News
by Dave Eisenstadter | Feb 8, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
A staff meeting on the topic of pay equity for women staff members has been postponed for a week, but staff members believe progress is being made. The meeting was scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 8, at 4 p.m., but Gazette and Advocate publisher Michael Rifanburg wrote...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Feb 7, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
The Massachusetts State Senate voted to make Worcester Democrat Harriette Chandler the permanent Senate President today, as the investigation into the husband of former state Senate President Stan Rosenberg of Amherst continues. “I am confident that Senate President...
by Meg Bantle | Feb 7, 2018 | Articles, Columns, News, Newsletter, O Cannabis!
As recreational and medical marijuana legalization laws continue to pass state by state, more and more people are curious about cannabis. As different people are willing to try cannabis for recreation or medicine, the image from That ’70s Show of a group of people in...
by Advocate Staff | Feb 7, 2018 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News, News of the Weird, Newsletter
One heck of an explosive donation In Bradenton, Florida, authorities say a grenade launcher, loaded with a live grenade, was left with other donated items at a Goodwill store. The Bradenton Herald reports that The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office says the store manager...
by Chris Goudreau | Feb 6, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Members of the Jewish community, faith leaders, immigrant rights activist groups, and local area Dreamers will join together in solidarity to support the DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act on Thursday, Feb. 8, with a protest outside...
by Sarah Heinonen | Feb 5, 2018 | Articles, News
The auditorium at the Northampton High School was filled with students as Congressman Jim McGovern fielded questions in a town hall-style meeting on Friday afternoon. The students were engaged and their questions ran the gamut from what should be done about climate...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Feb 2, 2018 | Articles, Between the Lines, News, Newsletter
Sometimes the great teachers are role models to emulate, and sometimes they are the ones whose unfortunate actions you learn not to repeat. Poynter Institute, which touts itself as the world’s leading instructor for journalists, unfortunately fell into the...
by Chris Goudreau | Feb 1, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Cannabis isn’t exactly the first thing that you’d think of when the topic of holistic wellness is brought up, but a new Easthampton business called Chronic Trips hope to change some of the dialog about wellness and recreational weed. Seth Frappier, the owner and...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Feb 1, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Editor’s note: I have been employed by Newspapers of New England since 2014 and was working for the Daily Hampshire Gazette and then the Valley Advocate at the time that most of the events reported in this story took place. There is some inherent awkwardness of...
by Chris Goudreau | Jan 31, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
A passenger rail service connecting Springfield to Boston is one step closer to becoming reality. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) recently released a draft of its 2018 Rail Plan for the state, which includes a study for rail service connecting...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Jan 31, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Hello Advocate readers, You may have noticed that something is different here at the Advocate and valleyadvocate.com. We’ve been around for more than 40 years, and the way that people get their news and information has changed. That means we’re making some changes at...
by Gina Beavers | Jan 31, 2018 | Articles, Between the Lines, Newsletter
As a black woman, I cannot bring myself to seek refuge in the monumental arms of the #MeToo Movement. On the contrary, I often find myself feeling contempt and cynicism. But it’s not because I don’t empathize with the women who have come forward with their...
by From Our Readers | Jan 31, 2018 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our letters to the editor page. Here you’ll find reader comments on Advocate articles and other news. We collect readers’ opinions from emails, letters, Facebook comments, and comments to valleyadvocate.com. Want to get in on this? Email...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Jan 30, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
I … I … I believe … I believe … I believe that we will win! … I believe that we will win! … I believe that we will win! … I believe that we will win! So went the call-and-response led by Springfield attorney Tahirah...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 30, 2018 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News, Newsletter
A new study by Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland shows that right-handedness is popular among female cats. Researchers worked with cat owners, collecting data on 24 male and 20 female domesticated cats. In a press released, the research team stated that...
by Gina Beavers and Dave Eisenstadter | Jan 23, 2018 | Articles, News
Earlier this month, in a meeting with U.S. Senators and House members on immigration, Donald Trump, president of the United States, is widely reported to have asked why the government would want people from “shithole countries” coming to America? According to people...
