News
Here Comes the Sun
The Green Communities Act of 2008 is starting to see some of its grants, loans and other clean energy incentives come to fruition, and Western Mass. is leading the way. Western Mass. Electric Company (WMECo) has announced development of the first of its proposed...Letters: What Do You Think?
Back to Candles and Sing-Alongs? The letters from Seth Tuler and Amelia Shaw that you published on February 11 are representative of the views of many opponents of nuclear power. They describe supposedly inevitable dangers that most of us non-scientists cannot...Imperium Watch: Fair and Balanced
National polls conducted in December and January found that Americans named the Public Broadcasting System the most trusted, least biased nationally known institution in the U.S.; it won that accolade from respondents of all ages, ethnicities and income and education...New Tactics in the Federal Building Fight
Another meeting, another round of questions, some familiar answers—and Springfield City Councilor Tim Rooke remains frustrated in his efforts to stop the School Department from moving to the old federal building on Main Street. But Rooke is not ready to give up....Rough Times Ahead for Springfield
The four-year financial projection released last week by Springfield’s new chief financial officer was not a pretty picture. Using “conservative” estimates that include level funding for city departments, the report projects that the city faces a...Rooke Out of DA's Race
Tom Rooke was in the race early, announcing a year ago that he planned to run for Hampden County District Attorney regardless of whether incumbent Bill Bennett planned to stay in the race. But now the Springfield attorney has changed course, announcing that he’s...Between the Lines: Generational Issue
The final chapter may be opening in dealings between the state of Vermont and Entergy, the company that in 2002 bought the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant at Vernon, near Brattleboro. In an era when aging American nukes were being bought up at fire sale prices,...Ding-Dong, the Nuke is Dead?
After a long, drawn-out back-and-forth battle with Vermont Yankee nuclear plant owner Entergy, the Vermont State Senate voted Feb. 24 not to extend the facility’s license to operate beyond March of 2012. The 26 to 4 vote marks the first action of its kind in...New York Advised to Reject Entergy's “Gift”
Since 2007, Entergy, the New Orleans-based company that owns the beleaguered Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant, has been planning to spin off its six northeastern facilities into an independent company, Enexus Energy Corp. On February 24, after evidence of leaking...
Hospital Hill Seeks Bowles' Blessing
On March 1, Hospital Hill Development, LLC, submitted a “Notice of Project Change” to the state Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, asking OEEA Secretary Ian Bowles to find that the recent changes made to the Village Hill development plans outlined...Between the Lines: Whose Trash?
Springfield has joined Holyoke in signaling its support of a new approach to trash management, one that shifts the burden of dealing with hard-to-recycle trash from municipalities (and taxpayers) to the manufacturers that make the products and packaging in the first...Imperium Watch: The Elephant in the Room
If you grew up during the Cold War, you notice a disconnect in public debate these days that’s monumental, like an elephant in the room. Why do those who shout “socialist” at the Obama administration—who are either so genuinely frightened or...
Art Inside the Beltway
Amherst artist Matthew Mitchell’s project to document those whose lives have been affected by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, 100 Faces of War Experience, just got a big boost. (The project was the subject of a cover story, “The Emotional Awareness of...Letters: What Do You Think?
Celebrating Vote on Nuclear Plant On February 24, the Vermont Senate voted 26 to 4 not to renew the license of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant after 2012: a powerful and exhilarating “No!” to years of mismanagement and neglect. Unless the Senate reverses...NH House Votes on Decriminalization Bill
Last week, a bill sponsored by Keene Democrat Steven Lindsey proposing some measures to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana reached the floor of the New Hampshire House, seven months after Governor John Lynch vetoed a bill legalizing the medical use of the plant....
Consumer Chemicals: Too Much “Wait and See”
For years, American farmers have relied on the herbicide atrazine to control weeds. The chemical is used on 75 percent of cornfields in the U.S., the Washington Post recently reported. From there, it washes into nearby streams and rivers, traveling throughout the...
