THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of Massachusetts K-12 students are either learning remotely from home or in a hybrid model that mixes in-person and at-home instruction, and most parents have a dim […]
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 inEducation
Union urging ‘no confidence’ votes in ed commish Riley
THE DEBATE OVER whether to reopen schools for in-person instruction is turning into an all-out war by the state’s largest teachers union against state education commissioner Jeff Riley. The Massachusetts […]
Posted inPolitics
Mass GOP jumps on unfounded election ‘fraud’ bandwagon
“DEAD PEOPLE voted!” “In Wisconsin, a ‘glitch’ added over 100,000 votes to Biden’s tally in the dead of the night, and ZERO to any other candidate.” Tweets from President Trump? […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker really is a RINO
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER’S status was sealed last night: He is now an officially certified leading figure among the ever-shrinking ranks of major elected Republican officials who question the sanity of […]
Posted inPolitics
Biden trumps Trump
AFTER FOUR TUMULTUOUS years under Donald Trump that upended countless norms of the US presidency and four days of vote-counting that kept the country — and world — on edge, […]
Posted inPolitics
One place Trump gained in Mass.: heavily Latino cities
DEEP BLUE MASSACHUSETTS, where Joe Biden ran up his biggest margin of any state, was an afterthought in the presidential race, which was largely fought in a dozen or so […]
Posted inPolitics
Race in doubt, polling in the cross hairs
WE DON’T KNOW who will win the presidential election, but it seems clear who is getting tagged with a big loss: pollsters. “We still don’t know much about this election […]
Posted inPolitics
Blue wave rolls across state
WITH AMERICANS CASTING ballots in an election unlike any other, Massachusetts residents voted in record numbers, with Democrats hoping that a blue wave washing over Bay State contests extends to […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Shots fired — at cars and the media
GUNFIRE RANG OUT yesterday afternoon in the Back Bay. The casualties? Several cars — and confidence among some in the media’s coverage of gun violence. No one was hit in […]
Posted inEducation
For Catholic schools, class is in session — and in person
WHILE THE SCHOOL YEAR has been upended for thousands of public school students across the state, Corrin Stokes’s school day this fall looked largely the same as it did last […]
Posted inPolitics
Biden’s lead has supporters…worried
WITH THE PRESIDENTIAL election now eight days away, we have a pretty good sense of where things stand. Or do we? There’s been an avalanche of polling this cycle, and […]
Posted inEducation
Could exam school admissions changes have unintended consequences?
COULD THE CURE be as bad as the disease? The Boston School Committee appears to be on track to rush through a major change in the admission procedures for next […]
Posted inEducation
Coalition to press state ed leaders on vocational school admissions
A COALITION OF groups pushing for changes to the admissions policies at Massachusetts vocational technical high schools is sounding the alarm on an issue that got sidetracked by the pandemic, […]
Posted inHealth Care
The COVID body count continues
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER touted all the ways yesterday that Massachusetts is now better prepared to deal with coronavirus than it was seven months ago. But the impressive accounting of the […]
Posted inPolitics
Republican challenger struggles for foothold in ‘purple’ Andover-based rep district
AGAINST A GENERALLY bleak landscape for Massachusetts Republicans in state legislative races next month, the contest for an Andover-based state representative seat seems like it ought to offer some hope […]
Posted inEducation
Boston to consider awarding exam school seats by neighborhood
BOSTON SCHOOL LEADERS are proposing a dramatic shift in the admission policies for the city’s three exam schools for entry next fall, moving away from a test-based system to one […]
Posted inPolitics
Biden the clear choice (say newspaper editorials)
THE VERDICT IS in: Joe Biden is the clear choice for president. So, at least, say the editorial pages today of the New York Times and Boston Globe. Add in […]
Posted inPolitics
Debate is the latest norm Trump shatters
IT WAS the real mistake by the lake. Donald Trump and Joe Biden did everything but bolt from the debate hall and go roll in the mud on the banks […]
Posted inPolitics
Michelle Wu’s personal path to politics
BOSTON CITY COUNCILOR Michelle Wu confirmed earlier this month what had been widely speculated for more than a year — she will run for mayor next year. Wu has, in […]
Posted inPolitics
City Councilor Andrea Campbell announces run for mayor of Boston
BOSTON CITY COUNCILOR Andrea Campbell, who ousted a 32-year incumbent to win her seat five years ago, is now setting her sights on the city’s top job, declaring she’ll run […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Fitchburg pinning revival hopes on arts and culture
FITCHBURG MAYOR Stephen DiNatale’s office bears all the markings of the workspace of a small-city Massachusetts leader working hard to pull up his community, a place that has struggled for […]
Posted inUncategorized
A term limit solution to SCOTUS circus?
THE IDEA THAT the future tilt of the Supreme Court rested with Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s oncologists is about all you need to know to understand something is wrong with how […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Proposed Roxbury pot shop stirs debate
WHEN IT COMES to the debate over marijuana legalization in Massachusetts, the horse has left the barn. Voters legalized recreational marijuana sales via a 2016 statewide ballot question, and pot […]
Posted inEducation
Report says $500 million in state education funding goes to most affluent communities
LESS THAN A year after Massachusetts enacted sweeping legislation to revamp its school funding formula to steer millions of dollars in new aid to low-income districts, a new report suggests […]