State Rep.-elect Nika Elugardo knows the dangers of illegal drug trade. “It creates violence, it perpetuates poverty, you see thousands of dollars going through in plastic baggies and meanwhile our water is getting cut off.”
20/2018 VISION: REVISITING OUR AWESOME HELLISH YEAR ONE FINAL TIME
No outlet can cover everything. It’s not worth trying. But in reading back through several hundred pieces that we published in the past 12 months, I’m more than satisfied to say that we hit hard and often on a range of topics
’18 AND LIFE TO GO: OUR YEAR IN ALTERNATIVE MASS MEDIA
It’s anybody’s guess why cheeseball mainstream outlets tend to ignore topics such as poverty, surveillance, and climate change. Whatever the reason, we don’t spend too much time worrying about them; as you’ll see below, we had our hands full all year covering the stuff that they missed.
POST-ELECTION WINNERS AND LOSERS
“Voters sent a very clear signal today that our criminal justice system is not working for too many people and it’s time for a change.”
THIS IS IT: YOUR 2018 ELECTION GUIDE, FROM THE BIG FEDERAL PICTURE TO THE RIPPLE IMPACT IN MASS
Anybody who felt sick to their stomach at this point in the 2016 election cycle ought to be purging their entire system through these dreary final days of 2018.
YOUR QUICK AND SIMPLE MASS POST-PRIMARY RUNDOWN
In many ways, Tuesday night’s Mass primary election results can be accurately interpreted as a repudiation of President Trump and the reactionary politics of the Republican Party. In at least three major races, women of color with strong progressive platforms won their primaries over candidates with perceived ties to the status quo.
GONZO MASS: IS THE RACE TO REPLACE AMERICA’S FAVORITE GOVERNOR PUSHING EVERYONE (BESIDES SCOTT LIVELY) LEFTWARD?
While it’s convenient and cliché to conclude that said intraparty battle has devolved into a Sanders-Clinton-style proxy war, that description would be inaccurate.
CASH RULES EVERYTHING AROUND MASS
Can the Commonwealth have a governor’s race about issues when money is the only thing that matters?
REP. CARVALHO TAKES HIGH ROAD IN DA’S CONTEST
“You can look at that as possession, a misdemeanor, or you could charge them for a felony distribution. Or you can look at the entire situation and look at probation—the power is supreme. Let’s look at a restorative justice.”
STATE WIRE: MASS CRIMINAL JUSTICE BILL AIMS TO PROTECT IN-PERSON JAIL VISITS
The visitation provision is part of a much larger criminal justice reform bill. According to Lucius Couloute, policy analyst with the Prison Policy Initiative, some sheriffs’ departments around the country have eliminated in-person visiting in favor of video systems that can turn a profit, and that makes provisions like this necessary.
