EMBATTLED BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER Dennis White went to court on Thursday seeking to block his dismissal by Acting Mayor Kim Janey, but a Suffolk Superior Court judge indicated she was wary […]
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 inCriminal Justice
Janey decried ‘blue wall of silence’ — while accepting it
THE MESS THAT is the leadership of the Boston Police Department was not of Kim Janey’s making. But it now falls squarely in her lap — right as the mayoral […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Why did Walsh look to cut short police commissioner probe?
WHY DID MARTY WALSH, who was pilloried for the hasty appointment of Police Commissioner Dennis White with no vetting or even an interview when it was revealed that White was […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Janey says White must go, decries ‘blue wall of silence’
ACTING MAYOR KIM JANEY released a devastating report Friday on Police Commissioner Dennis White, who was put on leave just two days after his appointment in early February amid reports […]
Posted inPolitics
Could pandemic population shifts help Democrats?
THE PANDEMIC COULD end up being bad news for big coastal cities like Boston, which have enjoyed a decades-long boom as centers of the knowledge economy but whose future now […]
Posted inHealth Care
Baker touts Mass. vaccine record in meeting with Biden
AGAINST THE BACKDROP of partisan warfare in Washington on everything from masks to infrastructure spending, President Biden met on Tuesday with a bipartisan group of six governors, including Charlie Baker, […]
Posted inEconomy
Ed Glaeser considers the post-pandemic challenges facing cities
HARVARD ECONOMICS PROFESSOR Ed Glaeser is one of the leading authorities on the role of cities in modern life — and throughout human history. His 2011 book The Triumph of […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Arts programming in Boston schools linked to attendance, engagement gains
A NEW STUDY says an effort to increase arts programming in the Boston Public Schools has helped boost student attendance and promote student and parent engagement with schools, outcomes that […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Holmes says residents surrounding Franklin Park deserve respect — and quiet
AT WEDNESDAY’S virtual community meeting about the plague of dirt bikes and all-night parties overtaking parts of Franklin Park in Boston, ideas for what to do about it ranged from […]
Posted inHealth Care
Are liberals ‘addicted’ to the pandemic?
IN THE FACE of a deadly pandemic that has killed more than 500,000 people in the US and more than 3 million worldwide, one group seems to be letting politics […]
Posted inPolitics
Email aimed at easing Campbell out of Boston mayor’s race
A PROMINENT BLACK real estate developer is seizing on a report that Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins is the leading candidate for US attorney for Massachusetts to try to nudge […]
Posted inUncategorized
In Galvin-DiMasi showdown, who’s the good guy?
BEACON HILL IS a funny place, and so it is that a backslapping former House speaker convicted of corruption charges is being cast as the good guy in a battle […]
Posted inPolitics
Danielle Allen: a scholar of democracy with an urge to help fix it
DANIELLE ALLEN, a scholar of Athenian democracy with two PhDs, has decided she has something to offer to the practice of 21st century democracy in Massachusetts. In December, the Harvard […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Cracks in the thin blue line
IT WAS A day of national focus on policing, a moment when people at least began to allow for the possibility that there might be change in a seemingly never-ending […]
Posted inEducation
Roxbury Prep gives up on Belgrade Ave. site
AFTER YEARS OF acrimonious battle with residents and some elected officials, Roxbury Preparatory Charter School said it is throwing in the towel on its long effort to build a new […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Internal affairs file shows former police commissioner Evans was informed of Rose findings
ACTING MAYOR KIM JANEY released information from the internal affairs investigation of former police officer Patrick Rose Sr. that paints a damning picture of the conduct of leaders of the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Defund the police, or defang the gangs?
The “defund the police” slogan, born out of anguish and anger over police killing of unarmed black men, has existed uneasily alongside another painful reality: the predominantly black neighborhoods that […]
Posted inEducation
State proposes sweeping change to vocational school admissions
FOUR YEARS AFTER elected officials and advocates began calling for changes to state regulations governing admission to vocational-technical high schools, Education Commissioner Jeff Riley is proposing a sweeping update to […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Janey says internal records on officer to be released
ACTING BOSTON Mayor Kim Janey said late Monday afternoon that she has ordered the city’s law department to review “as quickly as possible” internal affairs records related to former police officer Patrick Rose […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
City councilors call on Janey to release records on former police officer
THREE BOSTON CITY COUNCILORS on Monday called on the city’s new acting mayor and the Boston Police Department to release records of internal investigations related to former police officer Patrick […]
Posted inPolitics
Janey expects report on Boston police commissioner Dennis White this month
ACTING BOSTON MAYOR Kim Janey said she expects the investigation into domestic violence allegations against Boston’s police commissioner to be completed sometime this month — and she voiced mixed sentiments […]
Posted inEducation
Boston exam schools face court test
HERE WE GO again. More than two decades after federal lawsuits forced Boston to ditch admission policies that set aside seats for black and Latino students at the city’s selective-entry […]
Posted inPolitics
Janey will seek full term as Boston mayor
ACTING BOSTON MAYOR Kim Janey, who has looked very much like a candidate for a full term since taking the reins from Marty Walsh two weeks ago, made it official […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Rachael Rollins on vindication of her decline-to-prosecute policy
RACHAEL ROLLINS made headlines during her 2018 run for Suffolk County district attorney when she said, if elected, the office would not prosecute those charged with a set of 15 […]