Michael Jonas
CW Magazine
Contact Michael
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
| Recent: |
|
| Past: |
|
Past articles by Michael:
Advocates blocked from having lawyers at police meeting about missing East Boston woman
A FURTHER EXAMPLE of the disparate treatment by law enforcement of cases involving victims of color and White people, or an innocent misunderstanding in the heat of the moment? Those are the dueling accounts of an encounter this week between Boston police and advocates for an East Boston woman who has been missing since late(...) → Read More
Regional transit authorities offer free bus service for holidays
THE PUSH TO lower or eliminate public transit fares is getting a holiday boost from the state, which has unwrapped a $2.5 grant that is allowing all 15 regional transit authorities across Massachusetts to offer fare-free bus service for the rest of the year. The free-ride initiative, which is being billed as “Try Transit,” begins(...) → Read More
3 Democrats make the case for being Maura Healey’s No. 2
JIM BRAUDE BEGAN Tuesday evening’s GBH debate among the three Democrats running for lieutenant governor by asking a standard opening question to candidates: Why are you running for this office? But in the case of the state’s lieutenant governor, what he really meant was, why in the world are you running for this office? It(...) → Read More
Lawmakers reach agreement on abortion legislation
WITH THE CLOCK ticking down on the Legislature’s two-year session, House and Senate leaders announced on Monday that negotiators have reached agreement between the two branches on a bill to strengthen abortion rights in Massachusetts. The push for enhanced abortion protections came in the wake of last month’s Supreme Court ruling overturning the landmark 1973(...) → Read More
New Bedford charter school at center of 2019 battle poised to hit enrollment target
THREE YEARS AFTER a proposed compromise plan for expansion of a New Bedford charter school collapsed in the face of opposition from teachers unions and their legislative allies, the school is on track to complete its enrollment ramp-up this fall under a larger expansion that loomed as the backup plan. It’s a development that city(...) → Read More
Study shows positive impact of ‘procedural justice’ police training
DESPITE WIDESPREAD EMBRACE by police departments of various approaches to officer training, there is remarkably little firm evidence on the impact of schooling law enforcement personnel on everything from dealing with implicit bias to de-escalation techniques. What’s more, amid fears about rising crime levels in many US cities, there has been concern that some reform-minded(...) → Read More
An education ‘he-cession’
THE PANDEMIC HAS walloped women economically, giving rise to the term “she-cession” to describe the financial fallout from COVID that has disproportionately hit them. Playing out much more quietly has been a long-running education “he-cession,” a growing gender gap in educational attainment that the pandemic appears to have accelerated. The latest numbers on higher education(...) → Read More
Report rips Boston police handling of Rose case
A CITY-COMMISSIONED REPORT into the case involving former Boston police officer Patrick Rose, who was charged with child sexual abuse in the mid 1990s but nonetheless remained on the force for more than two decades, slammed the Boston Police Department for lacking policies and procedures to respond adequately to the case and for failing to(...) → Read More
Chelsea’s yearlong battle with COVID
TRYING TO DEFEAT COVID has often been likened to a war. If the analogy is apt, nowhere in Massachusetts has the fight been more intense than in Chelsea, and Gladys Vega has been a tireless general leading the battle there against the viral adversary. The longtime executive director of La Colaborativa, the local nonprofit advocacy(...) → Read More
State environmental official resigns over climate comments
THE STATE’S UNDERSECRETARY of environmental affairs for climate change, who has come under attack for comments made to an environmental panel last month, resigned his post Wednesday night. David Ismay, in a letter dated Wednesday to Kathleen Theoharides, the secretary of energy and environmental affairs, wrote, “It is with great regret that I submit my(...) → Read More
Uncertainty continues to plague school reopening debate
ONE OF THE most disturbing of the shockingly wide range of symptoms experienced by people with COVID-19 is often described as “brain fog,” a lingering inability to think clearly that can extend to difficulty tackling even the most basic tasks of daily life. But the challenge of not always being able to sort things out(...) → Read More
Trump leaves, but the chaos sown remains
DONALD TRUMP will be the first president in more than 150 years not to attend his successor’s inauguration, jetting off this morning to Florida in a denialist huff about his reelection defeat. The Washington Post documented more than 30,000 false or misleading claims during his four years in office. One of them, of course, overshadows(...) → Read More
Angela Menino throws support behind Kennedy
GUSHING REVERENTIALLY ABOUT Boston’s longest serving mayor apparently only gets you so far. Eight days after Sen. Ed Markey said the vandalized statue of Christopher Columbus in a North End park should be replaced with a statue of Boston’s first — and so far only — Italian-American mayor, Tom Menino, the late mayor’s wife threw(...) → Read More
Markey’s remarkable reinvention
NEARLY EVERYONE AGREES that when Joe Kennedy launched his primary challenge nearly a year ago to Sen. Ed Markey, the son of the state’s most storied political family looked like a good bet to oust the veteran Malden pol. A lot can change in a year, and it has. Get the Daily Download Our news(...) → Read More
In Allston-Brighton rep race, a progressive showdown
IF A WINNING campaign starts with a candidate who seems well-matched for the district, Jordan Meehan looks primed for success. The young gay lawyer is pushing a decidedly progressive platform — with rent control, transit improvements, and climate action at the top of the agenda — in an Allston-Brighton state representative district brimming with with(...) → Read More
Pandemic turns Markey-Kennedy race into virtual showdown
The US Senate race between Ed Markey and Joe Kennedy, which was shaping up to be one of the most closely watched congressional primary contests in the country, now faces a much different challenge: How do candidates draw attention without the normal glad-handing, town parades, and speech-making? → Read More
Mass. GOP takes a pounding
THE REPUBLICAN CAUCUS in the Massachusetts Senate, which was already down to six lawmakers, will now have just enough members to pop open a card table for a game of bridge. Which they might as well just do, for all the clout they’ll be wielding in the 40-person chamber. Democrats grabbed two Senate seats previously held(...) → Read More
Mass. ed guidance scores well in MIT report
WHILE MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOLS are scrambling — with mixed results — to try to continue lessons for students who are now sequestered at home, the state gets good grades from a new review of the guidelines issued by all 50 state education departments to help districts structure remote learning amidst the coronavirus pandemic. The guidance recommendations(...) → Read More
Ventilators are life-savers, but questions loom about survival rates
MASSACHUSETTS LEADERS AND hospitals are scrambling to make sure they have enough ventilators for an expected surge of critically ill coronavirus patients. Meanwhile, the state public health department has issued guidance on how doctors might prioritize who gets the life-support machines if confronted with a shortage. But the focus on ensuring an adequate supply of(...) → Read More
Coronavirus disproportionately hitting blacks and Latinos
IT IS BOTH A shocking but also utterly predictable new chapter in the unfolding coronavirus saga. The pandemic sweeping the country appears to be exacting a particularly high toll in black and Latino communities, where both infection rates and deaths appear to be far out of proportion to the groups’ share of the overall population. A(...) → Read More