DATA FROM THE MASSACHUSETTS Department of Public Health indicate an unusually high number of COVID-19 fatalities are occurring in Franklin County. Three new deaths were reported in Friday’s report, bringing to 11 the number of people who have died of COVID-19 in Franklin County. That would place Franklin seventh among the state’s 13 counties in […]
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 inUncategorized
For Trump, cameras leave no room for social distancing
Practice what I preach, not what I do. That’s the only takeaway message one can glean from what have now become daily televised briefings by President Trump from the White House on the coronavirus crisis. Yesterday’s briefing brought the most somber assessment yet of the toll the coronavirus will take in the US. Officials now […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC rules against district court judge in indigent defense case
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT ruled that a Springfield judge overstepped his authority in ordering the overburdened local public defenders’ office to take on more cases than the office said it could handle, but the justices deferred to the Legislature when it came to solving the problem of a chronic shortage of lawyers for poor defendants. […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Keeping the faith in the coronavirus era
WHILE HEROIC HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS are on the front lines, putting themselves at risk as they care for patients being ravaged by the novel coronavirus, faith leaders and their congregations are playing an indispensable role providing spiritual healing and comfort, while also helping to care for the physical needs of many. The cruel irony of the […]
Posted inEducation
State sets ‘meaningful and productive’ K-12 learning goal
SHUTTERED K-12 SCHOOLS across Massachusetts are being urged by state officials to create a curriculum that would engage students stuck at home because of the coronavirus in “meaningful and productive learning” for about three hours a day. At a State House press briefing, Gov. Charlie Baker brushed aside the notion that maybe the state should […]
Posted inEconomy
Safety net hospitals, health centers teetering on the brink
DR. ERIC DICKSON oversees a sprawling health care system that cares for lots of low-income families throughout central Massachusetts, many of whom are wondering how they’ll pay their rent or afford groceries after suddenly losing their income in the avalanche of job losses being unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic. Without help, the CEO of UMass […]
Posted inPolitics
The virus’s toll on democracy
WHILE PRESSING LIFE-AND-DEATH ISSUES of course must remain the paramount focus of efforts in the face of the coronavirus (notwithstanding the president’s pivot to talk of getting commerce flowing by Easter), the pandemic’s effect on important aspects of normal societal functioning can’t be ignored. Count democracy as one of its potential victims. While people are hunkering […]
Posted inHealth Care
Harvard’s Bacow, wife test positive for COVID-19
HARVARD UNIVERSITY President Larry Bacow said on Tuesday that he and his wife tested positive for COVID-19. In an email sent to the Harvard community on Tuesday, Bacow said he and his wife began experiencing symptoms on Sunday, contacted their doctors on Monday, and subsequently were tested for the disease. Bacow, 68, said he received […]
Posted inEconomy
Those on margins will bear brunt of virus toll
WHILE THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC seems certain to extend its reach to all corners of the globe, its impact will not be felt evenly. Those on society’s margins and lower economic rungs will bear a much greater burden of the toll taken by COVID-19. That’s the urgent message from Dr. Sandro Galea, dean of the Boston University […]
Posted inEconomy
An economy put in a ‘medically-induced coma’
THE ECONOMIC CONVULSIONS from the coronavirus pandemic are unlike anything we’ve ever experienced. We’re not being blindsided by an unwelcome economic downturn; we have decided to set one in motion. Michael Goodman, an economic sociologist and director of the Public Policy Center at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, says the best way to understand things […]