July 30, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Blue and Red stalwarts should stop attacking minor party supporters for remaining independent—and start debating ideas The quadrennial whinefest has already begun. The RNC and DNC pageants are barely over, the presidential election is still over three months off, and yet major party stalwarts are already trying to […]
MEDICINE FOR A MENDICANT MEDIA: Government support can revive American journalism
July 25, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS [Note: This is the full version of this article. A shorter version ran in the print edition of DigBoston— also dated July 25, 2016.] Journalism is in a tough spot. There are tens of thousands of trained journalists in the United States, but a dearth of funding and the rolling […]
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 tax breaks being shoveled at […]
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, and Monsanto bought Swann six […]
ECONOMIC VIOLENCE: VERIZON CUTS OFF HEALTH CARE BENEFITS TO STRIKERS AND THEIR FAMILIES
May 6, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS As the Verizon strike enters its fourth week, the 39,000 union members on picket lines up and down the East Coast—and now taking their campaign nationwide—are continuing to hold fast for a better contract than the giant corporation has thus far been willing to offer. But a strike […]