Massachusetts Archives

DANCING ON BANANA PEELS

Life On Lifetime Parole In Massachusetts “I am now in the same predicament as I was when I first got out of prison.” Khalid Mustafa attempted what many considered unthinkable: he tried to sue the Massachusetts Parole Board. Specifically, Mustafa took legal action against the body for decisions under former

JEAN TROUNSTINE May 17, 2023

THE AFTERMATH

Addressing February’s Clean Harbors Chemical Fire State’s response follows long history of environmental injustice around the Fore River Basin On the evening of Feb. 16 earlier this year, a tractor trailer filled with paints, epoxies, oil filters, and other flammable liquids spontaneously ignited at Clean Harbors, the largest waste disposal

JON LAMSON April 4, 2023

A MASSACHUSETTS FOSSIL FUEL LOBBYING REVIEW

As Prices Soar, Fossil Fuel Industry Looks After Its Interests On Beacon Hill As gas prices and heating costs skyrocket across Massachusetts, fossil fuel producers and providers are spending hundreds of thousands to promote their political agendas to state officials and lawmakers. The state’s five for-profit utilities, which function as

JON LAMSON February 28, 2023

WILL RACE MATTER …

As Mass Reconsiders Life Without Parole For 18 To 20-Year-Olds? “Late adolescents are particularly likely to be sentenced based on systemic racism and implicit biases in policing, prosecution, and sentencing.” A potential history-making hearing was held before the seven justices at the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) on Feb. 6, as

JEAN TROUNSTINE February 14, 2023

DEBATABLE DATA

Shortcomings in the state’s greenhouse gas inventory pose issues for energy planning While Massachusetts has mandated major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions over the coming decades, its greenhouse gas inventory may be underestimating the true level of emissions in the state. As government officials plan for the transition to a

JON LAMSON January 17, 2023

EDITORIAL: SOMERVILLE WIRE ON HIATUS UNTIL SPRING

BINJ Needs $15,000 to Pay a Quarter-Time Staff Reporter for a Year It has been almost four years since the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism held a well-attended community forum in the big room at (the sadly shuttered) ONCE club on Highland Ave. that led to the launch of our

JASON PRAMAS January 13, 2023

ON THE WAY HOME

A New Beginning For Formerly Incarcerated Women “Stepping into this house made me feel better … She has a way of transforming pain into passion.” When Stacey Borden exited MCI-Framingham for the final time in 2010, she was done with more than three decades of jail stints and drug use

JEAN TROUNSTINE January 11, 2023

STILL WAITING

Tainted Drug Evidence Victims Still Waiting For Settlement Payments “We’ve got a system in place where it’s just, grab this money from mostly poor people, but don’t have mechanisms in place to really account for what’s taken.” It may be a new year, but tens of thousands of individuals wrongfully

ZACK HUFFMAN January 9, 2023

OPINION: GLX IS HERE! CELEBRATING AND LOOKING AHEAD

After decades of advocacy, I was thrilled to celebrate the opening of the Green Line Extension through my district in Somerville and Medford last week. This public works project is the result of years of hard work from countless community members, laborers, activists, and colleagues at all levels of government.

CHRISTINE P. BARBER December 28, 2022

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: CHERYL AMIRAULT LEFAVE

“Everything that I came across for 40 years has been a battle.” It seemed that last week a decades-old controversial case was headed for a pardon vote. Outgoing Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker had recommended a pardon for Cheryl Amirault LeFave and her brother, Gerald, in the well-known and highly disputed

JEAN TROUNSTINE December 22, 2022