Michael Jonas

Executive Editor, CommonWealth

About Michael Jonas

Michael Jonas has worked in journalism in Massachusetts since the early 1980s. Before joining the CommonWealth staff in early 2001, he was a contributing writer for the magazine for two years. His cover story in CommonWealth's Fall 1999 issue on Boston youth outreach workers was selected for a PASS (Prevention for a Safer Society) Award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency.

Michael got his start in journalism at the Dorchester Community News, a community newspaper serving Boston's largest neighborhood, where he covered a range of urban issues. Since the late 1980s, he has been a regular contributor to the Boston Globe. For 15 years he wrote a weekly column on local politics for the Boston Sunday Globe's City Weekly section.

Michael has also worked in broadcast journalism. In 1989, 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 "Our Times," a weekly magazine program on WHDH-TV (Ch. 7) in Boston.

Michael lives in Dorchester with his wife and their two daughters.

About Michael Jonas

Michael Jonas has worked in journalism in Massachusetts since the early 1980s. Before joining the CommonWealth staff in early 2001, he was a contributing writer for the magazine for two years. His cover story in CommonWealth's Fall 1999 issue on Boston youth outreach workers was selected for a PASS (Prevention for a Safer Society) Award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency.

Michael got his start in journalism at the Dorchester Community News, a community newspaper serving Boston's largest neighborhood, where he covered a range of urban issues. Since the late 1980s, he has been a regular contributor to the Boston Globe. For 15 years he wrote a weekly column on local politics for the Boston Sunday Globe's City Weekly section.

Michael has also worked in broadcast journalism. In 1989, 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 "Our Times," a weekly magazine program on WHDH-TV (Ch. 7) in Boston.

Michael lives in Dorchester with his wife and their two daughters.

Stories by Michael Jonas

Tired of waiting, Dempsey exits House for lobbying firm

Politics/ The Back Story

Tired of waiting, Dempsey exits House for lobbying firm

Decision indicates DeLeo is not retiring anytime soon

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THE PERCEIVED HEIR APPARENT to House Speaker Robert DeLeo said on Thursday that he is stepping down to take a top job at the high-powered lobbying firm ML Strategies, a move that suggests the speaker is not inclined to retire anytime soon. Rep. Brian Dempsey of Haverhill, the chairman of the House Ways and Means(...)

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ACLU campaign to spotlight crucial role of DAs

Criminal Justice

ACLU campaign to spotlight crucial role of DAs

Poll shows many voters don’t believe criminal justice system is working fairly

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THE AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION of Massachusetts says it plans to mount a campaign this fall urging voters to hold the state’s elected district attorneys accountable for the way the criminal justice system works. The impetus for the campaign grew out of a poll released Wednesday indicating that nearly half of Massachusetts voters believe the(...)

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Progressive politics from the ground up 

Courts/ Politics/ Summer 2017

Progressive politics from the ground up 

Heather Gerken has spent years making the case that state and local government is where the left should push change. With the election of Donald Trump, progressive federalism’s moment may have arrived.

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Photographs by Frank Curran STATES’ RIGHTS HAS a long and ugly history in this country. The phrase has often served as code for the segregationist Jim Crow policies that southern states clung to in the face of federal pressure in the 1950s and ’60s. It made progressives wary of a bigger role for states in(...)

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Changing of the guard

Education/ Summer 2017

Changing of the guard

Jessica Tang says she’ll bring a different style, but no change in values, as the new president of the Boston Teachers Union

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Photograph by Frank Curran What will be different about the Boston Teachers Union under your leadership? One thing that I’ve brought to the union is a focus on organizing and working with students, families, community members and coalition building. But we’ll also continue to do a lot of what I guess you would call the(...)

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Galvin won’t cooperate with Trump voter fraud panel

Politics

Galvin won’t cooperate with Trump voter fraud panel

Voter information is not a public record, says spokesman

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PRESIDENT TRUMP’S COMMISSION to investigate allegations of voter fraud is reaching out to state officials to gather information, but they won’t be getting a lot of help from Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin. Galvin spokesman Brian McNiff confirmed on Thursday that the office received a letter from the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.(...)

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Haverhill teachers union rejects charter renewal

Education

Haverhill teachers union rejects charter renewal

Vote follows months of bitter debate

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AFTER MONTHS OF ACRIMONY in Haverhill, the city’s teachers union voted Thursday to block the renewal of the Silver Hill Horace Mann Charter School, dealing a crushing blow to faculty and families at the K-5 school who say it had become a model of creative, quality education in the city. Members of the Haverhill Education(...)

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Fear and loathing on Haverhill school vote

Education/ The Back Story

Fear and loathing on Haverhill school vote

Charter school at the center of charged debate

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THE SILVER HILL Horace Mann Charter School in Haverhill is seeking a five-year extension of its charter, but the seemingly routine process has mushroomed into a high-stakes battle reminiscent of last fall’s statewide ballot fight over charter school expansion. Members of the Haverhill teachers union will vote next week on whether to allow the K-5(...)

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Tito Jackson’s address? It’s complicated

Politics/ The Back Story

Tito Jackson’s address? It’s complicated

Boston mayoral candidate is both a Roxbury and Dorchester guy

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TITO JACKSON, the Boston city councilor who is challenging Mayor Marty Walsh this fall, is not generally one to shrink from a tough question or dodge and weave around a topic. Which makes it all the more remarkable to see Jackson tiptoe his way through a seemingly simple inquiry: What neighborhood does he live in?(...)

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Boston teachers union will welcome Chaffee

Education

Boston teachers union will welcome Chaffee

National Teacher of the Year to be invited to speak to members

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THE MASSACHUSETTS TEACHERS ASSOCIATION may not be interested in hearing from Sydney Chaffee, the Boston charter school educator who was recently named National Teacher of the Year, but the Boston Teachers Union wants her to come address its members. Richard Stutman, the longtime president of the union representing Boston Public Schools teachers, said his leadership(...)

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Mass. teachers union snubs National Teacher of the Year

Education/ The Back Story

Mass. teachers union snubs National Teacher of the Year

Votes down motion congratulating Dorchester charter school teacher

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SYDNEY CHAFFEE WAS WELCOMED to the White House last month. She was honored at an event in Boston by the governor and the state education commissioner. But the first Massachusetts educator ever named National Teacher of Year was given the cold shoulder by the state’s largest teachers union. Delegates at the Massachusetts Teachers Association annual(...)

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