THERE WEREN’T MANY bright spots last year as the University of Massachusetts Amherst stepped up to the top level of college football, the Football Bowl Subdivision. The team went 1-11, playing in the Mid-America Athletic Conference, and was outscored by an average of 40-13. Even more disappointing was the lackluster attendance at the team’s […]
Jack Sullivan
Jack Sullivan is now retired. A veteran of the Boston newspaper scene for nearly three decades. Prior to joining CommonWealth, he was editorial page editor of The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, a part of the GateHouse Media chain. Prior to that he was news editor at another GateHouse paper, The Enterprise of Brockton, and also was city edition editor at the Ledger. Jack was an investigative and enterprise reporter and executive city editor at the Boston Herald and a reporter at The Boston Globe.
He has reported stories such as the federal investigation into the Teamsters, the workings of the Yawkey Trust and sale of the Red Sox, organized crime, the church sex abuse scandal and the September 11 terrorist attacks. He has covered the State House, state and local politics, K-16 education, courts, crime, and general assignment.
Jack received the New England Press Association award for investigative reporting for a series on unused properties owned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, and shared the association's award for business for his reporting on the sale of the Boston Red Sox. As the Ledger editorial page editor, he won second place in 2007 for editorial writing from the Inland Press Association, the nation's oldest national journalism association of nearly 900 newspapers as members.
At CommonWealth, Jack and editor Bruce Mohl won first place for In-Depth Reporting from the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors for a look at special education funding in Massachusetts. The same organization also awarded first place to a unique collaboration between WFXT-TV (FOX25) and CommonWealth for a series of stories on the Boston Redevelopment Authority and city employees getting affordable housing units, written by Jack and Bruce.
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Casualties of war
One of the defendants affected by Annie Dookhan’s mishandling of drug lab tests seeks a later curfew before Special Magistrate Elizabeth Donovan. IT WAS THE SUMMER OF 2010. Robert Annunziata was in a car in Fall River with two other men when police pulled the vehicle over in front of Annunziata’s apartment and began asking […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Maybe Patrick wants to make more money
NO ONE SEEMS to believe him, but Gov. Deval Patrick was quite emphatic about his near-term future at the Democratic National Convention in September. “I’m gonna finish my term [as governor] in 2014,” the governor told ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl. “I’m gonna return to the private sector where I’ve spent most of my career. […]
Posted inEducation
Catholic schools remain off limits
THE HEAD OF THE BOSTON ARCHDIOCESE SCHOOLS is eager to work with public and charter school operators to improve education for all Boston students, but says the church’s recent policy of refusing to lease or sell vacant buildings to charters will remain intact. Dr. Mary Grassa O’Neill, the Archdiocese’s secretary for education, says the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Question 2 triggers a battle over life, death, and dignity
Early on, it appeared that Massachusetts would become the third state to legalize so-called physician-assisted suicide, with polls showing voters favoring the end-of-life ballot question by a more than 2-to-1 margin. But as the weeks to the election have dwindled down to days and opponents have begun flooding the airwaves with stark ads, it’s become […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Women — can’t win without ’em
Everyone seems to be going after the women’s vote. But nobody, it appears, knows exactly what the “women’s vote” is except that they want it and it’s key to being elected. Women, after all, have consistently turned out in larger numbers than men for the presidential election since 1980. Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Back Story
Cop in a lab coat
SHE WAS A forensic chemist who put her finger on the scale of justice, continually testifying and confirming that evidence brought to her by police and prosecutors was, in fact, damning proof that a crime was committed beyond a reasonable doubt. Her work output far exceeded her co-workers in the crime lab and law enforcement […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Education
Fire drill
‘ As adults we believe we are putting our children into a safe environment,” says State Fire Marshall Stephen Coan. as tropical storm Irene raged through the western part of the state during the first weekend of August, a lightning bolt exploded into the Rowe Elementary School and destroyed the small brick and wood building […]
Posted inPolitics
Romney writes off 2002 campaign loan
FOR NEARLY EVERYONE else, a half-million dollars would be a pretty healthy retirement account. But for Mitt Romney, who has an estimated worth of $250 million, it’s akin to change under the couch cushions. When Romney was running for governor in 2002, he loaned his campaign $550,000, a sum that included $150,000 to clean up […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Menino, Davis warn of surge in crime
The Suffolk County District Attorney says he and his staff will do everything they can in court to keep a scandal at a state drug lab from returning hundreds of dangerous criminals to the streets, but Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and his police commissioner say they are nevertheless preparing to deal with a sharp […]