Massachusetts Archives

KILL SHOT 2: MASS PUBLIC HIGHER ED STILL ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK

UMass President’s Office at One Beacon Street in Boston Overlooking the Massachusetts State House July 12, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Will campus advocates spark a rebellion for proper funding or cling to failed politics as usual? Hot on the heels of the UMass Boston administration issuing pink slips to

JASON PRAMAS July 12, 2016

HOW MASS BECAME GROUND-ZERO FOR CORPORATE ED REFORM

With a statewide referendum looming in November, Massachusetts voters will have to decide just how much school privatization they’re willing to bear. What happens when charter schools begin to proliferate in traditional public school districts? In Massachusetts, where K-12 alternatives have had more than two decades to metastasize, it means

CHRIS FARAONE July 5, 2016

KILL SHOT: YEARS OF STATE AUSTERITY BUDGETS PUT UMASS BOSTON IN JEOPARDY

June 10, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Community needs to join Faculty Staff Union movement for a return to full funding There is only one appropriate response to the looming layoff of 400 unionized non-tenure track faculty at UMass Boston. Rebellion. We are well past the era of shots across

JASON PRAMAS June 10, 2016

AUSTERITY BUDGET, PART 4

June 6, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS The Worst of the Senate FY 2017 State Budget Proposal Continuing to track the worst proposed cuts at different stages of the vicious and dispiriting annual Massachusetts state budget process, it’s time for a look at the full Senate budget proposal. As with

JASON PRAMAS June 6, 2016

SPECIAL REJECTION

Election officials can’t stop this East Boston activist from running for State Senate When nine-year First Suffolk and Middlesex State Sen. Anthony Petruccelli announced his resignation last December, Latino voters in the lawmaker’s disjointed district — which includes slices of Chinatown, East Boston, and the North End in the Hub, as well as

CHRIS FARAONE June 5, 2016

STATE OF THE BOSTON COMEDY UNION

Seven comics. Two hours. One historic summit on the state of stand-up comedy in the Hub. Mr. Mayor, Mr. Governor, members of the House and Senate, our fellow Greater Bostonians: Sixteen years into this new century, you can talk to any seasoned comedy fan in Greater Boston, the ones who

DAN MCCARTHY May 25, 2016

AUSTERITY BUDGET, PART 3

May 24, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS The Worst of the House and the Senate Ways and Means Committee FY 2017 State Budget Proposals A weekly column like this one can only keep up with a limited number of current events. Although committed to tracking the worst proposed cuts at

JASON PRAMAS May 24, 2016

OF BOLIVAR AND BOSTON

Social and economic insecurity in Caracas has a significant impact on Venezuelans in Massachusetts One late March morning, corridos — the socially conscious ballads popular throughout Central and Latin America — blared throughout the blue and gold basement chapel of Tremont Temple Baptist Church. About 21 people mingled around a table of coffee and breakfast

ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ May 12, 2016

AUSTERITY BUDGET: PART 2

April 28, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS The lowlights of the Mass House Ways and Means Committee FY 2017 state budget proposal Time for a look at the latest act of the Commonwealth’s annual fiscal circus: the House Ways and Means Committee (HWMC) FY 2017 budget proposal. As with the

JASON PRAMAS April 28, 2016

BOSTON’S MARATHON APOCALYPSE

In hashing out what happened on that dark day three years ago, it’s important to consider the Bay State’s history as an apocalyptic ground zero There is no shining beacon on the hill in Boston. There is a shiny gold dome capping the Massachusetts State House just a short walk

CHIP BERLET April 15, 2016