THE ABRUPT announcement Monday that the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s College of Visual and Performing Arts would be immediately vacating a downtown New Bedford building, where it’s been housed for 22 years, has sent an unwelcome jolt through the Whaling City and entire South Coast region. Nearly everyone seems to lament the sudden turn of […]
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 inDrug Addiction
On Mass. and Cass, a Wu turn
ACCORDING TO THE old adage, a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged. That may not be exactly what’s happening with the shift in the city’s approach to the troubled area around Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Boulevard in Boston. But it nonetheless marked a striking turn to hear the city’s progressive mayor, Michelle Wu, […]
Posted inEducation
For Campbell, case against Malden charter school is also good politics
IT MAY NOT BE at the level of Nixon-goes-to-China, when an inveterate cold warrior became the unlikely US president to establish diplomatic relations with a long-time communist foe. But Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s move earlier this week to take a Malden charter school to court over its refusal to comply with numerous public records requests […]
Posted inTransportation
What’s the timeline for return to a normal-functioning MBTA? No one will say.
AMID CONSTANT TALK of the crisis-ridden MBTA, where slow zones have reduced the speed of trains at some points to a crawl, and passengers can endure interminable “headway” waits of 15 or 20 minutes between trains, one might at least expect an answer to the most basic question: When can users of the system expect […]
Posted inHousing, Politics
Historical geographer says local control has been enemy of efforts to preserve community character
IT’S A FAMILIAR REFRAIN in the push and pull over development in Massachusetts: When a project of some kind is proposed, local officials and residents who oppose it often say the development would harm the historic character of their community. Maintaining local control over what gets built and where it gets built is often viewed […]
Posted inPolitics
For progressives, Boston city councilors becoming awkward embarrassment
WHAT COULD BE the best of times for Boston progressives looks like the worst of times when it comes to the behavior and public image of elected officials championing their causes. The clear leftward shift of Boston city politics should have progressive activists feeling good about their fortunes and the prospects for driving change on […]
Posted inGambling
Campbell cautions against headlong rush to online lottery
ATTORNEY GENERAL Andrea Campbell has been reluctant to dive head-first into the debate over whether to move state lottery games online, steering clear of unconditional support or opposition to such a move. But she continues to wade in on the issue in ways that signal a wariness toward expanding the state-run gambling enterprise. What’s more, her […]
Posted inEducation
Bill aims to strengthen teacher diversity by weakening seniority rights
THERE IS STRONG research evidence that minority students benefit from being in a classroom with a teacher of their background, but Pavel Payano says he knows it from on-the-ground experience. As an immigrant from the Dominican Republic who arrived in Lawrence at age 6 with his parents, he saw the difference Hispanic teachers made for […]
Posted inEducation
Riley rips Boston schools – again
CALL IT THE double-secret probation of Massachusetts public schooling. State education commissioner Jeff Riley is livid at leaders of the Boston Public Schools, from the mayor on down, and he’s letting everyone know it. But he’s made it clear, so far at least, that he has no interest in exercising his ultimate authority and taking control […]
Posted inEducation
Peyser says ed reform overpromised
IT’S HARD TO imagine a sweeping education initiative driven by a theme like “Making Steady Gains, Little by Little,” or “Inch by Inch,” to borrow from the popular children’s song about gardening. Incrementalism is not something that it’s easy to rally big support for – or big outlays of new public spending. Instead, policymakers and […]