The View from Kabul
In the months after the collapse of the World Trade Center, longtime Manhattan resident Ann Jones found herself experiencing a strange form of disorientation. “I’d turn a corner and draw a blank,” Jones, a veteran journalist and human rights...
Angering the Mouse
Since its founding in 2000, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood has taken on some formidable foes, with impressive results. The Boston-based nonprofit, which works to counter the ill effects of consumer culture on kids, has pressured Scholastic Books to stop...Letters: What Do You Think?
Who Made America Prosper? As the Republicans beat the drum against “socialism” and faux-Populists like Sarah Palin and the “Tea Party” claim that “smaller” government will return us to a vaguely-recalled time of “good...Between the Lines: Of Bears and Leprechauns
Yes, I acknowledged for the umpteenth time in the last week, I saw the pictures of Ian Bowles holding two very cute bear cubs during a recent visit to Conway. “When I saw it, I thought of you instantly,” my friend and former colleague said, with the same...Seven Years Later
Late last week, in advance of the release of proposed 2011 fiscal budgets by the state House and Senate, Massachusetts legislative leaders sent a message to local governments across the Commonwealth: prepare for another round of cuts in local aid. The anticipated drop...
House in McKnight Neighborhood for Sale by City
Houses first began to be built in the “Highlands” east of downtown Springfield in 1870, and by 1881 the area became the first planned residential neighborhood in the region. Today the area is known as the McKnight Neighborhood after the brothers who...Imperium Watch: Spliced and Diced
Prosecutors in Brooklyn have said there are no grounds to bring charges against ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) after conservative activist James O’Keefe used a hidden camera to make videos purporting to show its staff colluding...
Northampton-Based Designers Win Best of Show
Regular readers of the Advocate may be familiar with the work of the winners of this year’s ADDY Award competition Best in Show award. Rob and Damia Stewart of Rob & Damia Design won for their Transit Authority Figures Posters, earning both the gold in the...
Move Over, Olver
It’s a few days before Christmas and I’m avoiding the elements and the holiday crush by hiding out in one of my favorite refuges, Easthampton’s Cherry Picked Books. “Is this one for you?” asks Michael Engel, the shop’s mild-mannered...Imperium Watch: Taking On Wall Street
On a mission to rein in a Wall Street that’s become a casino is U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who has promised to go to bat to improve the financial industry reform legislation that was announced last week. The legislation, captained by Senate Banking...Between the Lines: Who Wins With Health Care Reform?
Why is the passage of health care reform a victory for Americans? One woman’s name sums up the reason: Nikki White. Nikki White’s story is told in one of the best books going about the subject of fairness and fiscal realism in health care: T.R....Letters: What Do You Think?
Not Funny Enough Your new cartoon Mild Abandon lives up to its name: it is mildly amusing. However, it is a poor replacement for the brilliant and biting This Modern World. The Valley Advocate is much diminished as a result. David CoxAmherst It is really, really hard...Hospital Hill Comments Due by March 30
A public comment period is open now–until March 30–for those interested in responding to proposed changes made to the master plan for the development on Northampton’s Hospital Hill. The public comment period follows the filing of a Notice of Project...
Afghanistan's Bravest Woman Barred By U.S.?
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated as of March 25. Please be certain to check the author’s comment at the bottom of the page. Malalai Joya was one of 160 women chosen to participate in the 2003 Afghan Loya Jirga, a national council assembled to...
Nuclear Madness
Like every other president since the 1940s, Barack Obama has promoted nuclear power. Now, with reactors melting down in Japan, the official stance is more disconnected from reality than ever. Political elites are still clinging to the oxymoron of “safe nuclear...Letters: What Do You Think?
Transit: Small Improvements Needed Thanks to Mark Roessler for an insightful piece on high-speed rail. His recommendation is spot on— rebuilding our local bus routes will provide the supporting infrastructure needed to make high-speed rail a viable form of mass...
