The Blue Wave hit a Red Wall and though the splash soaked the barrier, it didn’t do the damage a tsunami would have brought. While Democrats celebrated their new-found ability to thwart President Trump and the GOP-controlled Senate, a resistance that will have a decided Massachusetts blue tinge to it, they will have to step carefully to […]
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 inTransportation
Everybody talks about transportation
Mark Twain once famously observed, “Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it.” The irony is, of course, there’s nothing much you can do about it but grumble. That is perhaps where we are at with transportation, especially public transit, here in Massachusetts. The MBTA is getting a lot of attention in […]
Posted inPolitics
GOP’s Sen. Ross refuses to debate his opponent
IT’S A SCRIPT nearly every challenger in an election follows: Throw the gauntlet down for the incumbent to agree to a series of debates and then try to hold their feet to the fire for as many encounters as you can force to get attention and recognition. It’s a pattern very familiar to Republicans in […]
Posted inUncategorized
Betting on Amazon’s interest
The Legislature might want to award a few more racing dates to Suffolk Downs to hedge against the growing view that Amazon will site its $5 billion HQ2 project somewhere other than Boston. The online betting now leans toward Northern Virginia as the favorite to land Amazon’s projected 50,000-person workforce with a plus-$240, meaning you can bet […]
Posted inPolitics
A question of money and speech
All the talk in Massachusetts about the referendums before voters next month focuses on Questions 1 and 3, with little acknowledgement that there’s a number missing in between. However, unlike the other ballot questions which seek to create or maintain state laws, Question 2 would launch that most typical Bay State of creatures, a commission to […]
Posted inEconomy
Canada cannabis
THE BONG, ER, GONG, sounded early Wednesday morning for the nationwide sale of marijuana in Canada, only the second country in the world to legalize the drug and the first major world economy to allow adult use and sales. The move from vote to sale was just four months, a relatively lightning-fast period that many […]
Posted inHealth Care
ER visits continue to impact health costs
DESPITE A GROWING number of free-standing retail clinics and urgent care centers in the state, there is still a heavy reliance on costly hospital emergency department visits, with more than one-third of patients acknowledging their trip to the ER was for a non-emergency condition, including behavioral issues such as seeking treatment for depression, anxiety, and […]
Posted inPolitics
Correia arrested on federal fraud charges
FEDERAL AGENTS ARRESTED Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia early Thursday morning and charged him with defrauding investors in a company he started as a teenager, then using the money to “pay for a lavish lifestyle” that included a Mercedes, jewelry for himself and a former girlfriend, air travel, and trips to casinos and adult entertainment venues, […]
Posted inPolitics
Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em – at home
In the language of the emerging marijuana industry, where cannabis is the preferred term, they are called social consumption sites. Years ago, we would have called them pot bars. The cafes were envisioned as part of the 2016 ballot question as a place where those who use marijuana could congregate to smoke, drink, and eat THC-infused […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
State police sought to destroy Logan pay records
STATE POLICE OFFICIALS tried to destroy 12 boxes of payroll files for detail and roster assignments involving its embattled division at Logan Airport but were blocked because of the ongoing investigation into overtime abuse that has rocked the department and triggered dozens of retirements. Maj. Charles Atchison of Logan’s Troop F submitted a form to […]