News
Levasseur's Latest Blowup
The firestorm surrounding a scheduled speech by radical Ray Luc Levasseur at UMass last week just kept getting bigger and bigger. It was a storm of voices: the voice of Levasseur, a mill worker and Vietnam vet from Maine, who in response to what he saw as killings of...Levasseur Blowup: The Voices
Ray Luc Levasseur, in a statement at the U.S. District Courthouse in Springfield in 1989: “I was born into a particular class of workers that was severely exploited and subjected to certain kinds of conditions. And that left an imprint on my mind that I was...
Fighting for Habitat
As legislation goes, the bill is remarkably concise, just 31 words added to an existing law: "The director [of the Mass. Division of Fisheries and Wildlife] shall not impose any project review or permit requirement upon any land unless such land is located within...Imperium Watch: The Force of Few Words
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has just filed a two-page bill.The filing of a two-page bill in Congress should be news no matter what its contents, but in this case the size of the problem the bill addresses is as awe-inspiring as its brevity. Sanders'...
Habitat: Who's Bill Pepin?
When Bill Pepin had problems with the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program, he approached his local legislators—state Rep. Cheryl Coakley-Rivera and state Sen. Stephen Buoniconti—who filed bills that would dramatically reduce the agency's...Between the Lines: Weak Ties That Bind
Melinda Blau and I are consequential strangers.At least, I suspect that would be Blau's term for our relationship. We have a friendly connection—a professional symbiosis from which I've gotten some interesting stories and Blau has gotten some publicity...Habitat: The Sponsors
The 16 legislators sponsoring House Bill 4167, which would dramatically reduce the powers of the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program, are:- Cheryl Coakley-Rivera, 10th Hampden district- John Scibak, 2nd Hampshire – Rosemary Sandlin, 3rd Hampden...The Unlikely Rise of Mike Capuano
My wife and I lived in Somerville when we first got married, in an old house near the top of Winter Hill. It was the early '90s. We rented a two-bedroom for $750—at least a third less than we'd have paid in Boston. At the time, Somerville had a young new...Letters: What Do You Think?
Bisbort: Fans Say FarewellAs a career journalist I closely follow the transformative developments in the media business, in particular a newspaper's attempt to stay afloat by adopting the "need to go local" mantra—echoed in your November 19 issue...An Even Bigger Comcast
Declaring it a "marriage made in hell," on November 13, the Florence-based media reform advocacy organization Free Press launched a national campaign urging the federal government to block Comcast's possible purchase of a controlling interest in...Advancing the Kennedy Legacy
It's impossible to dissociate the race for Massachusetts' vacant Senate seat with the man who previously occupied it. In the 46 years he held the seat, Ted Kennedy became a Democratic icon whose legacy includes just about every key issue on the progressive...Between the Lines: “The Right to Hear”
Many years ago I was chatting with local American Civil Liberties Union attorney Bill Newman about the meaning of freedom of speech. The concept of free speech, he said, "has a lot of corners. It includes the right to hear."That had never occurred to me. But...
The Valley by Hitchcock
As the area's first and most eminent geologist, Professor Edward Hitchcock felt it his duty to name features in the landscape, and throughout the Pioneer Valley he has left his mark. Some places he named while composing scientific reports of the area's mineral...
Dinoscripture: The Older Testament
In 2006, after Amherst College's Natural History Museum had been housed for nearly 70 years in the stately Pratt Gymnasium, the College invested $10 million to build it a new home. It is the fifth location for the college's ever-expanding scientific...Letters: What Do You Think?
Forestry: Dollars and SenseAs a landowner and tree farmer for 55 years, I offer a brief commentary on biomass' actual potential impact on Massachusetts forests. Will biomass encourage clear-cutting or mass destruction of our forests? The answer is a resounding No....
Tracks
As a the Coordinator of Education at the Amherst College Natural History museum, Steve Sauter has made it his business to be a scholar of Edward Hitchcock and his collection of dinosaur footprints. Recently, he gave the Valley Advocate a tour of some of his and the...
A Table for 10
Museums10, a collaborative marketing effort of museums all over the Valley, might sound at first blush like just another of the many departments orbiting the Five College consortium, a vague if probably good campaign to promote things academic. But when it comes to...Letters: What Do You Think?
More on Levasseur Thanks to Stephanie Kraft for the op/ed on Ray Levasseur I wish I had written ("The Right to Hear," Dec. 3, 2009). As a UMass student who attended the sedition trial talk, I didn't appreciate a police officer taking numerous photos of...
On Springfield: “Clean and Lien”
On a Friday morning in mid-November, more than 130 Springfield property owners were summoned to Housing Court to answer for violations of the city's housing code: trash-strewn yards, wildly overgrown lawns, unregistered cars. "Neglected properties are...Imperium Watch: How Much War Can We Afford?