by Chris Goudreau | Jan 26, 2018 | Articles, Music, News, Newsletter
Blues harmonica and singer James Montgomery is a blues legend. Growing up in Detroit, he learned the blues first-hands from blues harp virtuoso James Cotton, and has been a presence in blues music for decades with the James Montgomery Band. Valley Advocate Staff...
by Chris Goudreau | Jan 25, 2018 | Articles, Music, News, Newsletter
Charles Neville, Grammy award winning saxophonist and member of R&B, soul, and funk group, The Neville Brothers, has been battling pancreatic cancer for the past two months. He was born and raised in New Orleans, but has called the Pioneer Valley home for the past...
by Chris Goudreau | Jan 24, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
The mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Carmen Yulin Cruz, will visit the Pioneer Valley and make a stop on April 25 at Gateway City Arts in Holyoke to speak about the transformation of her city and Puerto Rico after the devastation caused by hurricanes Irma and Maria....
by Meg Bantle | Jan 24, 2018 | Articles, Columns, News, Newsletter, O Cannabis!
Despite the legalization of recreational cannabis use for adults in Massachusetts over a year ago, there is still no standard of measure or device to test people behind the wheel for marijuana intoxication. This presents a problem for law enforcement officers who...
by Chris Goudreau | Jan 23, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Eduardo Samaniego, a 25-year-old Hampshire College student and undocumented immigrant from Mexico, was one of hundreds of thousands of people to travel to Washington D.C. this past week to advocate for the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM)...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 24, 2018 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our letters to the editor page. Here you’ll find reader comments on Advocate articles and other news. We collect readers’ opinions from emails, letters, Facebook comments, and comments to valleyadvocate.com. Want to get in on this? Email...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Jan 23, 2018 | Articles, Between the Lines, News, Newsletter
It is beyond fitting that on the first anniversary of Donald Trump being inaugurated president not only does the government shut down, but huge numbers of people take to the streets to protest against his policies. Women’s marches took place across the country,...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 23, 2018 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News, Newsletter
We’ve all seen the extravagant divorce celebrations: divorce cakes with decorations rivaling wedding centerpieces, “newly single” clubbing events that make bachelor and bachelorette parties look tame, and more. Now, you can throw axes as part of that celebration — so...
by Chris Goudreau | Jan 22, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
By most accounts, Gov. Charlie Baker is popular with the people of Massachusetts despite being a Republican in a state that’s known to be one of the bluest in the country. Baker’s popularity has survived his mediocre environmental record and his bill mandating state...
by Chris Goudreau | Jan 18, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
The Lander-Grinspoon Academy, a K-6 Jewish day school in Northampton, is celebrating the Jewish ceremony of Havdallah with music and a Drag Queen Story Hour featuring local drag queen Jenayah De Rosario this Saturday on Jan. 20 from 6 to 8 p.m. “I hope that the...
by Chris Goudreau | Jan 17, 2018 | Articles, News
Northampton’s two-year-old plastic bag ban has an outspoken opponent in McDonald House resident John Gibney, who gets around using a cane. Gibney, who wrote the Advocate an email this week with the subject “paper bags suck,” challenged Mayor David Narkewicz and...
by John Clayton, with Sharon Dunn | Jan 16, 2018 | Articles, News
It Begins in October 2017 All 18 of us in Leverett are excited and maybe a little nervous. We live in a small town — Leverett: population, less than 2000 — in western Massachusetts. The Kentuckians are coming to us — 15 of them, men and women, young and not-so-young,...
by Chris Goudreau | Jan 16, 2018 | Articles, Arts, News
Henry Rollins embodies the punk ethos in more ways than one — he’s well known for his role as vocalist for 1980s hardcore punk band, Black Flag, and he’s also an actor, orator, photographer, writer, television and radio host, as well as a comedian. Rollins is stopping...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Jan 16, 2018 | Articles, Between the Lines, News
I recently got my first pay stub of the year. I was curious to see how the Republican tax plan would affect me, if at all, but it turns out that none of us will see the results until February. So stay tuned. One thing I did notice, however, is that (surprise!) my...
by Meg Bantle | Jan 16, 2018 | Articles, Columns, News, O Cannabis!
