Massachusetts Archives

JOEY’S ANGELS

Joe Donovan beat impossible odds in being paroled from a life sentence. With his release this month, he and his advocates recount the nightmare behind them and brace for a daunting road ahead. No one ever accused Joe Donovan of killing anyone, but he was convicted of murder nonetheless. The story of

CHRIS FARAONE March 6, 2016

GE BOSTON DEAL: THE MISSING MANUAL, PART 4

February 29, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS In May 2012, three former GE executives were imprisoned after being convicted on multiple charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and defraud the United States. Dominick Carollo, Steven Goldberg and Peter Grimm had all worked for GE Capital—the financial division that operated

JASON PRAMAS February 29, 2016

AUSTERITY BUDGET: BAKER HITS STUDENTS, HOMELESS, POOR, EVERYBODY BUT THE RICH WITH FY17 BUDGET PROPOSAL

February 25, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS If you’re a working person, and you want to understand the annual Massachusetts state budget process, the best resource to consult is the Mass Budget and Policy Center (MBPC). It issues timely reports detailing every major budget proposal and wrapping up each final

JASON PRAMAS February 25, 2016

GE BOSTON DEAL: THE MISSING MANUAL, PART 3

Image by Kent Buckley February 15, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Returning to our ongoing look at General Electric’s recent and inconvenient history of violating the public trust, in part 2 of this “missing manual” the corporation got out of the subprime housing loan market just in time to avoid

JASON PRAMAS February 15, 2016

GE BOSTON DEAL: THE MISSING MANUAL, PART 2

Image by Kent Buckley February 1, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Two weeks after the first installment of this Missing Manual, we now know that GE will receive up to another $100 million of Boston’s largesse in the form of reopening the Old Northern Avenue Bridge and $25 million in

JASON PRAMAS February 1, 2016

GE BOSTON DEAL: AN ACTIVIST HANDBOOK

Images (from 2012 protest against GE in Boston) by Chris Faraone January 28, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Say friend … is a multinational corporation with a terrible reputation, a limitless PR budget, and a penchant for backroom deals with fawning politicians bleeding your state for hundreds of millions of

JASON PRAMAS January 28, 2016

GE BOSTON DEAL: THE MISSING MANUAL

Image by Kent Buckley January 18, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS The saga of GE’s flight from Connecticut began with the June 2015 passage of a very much needed package of state tax increases aimed at raising an extra $1.1 billion over the next two years. By extending a temporary

JASON PRAMAS January 18, 2016

THE BARBARISM OF CHARTERISM

New year, new theater in the war over corporate ed reform Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson was smiling. Not the ordinary cheery ear-to-ear look his constituents have come to expect from the ebullient official, but rather a modest show of relief dashed with giddiness because the side of Boston’s education

CHRIS FARAONE December 29, 2015

GROUNDED MONKEYS: MILLIONAIRES UNLIKELY TO FLEE COMMONWEALTH IF RAISE UP MASS WINS TAX ON 1 PERCENT

Image by Kent Buckley December 8, 2015 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Boston Business Journal’s Craig Douglas made an interesting criticism of Raise Up Massachusetts last week (“Excited about the proposed millionaires tax? Cut off your nose while you’re at it,” Dec. 4). For those who missed it, RUM is a

JASON PRAMAS December 8, 2015

BARGAINING AGAINST OURSELVES: MEANS TESTING MBTA FARES WILL DECREASE PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR MASS TRANSIT

Image by Kent Buckley November 30, 2015 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS As the latest round of the ongoing neoliberal campaign to shift the cost of mass transit in Massachusetts from state government to individual riders gets in gear—a necessary step along the road to privatizing the MBTA—regular readers will be

JASON PRAMAS November 30, 2015