Massachusetts Archives

GENERAL ELECTRIC FAIL

Conglomerate’s woes throw Boston HQ deal contradictions into bold relief November 15, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS What a surprise. General Electric is tanking, and the scheme to bring the multinational’s headquarters to Boston is looking worse by the day. And whom shall the public blame if

JASON PRAMAS November 15, 2017

TOWNIE: TAX DELINQUENT, TAX GIVEAWAY

Crutchfield sues Mass over online taxes, unions protest Siemens Online retailer tries to duck sales taxes For a long time, the internet was like the Wild West for online sales. Companies sold products to consumers all over the US, and the feds and many states were slow to

JASON PRAMAS November 2, 2017

THE VERTEX SHELL GAME

Vertex Headquarters. Photo ©2015 Derek Kouyoumjian Pharma’s Donation to Boston, Other Cities Converts Public Funds to PR Gold October 24, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Vertex Pharmaceuticals made a big PR splash last week with an announcement of a significant donation to Boston and other cities where it does

JASON PRAMAS October 24, 2017

TOWNIE: A WORM’S EYE VIEW OF THE MASS POWER STRUCTURE+

Students at rally at Boston City Hall by NewtonCourt (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons From the guy that brings you Apparent Horizon October 18, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS The rich and powerful interests that control Massachusetts politics and the state economy have their fingers in

JASON PRAMAS October 18, 2017

AMAZON OCTAGON

Mass pols stand ready to fight each other for the right to bribe a multinational October 10, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS At least 17 Massachusetts cities and towns are now preparing to do battle with each other—and hundreds more municipalities nationwide—for the dubious “honor” of “winning” the right to

JASON PRAMAS October 10, 2017

AN AMAZON NORTH ANDOVER DEAL?

Sketch of the Merrimack Valley Works plant at North Andover while under construction in 1955 Merrimack Valley pols courting the tech behemoth have forgotten recent history Sept 26, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS A couple of weeks ago, I criticized the possibility of an Amazon Boston deal—on the grounds that most

JASON PRAMAS September 26, 2017

STOP THE AMAZON BOSTON DEAL

Locals have until Oct 19 to say ‘No Public Bribes to Corporate Scofflaws’ Sept. 12, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Fresh off of throwing tens of millions of dollars at General Electric, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker are now planning to enter the international horse race to convince

JASON PRAMAS September 12, 2017

WE CAME, WE SAW, WE COVERED (A #FIGHTSUPREMACY COMPOSITE RETROSPECT)

Photo by Derek Kouyoumjian Between the protesters, the counterprotesters, the media, the cops, and a handful of trolls, countless stories unfolded in Boston last weekend. These are several we encountered… PHOTOS, WORDS, AND REPORTING BY SARAH BETANCOURT, BRITNI DE LA CRETAZ, CHRIS FARAONE, KORI FEENER, NATE HOMAN, ZACK HUFFMAN, DEREK

MULTIPLE AUTHORS August 22, 2017

A PROTEST BY ANY OTHER NAME…

The best way to defeat the ultra right is to stop playing their game August 15, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Street protest is a vital part of any genuinely democratic political system. But how and when people choose to demonstrate (or counterdemonstrate) determines the tactic’s relative success or failure.

JASON PRAMAS August 15, 2017

#CONDEMBTA (THE RECAP)

A public conversation about transit infrastructure As regular Dig readers couldn’t have possibly missed, along with the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism (BINJ) we asked ace photographer Derek Kouyoumjian to spend a month snapping pics of utterly dilapidated MBTA tracks, stations, and trains. His images of so much beautiful decay,

BINJ ONLINE August 2, 2017