Welcome to The Mass Dump!

This is a newsletter all about public records in Massachusetts — it’s about the fight to keep state and local government transparent for everyone’s benefit.

I make public records requests constantly, and I’m one of the most frequent users of the commonwealth’s public records appeal process — I’ve filed more than 460 appeals since 2014! I write about police and the so-called justice system, public records lawsuits, and more.

I publish real, substantive reporting but with no pretense of “objectivity” — I prefer to be transparent about my abolitionist perspective. However, I post source documents on my website and link to them in my stories so that you can read them for yourself and make up your own mind.

If you like what you read here, please become a paid subscriber. You don’t need to pay to read this newsletter, but your support is crucial to help me continue doing this work. With your assistance, I can cover important stories that are being overlooked by local media — and that’s especially important at a time when greedy companies like Gannett are killing community journalism in the commonwealth.

If you want to support my work but don’t want to receive emails or if you want to make a one-time payment, you can send money to my PayPal tip jar.

Even if you can’t pay, please share these newsletters, hit the like button, leave comments, and all that good stuff.

Also, please send me story ideas! I will write about anywhere in the state, and I’m always looking for new things to cover. If you have a frustrating story about trying to obtain public records or a story about the police that isn’t being told, tell me about it. You can email me at aquemere0@gmail.com or send me a direct message on Twitter or Mastodon.

Thanks for reading!