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.
DRINKING WITH THE MERRIMACK VALLEY RECOVERY WORKERS WHO LIVE ON AN OLD CRUISE SHIP IN SOUTHIE
Overall, these cruise ship tenants seem exhausted, both physically and emotionally. There are perks, and decent pay, but there are also sleepless nights and more work the next morning. Not to mention what they call a shitty breakfast buffet.
HERE’S WHY WE’RE COMMITTED TO LONG-TERM COVERAGE OF THE MERRIMACK EXPLOSIONS
Columbia has spent in excess of half a million dollars lobbying in Mass over the past five years, while execs at Eversource, which Baker tapped to save the day, have pumped more than $40,000 into Baker and Polito’s war chests since 2015.
THE CITY OF LAWRENCE CAN’T BREATHE
Environmental justice must be at the center of recovery efforts
THE MERRIMACK VALLEY DISASTER: IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT OLD PIPES
The events of last week in the Merrimack Valley were unfortunate by any measure. Something bad happened to the natural gas distribution system in parts of Lawrence, North Andover, and Andover that resulted in dozens of homes being damaged or destroyed by explosions and fire, at least 25 people getting injured, and one person […]
“WON’T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!”
Moral panic hamstrings promising North Andover cannabis farm deal Last fall, I wrote about the history of Osgood Landing—a large industrial facility in North Andover—as part of a column (“An Andover North Andover Deal?”) slamming a hasty bid to win the Amazon HQ2 contract put together by that town in partnership with nearby […]
AMAZON OCTAGON
Mass pols stand ready to fight each other for the right to bribe a multinational At least 17 Massachusetts cities and towns are now preparing to do battle with each other—and hundreds more municipalities nationwide—for the dubious “honor” of “winning” the right to throw enough public money and tax breaks at Amazon to become […]
AN AMAZON NORTH ANDOVER DEAL?
Sketch of the Merrimack Valley Works plant at North Andover while under construction in 1955 Merrimack Valley pols courting the tech behemoth have forgotten recent history A couple of weeks ago, I criticized the possibility of an Amazon Boston deal—on the grounds that most of the jobs it would provide would be for […]
