News
by Dave Eisenstadter | Dec 4, 2017 | Articles, Between the Lines, Featured, News, Newsletter
During now-President Donald Trump’s hateful and divisive campaign, Northampton’s Human Rights Commission noted anecdotally how even in this Western Massachusetts community, there seemed to be an increase in racism, sexism, and anti-semitism, spurred on by Trump’s...
by Letters to the editor | Dec 4, 2017 | Articles, Arts, 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 4, 2017 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News, Newsletter
Celery isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about a flavor of soft drink, but surprisingly it was one of the first. In 1869, Dr. Brown (Is that you, Doc?!) founded the Cel-Ray soda company. The good doctor made tonics intended to alleviate bowel and...
by Chris Goudreau | Nov 27, 2017 | Articles, News
When Andrea Marian, executive director of Lorraine’s Soup Kitchen and Pantry in Chicopee, first read an email offering to match the funds the pantry raises over Facebook this Giving Tuesday on Nov. 28, she thought it was a spam message. “We got an email from Facebook...
by Chris Goudreau | Nov 27, 2017 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
It’s been more than two years, since former Valley Advocate staff writer Amanda Drane wrote an article about residents in the Mason Square neighborhood of Springfield who rallied together, collecting 1,300 grocery receipts totaling more than $50,000, to entice...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Nov 27, 2017 | Articles, Between the Lines, Featured, News, Newsletter
Each year, Gateway Regional High School in Huntington holds an event welcoming back alumni to share their experiences about college and post-graduate life. This year, however, the event was closed to one graduate: Marcelle LaBrecque, who spent 12 years in the Gateway...
by Letters from our Readers | Nov 27, 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 | Nov 27, 2017 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News
Two churches in San Jose, California, have a whole new take on the Bible’s burning bush. In Coachella Valley Church, cannabis is treated as a sacrament. For a $10 donation you get an identification card and become a lifetime member, with access to a store in the back...
by Meg Bantle | Nov 27, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Many residents of Greenfield will have an additional bucket on their curb next year. The Compost Cooperative is a newly formed worker-owned business that is going to start picking up commercial and residential compost in in Greenfield in 2018. The idea for the Compost...
by Meg Bantle | Nov 21, 2017 | Articles, News
Even though the holiday lights were strung up before the kids even trick-or-treated for their Halloween candy this year, the official start to the holiday season is this weekend by most people’s assessment. The Pioneer Valley will be abuzz with activity over the...
by Chris Goudreau and Meg Bantle | Nov 20, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Featured, News, Newsletter
The Pioneer Valley is home not only to a bountiful music scene, but to dozens of open mics where artistic communities blossom. Open mics are places where the generational lines between artists blur while they’re jamming out to a bluesy ballad or talking about their...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Nov 20, 2017 | Articles, Between the Lines, Featured, News, Newsletter
Gun control. It’s a topic that rarely gets any traction at the federal level, even after the most devastating and horrific mass shootings. After the Sandy Hook shooting, which resulted in the deaths of 20 children: nothing. After Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, the...
by Meg Bantle | Nov 20, 2017 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
Two painted planks of wood covered one of the main display windows in front of Shop Therapy in Northampton on Monday morning. The smashed pane, which looked like someone’s elbow or head was pushed through it from the outside, was covered with a message in red...
by Letters from our readers | Nov 20, 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 | Nov 20, 2017 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News, Newsletter
Many people know that the opioid crisis has been linked to over-the-counter pain medication being over prescribed by doctors. The problem is that there is not a practical solution for people with chronic pain. Brain scientists have been studying this question and are...
by Dave Eisenstadter, Meg Bantle, and Chris Goudreau | Nov 15, 2017 | Articles, Featured, News
In front of Northampton Market, employee Rilshad Azez shoos away potential customers as they pull into the lot. “No power,” he says. The mailman he welcomes, but he asks a question: “You didn’t bring the power?” “Sorry, not...
by Dave Eisenstadter, Chris Goudreau, and Meg Bantle | Nov 13, 2017 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
Progressives had reasons to celebrate the morning of Nov. 8 more than at any point in the past year. Not only did the Democrats capture the big prizes of Election Day on Nov. 7 — the governors races in New Jersey and Virginia — but Democratic and progressive...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Nov 13, 2017 | Articles, Between the Lines, Featured, News, Newsletter
Last week featured two news stories that rocked the political landscape in this country. The first was that Democrats and progressive candidates all but swept the Nov. 7 elections from coast to coast, and the second was that Republican Alabama U.S. Senate candidate...
by Advocate Staff | Nov 13, 2017 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News, Newsletter
The woman arrested for laughing at the hilarious statement that Jeff Sessions has a “clear and well-documented” record of “treating all Americans equally under the law” at Sessions confirmation hearing (Sessions in fact was rejected as a federal judge in the 1980s...
by Letters from Readers | Nov 13, 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 Dusty Christensen | Nov 13, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
When her four children go to sleep at night, Dora Gonzalez says her youngest, 8-year-old Lucy, often wakes up around 1 a.m. and says, “I miss my dad.” Her oldest son is graduating high school this spring, and Gonzalez worries his father, Lucio Perez, won’t be able to...
