WHILE BOSTON HIGH SCHOOL students hear plenty of talk about opportunities in STEM fields, with good internships available that match them with employers in the region’s booming biomedical and tech […]
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
Correia wins race to replace himself
“I AM SPEECHLESS,” declared Jasiel Correia — and he wasn’t the only one. The 29-year-old Fall River mayor had just been recalled from office — and then re-elected to that post […]
Posted inEducation
Feds bust up ‘side door’ route into college
WITH A SLEW OF CHARGES that struck at the integrity of one of the key ladders to success, US Attorney Andrew Lelling on Tuesday attempted to break up a college […]
Posted inEconomy
For black grad students in Boston, stay or go?
SHANNON FAIRLEY-PITTMAN calls it “the conversation.” It’s the discussion he regularly has with other black graduate students in Boston about whether they’ll stay in the area after completing their degree […]
Posted inEducation
Tiptoeing into the exam school admission debate
THE GLOBE REPORTS TODAY that the Boston Public Schools are “exploring the idea of replacing the controversial exam” that determines acceptance to the city’s three selective-admission schools. Interim superintendent Laura […]
Posted inGambling
Why a $20m fine looks like a Wynn win
WYNN RESORTS WAS HIT with $20 million fine yesterday by Nevada casino regulators, by far the largest sanction ever handed down there — and the company’s honchos were probably high-fiving […]
Posted inHealth Care
Expanding our view of health
WHEN IT COMES TO the state of our health, there is a glaring disconnect in the US, says Sandro Galea. We spend far more on health care per capita than […]
Posted inEducation
Minority leaders slam Chang-Diaz removal as education co-chair
THE REMOVAL OF Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz as co-chair of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Education drew harsh words on Thursday from leaders of four organizations serving communities of color, who charged […]
Posted inEconomy
GE dims its Boston presence
GE MAY BRING good things to life, but they’ll be bringing a lot less to Boston than the company promised to great fanfare just three years ago. The company announced […]
Posted inTransportation
News you knew: Boston traffic stinks
JUST AS BOB DYLAN said you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, there was probably no need for another study to tell Boston drivers that traffic […]
Posted inEducation
Local accountability in schools lacking, says report
MASSACHUSETTS HAS BUILT its school reform effort on a combination of new state funding and accountability measures that track student and district achievement, but that has largely let local districts […]
Posted inEnvironment
Baker, bucking GOP, goes green
MUCH HAS BEEN made of Gov. Charlie Baker’s “evolution” on taxes, as the state’s Republican governor, seemingly liberated by his November reelection, has shed his longtime aversion to new revenue-raising […]
Posted inPolitics
Weld rejoins Republican ranks
IT’S BEEN THE latest political parlor game to hit the presidential sweepstakes: Will former Massachusetts governor William Weld jump into the race and, if so, will it be as a […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
The life (and death) stories that drive Andrea Campbell
ANDREA CAMPBELL’S TWIN BROTHER Andre died seven years ago while awaiting trial in the custody of the state Department of Correction, and she says that has everything to do with […]
Posted inThe Back Story
Car-free development taking root
THE PROPOSAL FOR a five-story, 56-unit residential apartment building on Dorchester Avenue includes a lot of the amenities that are now standard features in new development projects: A ground-floor gym […]
Posted inPolitics
Warren in the cross-hairs — where she wants to be
FIRST HOWARD SCHULTZ called her tax-the-rich plan “ridiculous” in an NPR interview Tuesday morning. Michael Bloomberg piled on later in the day in New Hampshire, saying it would set the […]
Posted inEducation
House bill quietly filed on education funding
WHILE BIG EDUCATION funding bills filed by Gov. Charlie Baker and a key state senator have garnered lots of attention, a third school financing bill was quietly filed in the […]
Posted inEducation
Baker calls for more school funds — and accountability
THE STATE’S SCHOOL reform efforts, beginning with the landmark 1993 Education Reform Act, have always involved a combination of spending increases and new accountability measures aimed at helping drive school […]
Posted inEducation
Globe series exposes dismal reality about Boston schools
WE DIDN’T NEED a multi-part, multimedia series of reports to know the Boston Public Schools fail to deliver a first-rate education to many students. Achievement scores and college completion rates […]
Posted inEducation
State board approves novel charter expansion plan
THE STATE EDUCATION BOARD approved a proposal to allow a New Bedford charter school to expand as part of an unusual partnership with the city’s district schools that would break […]
Posted inUncategorized
Millionaire tax back in play
THE BACKERS of the millionaire tax are preparing to mount a second campaign to get it passed, but this time they are using an approach designed to sidestep the legal […]
Posted inUncategorized
Will Gillette get nicked or boosted by #MeToo ad?
IF THERE WAS any doubt that heated debate and division can break out over nearly any topic in American life today, it’s been dispelled by the brouhaha over a new […]
Posted inEducation
Trying times for Hampshire College
IT WAS STILL very much the thick of Eisenhower-era conformity, in 1958, when the presidents of Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst put […]
Posted inEducation
Riley proposes novel solution to charter school battle
WHEN JEFF RILEY was named state education commissioner a year ago this month, he vowed to try to heal the divisions that have plagued the education world — between charter […]