PREPARATORY CHARTER SCHOOL, whose three-year odyssey to win approval to build a high school in Roslindale has turned into a toxic battle touching on issues of race, class, and […]
Posted inHealth Care
Will people get a second COVID-19 vaccine?
A NEW POLL shows most Massachusetts residents are comfortable with eventually getting a COVID-19 vaccine. The results are good news, as health experts keep pointing out that even a vaccine […]
Posted inHealth Care
Vaccination catch-22 in black community
WITH TODAY’S ANNOUNCEMENT that the United Kingdom has approved use of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, the first Western country to sign off on mass use of an immunization, the crucial effort […]
Posted inEconomy
In Hingham, a welcome to (well-heeled) black residents
IN THE END, Hingham’s gonna Hingham. And so the tony town on Boston’s South Shore finds itself facing a bit of blowback following an effort to show that it wants […]
Posted inPolitics
Trump made gains in urban areas of Mass.
VOTING TRENDS THAT showed shifts in heavily Hispanic communities in Massachusetts toward President Trump in this month’s election are also apparent in other urban areas, including huge swaths of Boston, […]