by Seth Kershner | Nov 6, 2017 | Featured, News, Newsletter
This article was produced in collaboration with the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism and is the first installment in a series about SWAT deployment and police militarization in Massachusetts. For a police department of only 40 officers, the April 23, 2015...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 8, 2017 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Food + Booze, Food Booze and Beyond, News, The Beerhunter
Family-run business is the city’s first visitable craft brewery As the Valley’s local craft beer bubble continues to grow, Westfield looks primed for business. Downtown on Elm Street, Skyline Trading Company — a craft beer bar and homebrew shop — has proven a welcome...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Nov 6, 2017 | Between the Lines, Featured, News, Newsletter
Over the past few weeks, I’ve watched the #metoo tweets and posts make their way through my social media feeds, and I’ve read the articles and stories, mostly from women, about how they have been subjected to sexual abuse and harassment. They bring about mixed...
by Meg Bantle | Nov 6, 2017 | Featured, News, Newsletter
Berkshire Brewing Company in South Deerfield is celebrating its 23rd year this fall. Despite the company’s success, president and owner Gary Bogoff still feels limited by the strain of state and federal taxes and regulations. If federal excise taxes were reduced,...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Nov 6, 2017 | Arts, Featured, Film, Music, News, Newsletter
Ted Neeley is not the second coming of Jesus Christ. But he does play one in the extremely popular show and accompanying 1973 movie Jesus Christ Superstar. The show went from being protested in the streets to one of the biggest Broadway sensations, touring around the...
by Advocate Staff | Nov 6, 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 Chris Goudreau and Meg Bantle | Nov 6, 2017 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News
The fear of robots and artificial intelligence taking away your job and your livelihood just got real, folks. A new AI bot created by Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology writes it’s own horror stories. The bot, “Shelley’, named after...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 6, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter, The Beerhunter
If you weren’t expecting this craft beer column to start with a plate of silkworm larvae, believe me, I’m as surprised as you are. But there they were, next to my glass: half a dozen off-white baby bugs, each about an inch long and doused with a honey balsamic sauce....
by Chris Goudreau | Nov 1, 2017 | Articles, News
Justin Orwat, 46 of Springfield, has been charged with aggravated murder and first degree arson as a result of a previously reported house fire on the morning of Oct. 27 in Townshend, Vermont. Orwat is currently being held at the Hampden County Jail in Ludlow for...
by Steve Musal | Oct 30, 2017 | Articles, Arts, News, Newsletter
Art flourishes in uncertain times. From the critical poetry of World War I and the post World War II Beat Generation to the innovative music of the Beatles and the Stones and beyond, during and after strife, creative types will make art. They rush to prove Jonathan...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Oct 30, 2017 | Articles, Between the Lines, News, Newsletter
November has rolled around again, and no it’s not a presidential election year. But there are important elections both here and in other parts of the country this week you should be paying attention to. Since Donald Trump was elected president just about a year ago...
by Advocate Staff | Oct 30, 2017 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News
You know how when you used to stick your tongue out, your grandma would say that it was going to get stuck that way? One asiatic black bear, which are more commonly called moon bears, in Myanmar found this out the hard way. The bear, named Nyan Htoo, had to have an...
by Meg Bantle | Oct 30, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Loretta Ross, an author, feminist, and expert on human rights and racism now teaching at Hampshire College, is clear on her views about President Donald Trump’s election: “The sky fell,” she said in a recent interview. But the point she really wants to drive home as...
by Advocate Staff | Oct 30, 2017 | Articles, News, Staff Picks
Inside Art IV // FRIDAY The Elm Street Think Tank is a group of incarcerated locals and community educators who meet weekly inside the jail to have discussions, raise awareness, and work on a collection of different projects. The fourth annual “Inside Art,” an art...
by Meg Bantle | Oct 30, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter, Wellness
Madeleine Vanstory was visiting her sister, Melissa Redwin of Westhampton, when they decided to come to Nourish Wellness Cafe in Northampton for lunch with Melissa’s newborn, Lucena. “I finally made the connection, after decades of bad eating, (between) how you...
by Letters from our Readers | Oct 30, 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 Chris Goudreau | Oct 23, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Jim Emerson, 53, wakes up at 5 a.m. three or four days out of the work week to make the commute from his home in Wilbraham to Boston. He’s typically out the door around 5:45 a.m. and is on the road driving east on the Massachusetts Turnpike for 50 minutes in his 2016...
by Letters from our readers | Oct 23, 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 Andy Castillo | Oct 23, 2017 | Articles, Between the Lines, News, Newsletter
As a newspaper journalist who cares deeply about good, necessary and morally grounded journalism, I must decry a recent trend of sleazy, tabloid-like reporting I now frequently see from trusted local television news stations: the act of sharing irrelevant articles,...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Oct 19, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
In an extraordinary step, the First Congregational Church in Amherst is providing physical sanctuary to undocumented immigrant Lucio Perez. Perez, a Springfield resident who has been in the country for 20 years, told a group of about 100 clergy members, activists,...
by Kristin Palpini | Oct 23, 2017 | Articles, Columns, Food + Booze, Food Booze and Beyond, News, Newsletter, O Cannabis!
