About 100 communities in the country are currently utilizing wastewater surveillance in some manner to identify high-risk drug use.
Jack Sullivan
Jack Sullivan is now retired. A veteran of the Boston newspaper scene for nearly three decades. Prior to joining CommonWealth, he was editorial page editor of The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, a part of the GateHouse Media chain. Prior to that he was news editor at another GateHouse paper, The Enterprise of Brockton, and also was city edition editor at the Ledger. Jack was an investigative and enterprise reporter and executive city editor at the Boston Herald and a reporter at The Boston Globe.
He has reported stories such as the federal investigation into the Teamsters, the workings of the Yawkey Trust and sale of the Red Sox, organized crime, the church sex abuse scandal and the September 11 terrorist attacks. He has covered the State House, state and local politics, K-16 education, courts, crime, and general assignment.
Jack received the New England Press Association award for investigative reporting for a series on unused properties owned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, and shared the association's award for business for his reporting on the sale of the Boston Red Sox. As the Ledger editorial page editor, he won second place in 2007 for editorial writing from the Inland Press Association, the nation's oldest national journalism association of nearly 900 newspapers as members.
At CommonWealth, Jack and editor Bruce Mohl won first place for In-Depth Reporting from the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors for a look at special education funding in Massachusetts. The same organization also awarded first place to a unique collaboration between WFXT-TV (FOX25) and CommonWealth for a series of stories on the Boston Redevelopment Authority and city employees getting affordable housing units, written by Jack and Bruce.
Posted inTransportation
Union: Registry worker in Boston likely had COVID-19
THE REGISTRY OF MOTOR VEHICLES shut its Haymarket branch in Boston for the past week after an employee exhibited COVID-19 symptoms, according to union officials. An official with the National Association of Government Employees, which represents Registry workers, said the employee who was sick had gone to the hospital more than a week before officials […]
Posted inEconomy
Virus notes: Budget roundtable tripped up by livestream failure
IT WAS AN inauspicious start to the effort to reckon with the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic on state revenue and the implications for the current fiscal year as well as the 2021 budget. A virtual economic roundtable scheduled by state budget writers for Tuesday morning was delayed by a week after the Legislature […]
Posted inHealth Care
Virus notes: Unusually high amount of deaths in Franklin Cty
DATA FROM THE MASSACHUSETTS Department of Public Health indicate an unusually high number of COVID-19 fatalities are occurring in Franklin County. Three new deaths were reported in Friday’s report, bringing to 11 the number of people who have died of COVID-19 in Franklin County. That would place Franklin seventh among the state’s 13 counties in […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC orders release of most defendants awaiting trial
THE STATE’S HIGHEST COURT Friday ordered nearly all people held in jails awaiting trial be released on their own recognizance because of the threat of COVID-19 infection. The unanimous opinion from the Supreme Judicial Court barred releasing anyone held without bail or those charged with violent, sex, or drug trafficking crimes. The court also held […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Only 6 guards affected by ‘unauthorized memo’
AN UNAUTHORIZED and now rescinded memo initiating a moratorium on suspensions and disciplinary hearings for correction officers to ease staffing concerns during the current coronavirus crisis would have only affected six guards in the state’s prisons, according to the Department of Correction. The low number – the state has a total of 3,500 correction officers […]
Posted inPolitics
Biden spent nothing on Boston TV ads
THE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL candidates spent $26.4 million on television advertising in the Boston market running up to the New Hampshire and Super Tuesday primaries this year, but the figure that really jumps out is zero. That’s how much Joe Biden, the winner of the Massachusetts primary, spent on advertising on Boston stations. Data filed with […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Is it time for a percent-for-art reboot?
NEARLY 40 YEARS AGO, when the new Porter Square Station on the MBTA’s Red Line opened, it meant more than just access to rapid transit for thousands of North Cambridge residents. The embedding of sculptures of bronzed winter gloves on the station floor and alongside its escalators made a bold statement about the value of […]
Posted inEducation
UMass football thrown for big losses
WHEN THE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS opted to enter major college football in 2012, officials pitched the idea that the program would pay for itself over time, even bolstering non-revenue sports at the school through national television appearances, bowl invitations, and sold-out games at home with brand-name teams visiting on glorious fall weekends in New England. […]
Posted inUncategorized
Commissioner abstains on most pot license votes
THE MOST IMPORTANT ROLE for the state’s five-member Cannabis Control Commission is, arguably, its mandate to vote on granting recreational marijuana licenses, without which there can be no growing, manufacturing, or, most importantly, sales. But Commissioner Shaleen Title has not cast a vote on the vast majority of final licenses issued by the board, the […]