So far the war in Afghanistan has cost the U.S. more than $233 billion, according to the Northampton-based National Priorities Project, which analyzes federal financial data. NPP notes that the number of troops in Afghanistan, slated to grow by another 30,000 within...Church vs. City
Last week, parishioners at Springfield's Our Lady of Hope church marked a sad moment: the final mass in their Armory Street church, which was built 85 years ago by the Irish immigrants who settled in the Hungry Hill neighborhood, and from whom many of the current...Imperium Watch: Not All Turkey and Gravy
Thanksgiving, surely the most traditionally food-themed holiday of the year, found us facing a bizarre paradox: both obesity and hunger are on the rise. In a survey of teachers across the country by Share Our Strength, 63 percent of respondents said they regularly...Between the Lines: Weather Report
Traffic crawled along the Mohawk Trail, past the turnoff at Route 2A to downtown Shelburne Falls and up into Charlemont. By traffic, I mean my daughter and me in my truck, the occupants of the car in front of us, and the plow truck leading our procession westward at...Between the Lines: The City of Foreclosed Homes
From the highway, Springfield looked OK. The highway construction that seems a permanent condition on this stretch of Interstate 91 notwithstanding, the city seemed to doing its best to put a good foot forward: the Basketball Hall of Fame gleamed bright against the...
Arson in Paradise
Editor's note: On Monday, Jan. 4, as the Advocate was going to press, police arrested Anthony P. Baye in connection with the Dec. 27 fire at 17 Fair St. that claimed the lives of Paul W. Yeskie, Sr. and his son Paul W. Yeskie, Jr. Baye, 25, a longtime resident of...The Eagles Have Landed
Hampshire County residents may have noticed some louder passersby overhead in the past year; and, no, it's not the Blue Angels. What you're actually hearing is the 104th Fighter Wing out of Westfield's Barnes Air National Guard Base, now equipped with 18...
More Bombs Than Bread
For Massachusetts residents who oppose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan specifically or who oppose war generally, the news coming from the Donahue Institute at UMass may not be as cheery as one statewide business association makes it sound. “The success of the...Letters: What Do You Think?
Don't Change Endangered Species LawsI am writing concerning "Fighting for Habitat?" [Nov. 26, 2009]. Open land is important to have, especially in a place like Western Massachusetts, which thrives on its natural beauty. Bill Pepin's push to pass the...Between the Lines: Baptism by Fire
I’ll admit, I was expecting this week’s organizational meeting of the Springfield City Council to be a pretty dry affair. As the Council’s first gathering of the new year, the meeting—scheduled for Monday morning, after the Advocate’s...
DA Bill Bennett is Done
In 1990, when first he ran for District Attorney of Hampden County, William M. Bennett promised to serve just two terms.At the time, Bennett's promise came in the context of an ugly scandal that had enveloped the DA's office during the tenure of Bennett's...Between the Lines: Resetting the Biomass Clock
Springfield-based activist Michealann Bewsee called me last week to talk about her strong opposition to the proposed proliferation of biomass plants in Western Mass.In addition to her concerns about specific potential problems with burning wood, or, in the case of a...Imperium Watch: Eden and the Apple
The times are notable for two conflicting impulses. One is the impulse to save the environment; the other is the universal impulse, or craze, even, for the most advanced forms of communications technology. Even those most passionate about saving the environment are...Letters: What Do You Think?
Don’t Dis President’s Book The writer who went to the trouble to include Barack Obama’s book Of Thee I Sing in the section “In the Remainder Pile” (“Halos and Horns,” December 30, 2010) with the misleading and snarky comment,...
Our Internet
A month or so ago, while waiting for my enchiladas at Veracuzana in Amherst, I committed a revolutionary act. I checked my email for free. I don't do that at home, and I don't do that at work, but I did it there, sipping a cerveza.Check it out: while my friend...
Imperium Watch: Remember the number 350
Yes, the Copenhagen climate summit, possibly the most important global conference in decades, was disappointing. No binding treaty to enforce international greenhouse emissions standards emerged. No standards were agreed on that would likely save Tuvalu and other...March on Montpelier against Vermont Yankee
On January 2, members of the Safe and Green citizens group are planning to begin a 122-mile, 10-day march from Brattleboro to Montpelier, hoping to convince Vermont state legislators to vote against extending the life of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. The group has...Letters: What Do You Think?
"Marching for Gaza" (Dec. 24, 2009) gives a one-sided context for the march, one that places blame primarily on Israel. The article does not provide any reference to the events that forced Israel to defend itself. Hamas and its leadership have perpetuated a...Letters: What Do You Think?
Ichnology and FaithI read with interest Mark Roessler's article on the Hitchcock ichnology collection in the Amherst Museum of Natural History ["Dinoscripture: The Older Testament," Dec. 3, 2009], looking for evidence that challenges "at least some...Mercury Found in Former Stanley Factory
According to a letter sent to the tenants of Easthampton's Eastworks building, a "small amount of mercury was discovered in an enclosed area of the basement not open to the public." The mercury, purported to be at least a pound in total, was discovered...