Despite the support for the legalization of recreational marijuana in Massachusetts, Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent out a federal memo this month that makes the future of cannabis in Massachusetts even more unsure. According to a Gallup poll from 2017, 64 percent...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 16, 2018 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs
On the early morning of Jan. 2 a thief entered Cafe 33 in Copenhagen, Denmark, which houses one of the largest collections of vodka in the world — more than 1,200 bottles. Captured in black and white security camera footage, the thief was only after one bottle — a...
by Letters from Our Readers | Jan 16, 2018 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our letters to the editor page. Here you’ll find reader comments on Advocate articles and other news. We collect readers’ opinions from emails, letters, Facebook comments, and comments to valleyadvocate.com. Want to get in on this? Email...
by Chris Goudreau | Jan 15, 2018 | Articles, News
Hundreds of the people gathered in the auditorium of the MassMutual to celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and his ideals to fight against racial injustice on Jan. 15 in downtown Springfield. Young musicians from the Community Music School of Springfield...
by Chris Goudreau | Jan 8, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Matt LeBlanc stood near the Interstate 391 exit near High Street in Holyoke, holding a sign that read, “Homeless vet — hungry and cold” while heavy snowfall rained down in the frigid afternoon of Jan. 4. LeBlanc started panhandling at around 10:30 a.m. and by 1 p.m....
by Advocate Staff | Jan 8, 2018 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News, Newsletter
There was a seafood emergency at Crabby’s Seafood Shack in Stuart, Florida, in the southeastern region of the state. A 51-year-old Stuart resident, did what anybody would do when they have a gripe with their undersized and minute meal of clams — he called 911. The man...
by Greenfield Recorder | Jan 8, 2018 | Articles, Between the Lines, News
Treating America’s opioid addiction crisis is, tragically, creating a growth industry that provides long-term intervention and treatment for millions of our fellow citizens. But who is going to pay the tab? Families? Insurance companies? State, local and federal...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 8, 2018 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our letters to the editor page. Here you’ll find reader comments on Advocate articles and other news. We collect readers’ opinions from emails, letters, Facebook comments, and comments to valleyadvocate.com. Want to get in on this? Email...
by Sarah Betancourt | Jan 5, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
When Hurricane Maria devastated her area of Isabela, Puerto Rico, 52-year-old Brenda Trujillo traveled to Holyoke in search of a more stable life and employment. Trujillo has been a nurse for nearly 30 years, but since arriving on November 3 she has not been able to...
by Chris Goudreau | Jan 3, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
For more than a decade, Jim Neill has worked as the marketing director of the Iron Horse Entertainment Group (IHEG), promoting shows featuring local and national acts, acting as a spokesperson for the venue group, a media liaison, and one of the most prominent faces...
by Meg Bantle | Jan 2, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
From September to the end of November, Mickey Prout, 22, a student at Westfield State University, and other volunteers would set up tables in the dining commons to talk to other students about two statewide ballot initiatives: raising the minimum wage and...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Jan 2, 2018 | Articles, Between the Lines, News, Newsletter, Wellness
I’m in my mid-30s, and “getting fit” is something I think about more now. It took me a long time to come around on the idea of exercise for exercise sake — but it has become something that I actually enjoy (even if I don’t do it as often as I should). In middle...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 2, 2018 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News
Get the Lead Out The Flint, Michigan, drinking water crisis has likely done permanent damage to thousands of children, but for at least one child, it served as an inspiration. Twelve-year-old Gitanjila Rao of Colorado used her scientific knowledge to invent a fast,...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 2, 2018 | Featured, News, Newsletter
The warmer fall was nice and December was capped off by a white Christmas. But now that we’re in the heart of winter, it might be a bit harder to get outside for your usual walks or bike rides. And meanwhile, one of your New Year’s resolutions was to get...
by From Our Readers | Jan 2, 2018 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our letters to the editor page. Here you’ll find reader comments on Advocate articles and other news. We collect readers’ opinions from emails, letters, Facebook comments and comments to valleyadvocate.com. Want to get in on this? Email...
