WHEN IT COMES to fare-free MBTA service, is Michelle Wu willing to put her money – or that of Boston residents – where her mouth is? The frontrunner in the Boston mayor’s race has touted the idea of fare-free MBTA service, something she says is a matter of racial and economic justice as well as […]
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 inPolitics
Does Wu have a Teflon coating?
MICHELLE WU has made it clear she’s no Charlie Baker fan, telling the Boston Globe her ambitious agenda for Boston would be easier to achieve with a Democrat in the governor’s office. But she seems to share one trait with the Republican pol (besides their Harvard degrees): A popularity that seems impervious to almost anything […]
Posted inPolitics
Wu and Essaibi George face off in Boston mayoral debate
WITH LESS THAN three weeks to go before the election, Michelle Wu and Annissa Essaibi George faced off Wednesday night for the first time in a one-on-one debate in the race for mayor of Boston, each strongly arguing their case to voters who are poised to elect the first woman mayor in the city’s history. […]
Posted inHealth Care
FDA’s controversial approval of Alzheimer’s drug draws calls for reform
WHEN MASS GENERAL BRIGHAM announced two weeks ago that it would not offer a controversial new drug treatment for Alzheimer’s disease to patients, it was an important statement from the state’s leading provider network. On Thursday, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the state’s largest private insurer, said it won’t cover the drug developed by […]
Posted inPolitics
Poll shows big lead for Wu in Boston mayor’s race
SHE MAY BE the “teachah” and the “muthah” to take on the problems facing Boston, but Annissa Essaibi George faces a steep uphill climb to become the “mayah” if the first poll taken during the final election campaign is on the mark. The survey, conducted by the MassINC Polling Group, shows Michelle Wu with a […]
Posted inPolitics
Is it Wu’s race to lose?
BOSTON WILL ELECT a new mayor three weeks from today. Three debates, the first of which comes on Wednesday night, will finally give voters a chance to see the two contenders side by side. With those encounters still looming, and no polls yet released on the final election, “I’m not going to bet anybody out […]
Posted inPolitics
Here’s the Diehl with wacky Mass. politics
IT’S OFTEN HARD for outsiders to make sense of Massachusetts, where Democrats reign supreme but Republicans have dominated the governor’s office for more than three decades. Today’s development does little to help clear things up. The thumbnail version: A former Republican president who is deeply unpopular in the state has endorsed a former Republican state […]
Posted inPolitics
Ayanna Pressley endorses Michelle Wu in Boston mayor’s race
US REP. AYANNA PRESSLEY endorsed City Councilor Michelle Wu in the Boston mayor’s race, giving her campaign a high-profile progressive boost with just over a month to go before the November 2 election. In a statement released Friday morning, Pressley, a former city council colleague, called Wu a “partner in the fight for equity and […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Vaccine fight only latest bad headline for State Police
IT’S NOT AS IF the Massachusetts State Police were on a particularly great run already. The department has been hit by one scandal after another, mostly centered on overtime fraud and other charges that don’t exactly cast troopers in the best public-service light. Now, with public and private sector employers trying to figure out the […]
Posted inPolitics
What went wrong for Framingham’s 1st mayor?
FOUR YEARS AGO, voters swept Yvonne Spicer into office as Framingham’s first mayor, heralding a new chapter for the community of 72,000, which had outgrown the town government structure that operated there for more than 300 years. Her inauguration was a celebratory moment of promise, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren and US Rep. Katherine Clark holding […]