IT’S TRUMP’S FAULT. Not the insurrection at the US Capitol or the discrediting of fairly conducted elections or the general degradation of democratic principles — though there may be those things, too. In this case, the damage done by the former president is to Charlie Baker’s approval ratings. The governor, whose political standing with voters […]
Michael Jonas
Michael Jonas works with Bruce 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.
Michael has worked in journalism in Massachusetts since the early 1980s. Before joining the CommonWealth staff in 2001, he was a contributing writer for the magazine for two years. His story on Boston youth outreach workers was selected for a PASS (Prevention for a Safer Society) Award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency. His CommonWealth work has also won awards from Capitol Beat for state government coverage and from the New England Newspaper & Press Association for work in several areas.
Prior to coming to CommonWealth, for 15 years Michael wrote a weekly column on local politics for the Boston Globe. Michael has also worked in broadcast journalism. In the late 1980s he was a co-producer for "The AIDS Quarterly," a national PBS series produced by WGBH-TV in Boston, and in the early 1990s, he worked as a producer for a weekly news magazine program on WHDH-TV (Ch. 7) in Boston.
Posted inPolitics
For Janey, opportunity knocks
ON SUNDAY, a day before she shattered twin barriers in becoming Boston’s acting mayor, Kim Janey poked some fun at herself during the St. Patrick’s Day breakfast, the city’s annual political roast that went virtual due to the pandemic. Before crowning herself with a tiara, Janey said, “I will not let being mayor go to […]
Posted inEducation
Advocates, mayors renew push for voc-tech admission changes
AFTER YEARS OF frustration with admission policies at Massachusetts vocational technical high schools, which they say shut out disadvantaged students who might benefit most from hands-on learning, a coalition of community groups and elected officials renewed the call Thursday for state officials to overhaul the entry system. Vocational schools, once derided as the “dumping ground” […]
Posted inPolitics
Pandemic shutdown has opened up civic participation
WHEN IT COMES to civic engagement, a funny thing happened on the way to the pandemic shutdown. While all sorts of aspects of daily life ground to a halt as we hunkered down, as much as possible, at home, the in-person isolation seems to have produced a blossoming of civic connectedness. With hearings and other […]
Posted inHealth Care
Chelsea’s yearlong battle with COVID
TRYING TO DEFEAT COVID has often been likened to a war. If the analogy is apt, nowhere in Massachusetts has the fight been more intense than in Chelsea, and Gladys Vega has been a tireless general leading the battle there against the viral adversary. The longtime executive director of La Colaborativa, the local nonprofit advocacy […]
Posted inHealth Care
Bob Cousy scores vaccine — with possible assist from Fauci
THEY ARE POPPING UP all over the country — stories of volunteer brigades or just concerned individuals operating on their own who work to get COVID vaccine appointments for elderly neighbors or others who might have trouble navigating frustrating sign-up systems to get inoculated. Somerville resident Diana Rastegayeva started a Boston area network of vaccine […]
Posted inEducation
Dorchester Youth Collaborative shutdown a tough blow
THE NEWS HIT George Huynh hard, and for good reason. Starting when he was nine, Huynh often spent more waking hours at the Dorchester Youth Collaborative than he did at home. The youth program in Boston’s Fields Corner neighborhood wasn’t just a favorite place for him and his older brother to hang out. It was […]
Posted inPolitics
Bernie backing means little in middle-of-the-road Winthrop
IT TURNS OUT Bernie Sanders has little sway with voters in Winthrop and Revere when it comes to choosing their next representative. The same goes for former US housing secretary Julian Castro. And, for that matter, an impressive cast of local liberal politicos from surrounding areas. Despite a set of high-profile endorsements unusual for a […]
Posted inPolitics
Curtatone won’t seek reelection as Somerville mayor
JOE CURTATONE, the feisty longtime mayor of Somerville, who has been an outspoken leader on progressive municipal policy — from his early declaration of racism as a public health crisis to his support for bike lanes and aggressive measures to contain COVID and the inequities it has laid bare — said Monday that he won’t […]
Posted inEconomy
Baker heralds approach of ‘next normal’
PLAY BALL! In the clearest sign yet of confidence that the state is getting a handle on the COVID pandemic, Gov. Charlie Baker announced on Thursday a broad set of new reopening orders, including clearing the way for fans at Fenway Park for the Red Sox home opener on April 1. Perhaps not coincidentally, Baker’s […]