by Fran Ryan | Jan 2, 2018 | Articles, Cannabis!, News, Newsletter, O Cannabis!, Review
As its medical uses evolve and marijuana becomes legally available for recreation in Massachusetts, an area cannabis consultant is working to fill an information hole he thinks is undermining its use. “In our culture, marijuana is known for all the bad reasons because...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 26, 2017 | Featured, News, Newsletter
It’s Halos and Horns with a side of hashtags this year. While President Donald Trump was busy tweeting from the White House throughout 2017 (we gave him his own whole article), the rest of the world had their own Twitter responses, many of which inspired the...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Dec 26, 2017 | Between the Lines, Featured, News, Newsletter
As we continue the Valley Advocate tradition of awarding halos to the good and horns to the bad in 2017, I reflect on the year’s ups and downs. It didn’t take long to realize that a lot of the “downs” had something in common – they originated with President (for now)...
by Letters from our readers | Dec 26, 2017 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our letters to the editor page. Here you’ll find reader comments on Advocate articles and other news. We collect readers’ opinions from emails, letters, Facebook comments, and comments to valleyadvocate.com. Want to get in on this? Email...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 26, 2017 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News
It’s been about six months now since longtime “News of the Weird” writer Chuck Shepherd decided to call it quits, which means it’s been about six months since we’ve taken up the reigns and delivered you our “Bizarro Briefs” right from the Advocate newsroom. Here are...
by Letters from our readers | Dec 18, 2017 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our letters to the editor page. Here you’ll find reader comments on Advocate articles and other news. We collect readers’ opinions from emails, letters, Facebook comments, and comments to valleyadvocate.com. Want to get in on this? Email...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Dec 18, 2017 | Between the Lines, Featured, News, Newsletter
North Korea’s steps toward accelerating its nuclear program and testing its missiles has been truly horrifying. So has President Donald Trump’s response, with threats to release “fire and fury” upon North Korea. Nuclear devastation is one of the gravest threats we...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 18, 2017 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News
Mark Burns is a South Carolina pastor who is such a big Trump fan that he would risk his life to save the president from sure peril. Sort of. Burns was standing behind Trump in the Oval Office on Monday for an award presentation when he saw a white spider the size of...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Dec 18, 2017 | Articles, Columns, Food Booze and Beyond, News, Newsletter, The V-Spot
Dear Yana, I have a cold, dead heart. Well, not really but pretty much, yeah. I was married to my ex-wife for nearly a decade and the end of our relationship was really complicated. I feel almost certain that I don’t have the capacity to be in love or be in a...
by Meg Bantle | Dec 11, 2017 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
Emily Cooper, 23, is a graduate student at UMass Amherst who has taken oral contraceptives since she was 15 years old. In 2013, when a condom failed during a snowstorm, University Health Services (UHS) and the university bus system were both closed due to the weather....
by Dave Eisenstadter | Dec 11, 2017 | Articles, Between the Lines, Featured, News, Newsletter
Let me start by saying that I would avoid the internet if I could. It is creepy to think about huge corporations tracking each page I visit, and, potentially through my smartphone, actually physically tracking me wherever I go. Social media interactions are a far cry...
by Jason Pramas | Dec 11, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
With a little help from its friends, the “regulators” at the Department of Public Utilities It is perhaps understandable that one of the most important Massachusetts news stories of the year was buried in the avalanche of reports coming out of Washington last week....
by Letters from our readers | Dec 11, 2017 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our letters to the editor page. Here you’ll find reader comments on Advocate articles and other news. We collect readers’ opinions from emails, letters, Facebook comments, and comments to valleyadvocate.com. Want to get in on this? Email...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 11, 2017 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News
For more than 40 years, Mumtaz Begum has been reading the fortunes of visitors from within the cage of a Pakistani zoo. With a body of a fox and a head of a woman, Begum is one of the oddest attractions at the zoo. However, the fortune teller is actually played by...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 4, 2017 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
We know our winters in Western Massachusetts. As the last of the color fades from the leaves, the realization sets in that it’s going to be a while before the warm and colorful days of spring. But winter doesn’t have to be all about darkness and cold. Winter is a time...