The harvest is in and I can’t believe the results. My husband and I didn’t weigh our cannabis haul from our home garden, but we were able to fill a bunch of regular-size salsa jars with marijuana. This is more than good enough for me! Like many weed enthusiasts in the...
by Advocate Staff | Oct 23, 2017 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News, Newsletter
Uh, How Did That Get In There? In retrospect, it was a horrible idea, but so many of these entries start that way. A British man fishing on a pier in southern England took a six-inch sole he had just caught and jokingly placed it in front of his open mouth. The fish,...
by Advocate Staff | Oct 20, 2017 | Articles, News
Activist Doug Wight is hosting a fundraiser for he and engineer Garrett Connelly to fly to Puerto Rico to help install two-tank rainwater-fed drinking water systems. The event is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 21, from 7 to 11 p.m. at 237 Conway St. in Greenfield....
by Dave Eisenstadter | Oct 16, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
As president of the UMass faculty and librarians union, it is Eve Weinbaum’s job to fight for equity of all her union’s members. And beyond that, being a woman in a leadership position, she has thought long and hard about equal pay for equal work and how to achieve...
by Chris Goudreau | Oct 16, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include a comment from Precinct 8 candidate Kelly Dixon. Following the failure over the summer of a safe city ordinance in Greenfield, which would have offered additional support and protection to residents...
by Daily Hampshire Gazette Editorial Board | Oct 16, 2017 | Articles, Between the Lines, News, Newsletter
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey recently slapped five Valley restaurants with about $17,000 in penalties for paying workers less than minimum wage, violating the state’s Earned Sick Time law and other violations of regulations meant to keep workers from...
by Letters From Our Readers | Oct 16, 2017 | Articles, 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, Chris Goudreau, and Steve Musal | Oct 16, 2017 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News
Do They Make Hard Hats That Small? Ever have one of those days where you just wanted someone else to do your work for you? Well, there are bacteria out there being trained for just that! Researchers at Duke University taught a bunch of bacteria — using gene...
by Chris Goudreau and Dave Eisenstadter | Oct 9, 2017 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
These weren’t the circumstances in which Holyoke resident Israel Rivera had imagined he would be meeting his nieces — ages 13 and 17 — for the first time. Rivera, who is of Puerto Rican descent, recently agreed to house his sister’s children after his sister Amarilis...
by Kristin Palpini | Oct 9, 2017 | Articles, Between the Lines, Featured, News, Newsletter
It’s been real, but it’s time for me to be moving on. I’ve stepped down as editor to pursue other writing opportunities and I’m looking forward to getting back into reporting on, rather than assigning, stories. Reporting is how I got my start in the business back in...
by Kristin Palpini | Oct 9, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter, Review
The weather is getting colder, so it’s time for us New Englanders to look inward for some of that warm toasty comfort — literally. Fill yourself with some happy via one of everyone’s favorite comfort foods, mac ‘n’ cheese (even the dish’s name is nice ‘n’ cozy). At...
by Letters from our Readers | Oct 9, 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 Advocate Staff | Oct 9, 2017 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News
Flipping the Bird at Priests Sometimes church is boring. But every so often — as happened in Flowery Branch, Georgia — a man stands up to flip off and yell at the pastor for recognizing teachers during a service. The man, a homeschooling father, rose to give the...
by Advocate Staff | Oct 2, 2017 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
For many New Englanders, fall is a special time that people living in the sun year-round don’t get to experience. The air gets crisp; the leaves blaze bright orange, yellow, and red; apples reach their peak of juicy, crunchy goodness; the smell of harvest is all...
by Kristin Palpini | Oct 2, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Featured, News, Newsletter
Fall 2017 in the Valley is stuffed with anticipated moments of cultural and artistic profundity; below is just a taste of all the amazing events taking place October into early-December across the three counties, and southern Vermont. Fragile Freedom After the U.S....
by Kristin Palpini | Oct 2, 2017 | Articles, Between the Lines, Featured, News, Newsletter
Ripped apart by Hurricane Maria about two weeks ago, Puerto Rico is suffering from a severe lack of food, water, medicine, and shelter. Only 5 percent of the nation has electricity, according to the Associated Press. Federal aid is slow to arrive, people on the island...
by Advocate Staff | Oct 2, 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 | Oct 2, 2017 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News
Ric Flair, wrestling’s golden boy in the ‘80s, says he’s slept with around 10,000 women during his 68 years on Earth. Woooo! Known for his flamboyant wrestling persona on WWE, Flair made this confession for an upcoming ESPN 30 for 30 documentary. The Nature Boy says...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Sep 25, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Jamey Summers is in a good mood for someone about to have surgery. Beside the 41-year-old Northampton resident, who sits on an exam chair, Dr. Kate Atkinson is going over the procedure with her staff — they will insert four small rods containing drugs to curb opioid...
