politics Archives

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

WELFARE KINGS: BAKER MOVES TO MAKE CORPORATE GIVEAWAYS EVEN SWEETER

June 28, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS If you think that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the City of Boston lavishing $270 million in tax breaks and direct aid on General Electric in exchange for moving their world headquarters to the Hubis unconscionable, you should realize that the deal is

JASON PRAMAS June 28, 2016

GE BOSTON DEAL: THE MISSING MANUAL, PART 8

Photo by Jason Pramas. Copyright 2016 Jason Pramas. June 21, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Problems with GE Fort Point arrangement show need for democratic economic development planning A new wrinkle surfaced earlier this month in the plan to use a big chunk of the $270 million in public aid and

JASON PRAMAS June 21, 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

#makeGEpay Budget Amendment Filed in MA Senate; Advocates Encourage Public Support [an Apparent Horizon breaking news report]

May 25, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS The #makeGEpay advocacy network — including Jewish Voice for Peace-Boston and dozens of other local community organizations — just announced that Senator Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) has filed a “Community Benefits for Corporate Tax Breaks” amendment to the Massachusetts Senate’s budget proposal. If included in the final state

JASON PRAMAS 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

IMMIGRANT ADVOCACY GROUP OF CAMBRIDGE PROVIDES MODEL FOR MUNICIPAL HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISM

Joint Committee Meeting of the Cambridge City Council to Discuss Immigrant Representation and Resources, May 12, 2016. Photo by Jason Pramas. Copyright 2016 Jason Pramas. May 23, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS We live in strange times. On the one hand, the United States is a more diverse society than

JASON PRAMAS May 23, 2016

GE BOSTON DEAL: THE MISSING MANUAL, PART 7

May 11, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS General Electric tries to cheap out on cleaning up its PCB apocalypse on the Housatonic River In 1929, Swann Chemical Company began commercially producing polychlorinated biphenyls for industrial use as an electrical insulator and as a coolant. PCBs were immediately a huge success,

JASON PRAMAS May 11, 2016