Springfield: Car Stalk
Last year, Springfield City Councilor Tim Rooke says, John O'Brien of Rock 102's Bax and O'Brien Show passed on to him an interesting news article. The article described a new technology, used in several Connecticut cities, that allows police to quickly...DOJ Reviews Comcast/NBC Merger
On January 6, 2010, the U.S. Justice Department announced it would take on the task of evaluating the proposed merger between Comcast, the nation's largest cable and broadband provider, and NBC Universal, the media production conglomerate. This resolves...Between the Lines: School for Scandal
The news last week that the state commissioner of education wants to revoke the charter for Springfield's Robert M. Hughes Academy for MCAS cheating was a reminder of just where the ever-mounting pile of scandals at the school began.Back in November, the charter...
Like Cats and Dogs
On Monday, January 4, 2010, a Vermont judge overturned a permit for a planned museum celebrating the life and work of famed children's book illustrator Tasha Tudor.Tasha Tudor died in June, 2008 at the age of 92. In addition to writing and illustrating many books...
Springfield: Marching for Gaza
Four Valley women, Paki Wieland of Northampton, Ruth Hooke of Amherst, Ellen Graves of West Springfield and Priscilla Lynch of Conway, will travel to Gaza to participate in the Gaza Freedom March December 31. The march commemorates the Israeli invasion of Gaza last...The Jobs Hole
The Labor Department just reported that 85,000 jobs were lost in December. The official rate of unemployment (which measures how many people are looking for jobs) held steady at 10 percent nonetheless. That's because so many more people have stopped looking....Imperium Watch: Three Hundred and Fifty Chimes
Last Sunday, bells, drums, gongs and horns at churches, synagogues and mosques the world over sounded 350 times to tell the world to lower the volume of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million. It was a plea for global cooperation to control climate...Between the Lines: Asher, Again
If you saw a man beating another man on the street, you’d probably call the police.But what if the man doing the beating was himself a police officer? Maybe you’d get your video camera. That’s what one unnamed bystander did on Nov. 27, capturing an...Imperium Watch: All Is CALM–Well, Not Yet
Congresswoman Anna Eshoo has given us all a holiday present. The Democrat from California got a bill through the House that will lower the volume of TV commercials to the level of the program carrying them instead of letting them spout unbearably shrill, disruptive...Imperium Watch: The Last Lifeline
What does the familiar assurance that the U.S. is the richest country in the world mean in times like these? Look at individual Americans just now and you see more and more signs of psychically stressful, health-threatening want. One such sign is the growing number of...Between the Lines: McDermott's Missed Moment
Valley Advocate Senior Writer Maureen Turner sent me a teasing email last week to ask me if I planned to write a farewell column to Larry McDermott, the longtime editor and, since 1999, publisher of the Springfield Republican. "Did I dream this," Turner...
Will the Real Drug Reform Candidate Please Stand?
For Massachusetts voters who are invested in the reform of existing drug policies—and the success of Question 2 on the November 2008 ballot would suggest that's a significant chunk of the electorate—next week's special Senate election presents a...
Halos and Horns
Horns to Springfield State Rep. Cheryl Coakley-Rivera and West Springfield State Sen. Stephen Buoniconti for their so-called attempts to "improve" the state's endangered species protection program. In truth, the bills pushed by these two urban...
Mountain Power
On what had seemed like a nice spring day in April, 1999, Jim Schaefer and his wife, Elissa Anne Henderson, were climbing to the summit at Berkshire East Ski Resort in Charlemont—Jim with skis, Elissa on snowshoes—when Elissa had an asthma attack. Shocked...Letters: What Do You Think?
False Alarms:Chris Matera's vision of Massachusetts being clearcut at an ever-accelerating pace (Letters, Dec. 10, 2009) is simply false. Endless repetition of the claim does not make it any more true. Matera's photographic sleights-of-hand, fanciful rhetoric...Letters: What Do You Think?
Give It Up for MassHealthMy letter is in part a response to those who advocate for single payer health care and claim that, like health reform in Massachusetts, congressional health reform is a sham. First, I too agree that single payer is the way to go. It is just...Who is Palmer Renewable Energy?
In response to a recent article on our "On Springfield" blog about the controversial proposal by Palmer Renewable Energy to build a $150 million wood-burning plant on Page Boulevard—a plan that activists argue poses significant public health and...Putting the Brake on Foreclosures
The Massachusetts Supreme Court has thrown a wrench under the wheels of a galloping foreclosure crisis in which banks and mortgage companies who could not even show clear title to a property have often managed to foreclose on it and evict the borrowers. Last Friday...Imperium Watch: Heater Hawks
The National Rifle Association is busy soliciting new members—even offering discounted membership fees—and spreading its message that President Obama will unveil an anti-gun agenda sometime, perhaps as a "wellness" component of health care...Between the Lines: Talkers' Talk
The talking heads were wringing their hands and pointing their fingers. To some in the leftwing establishment, the connection was obvious: the vitriolic political rhetoric coming from the likes of Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, among others, surely...E-Edition
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