Paradox in the Middle East
There’s a great scene at the beginning of Doctor Zhivago when the Bolsheviks are marching through town in peaceful protest, singing songs of freedom and brotherhood while the aristocrats dance and drink in a ballroom that overlooks the street. The party goes...A New Tack in the Biomass Battle
The Springfield Public Health Council’s job is to advise the mayor on matters that could have detrimental effects on the health and well-being of city residents. And that, say a group of local activists, is why the Council should weigh in on the wood-burning...Imperium Watch: Fukushima's Sister Nukes
There’s a family resemblance between the disaster-ridden Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan and some nuclear plants close to us in here New England. The Fukushima plant is a General Electric Mark I (a design term for the plant’s containment structure)....
Gambling with Culture
Cynthia Anzalotti makes a persuasive case for all that the Springfield Performing Arts Development Corp. and the two venues it runs—CityStage and Symphony Hall—contribute to the city, starting with some hard figures: over the course a year, the two...Between the Lines: The Comeback Kid
Like the phoenix rising from the ashes … here comes Chris Asselin again? When the email showed up in my inbox—a quick note alerting me to a story on MassLive.com—I wondered for a moment if it were an early April Fool’s gag: fresh off a stint in...Extra! Extra! Complain All About It!
Add Springfield to the list of communities pig-piling on the Republican newspaper for its infamous little purple bags. At issue is the Republican’s “Extra” publication, a weekly supplement that the newspaper delivers free to homes once a week....
Doctor Rounds' Time in the Light
Caleb Rounds spends much of his working day alone in a windowless cell of a room, conducting scientific plant research in near-total darkness. It’s just as he’d like it. Even the light switches in the UMass lab where he works have all been installed upside...Health Care's Silver Lining
For women’s rights activists, fully embracing the newly, finally passed federal health care reform is a tough job. While the law does not include the sweeping anti-abortion provisions pushed by political conservatives, it’s still far from a pro-choice...Imperium Watch: Another Bailout?
The United States’ nuclear reactors have already accumulated enough high-level radioactive waste in the form of spent fuel—63,000 metric tons—to fill the Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada if plans for that repository hadn’t been cancelled....Between the Lines: Promises Made, Promises Broken
As disappointed as I’ve been in Deval Patrick—a governor who looks likely to leave office with as few positive and lasting contributions to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as that uber-opportunist, Mitt Romney—I don’t agree with some of the...Imperium Watch: The Nuclear Money Trap
Soon it will be time to start talking about the costs of the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, and the potential costs of a comparable accident here. If there were such an accident in the U.S., we would learn more about the real costs of...
The Honest Sausage Maker
“There are two things you don’t want to see being made—sausage and legislation.”—Origin uncertain; often misattributed to German Chancellor Otto von Bismark Driving along Route 116 between South Deerfield and Conway, just as the road...BTL: Treat Pols Like They Treat Teachers
Public school teachers have taken a beating from politicians, opinion-makers, business and foundation leaders and just about everyone else. Lazy teachers, it is said, have wrecked our public education system. A March 2010 headline in Newsweek put it bluntly:...Letters: What Do You Think?
Potter Off Key on Iran Andrew Potter, in his piece using the 1979 Iranian revolution that overthrew the shah as an example of the way hopeful protests can result in totalitarian rule (“Paradox In The Middle East,” March 24, 2011), somehow neglects to...How to Shrink Your Base
In the aftermath of the GOP’s big 2008 losses, Karl Rove outlined a road map back to the majority. Among Rove’s key principles was that “[t]he GOP won’t be a majority party if it cedes the young or Hispanics to Democrats. Republicans must find...Letters: What Do You Think?
Opposition Rhetoric Skewed Poor John Boehner! So bitterly you wept as you bemoaned the Democrats ramming health care through Congress, and so pitifully you sob that they’ve violated the will of the American people! But you see, John, I have an attention span, so...
Vermont's Single-Payer Salvation
Not long after the House of Representatives voted to repeal last year’s landmark healthcare reform legislation and a federal judge ruled the bill’s insurance mandate unconstitutional, Vermont’s leaders decided to take matters into their own hands. On...Local Biofuel Biz Gets a Boost
Fledgling biofuels company Qteros has just been granted a patent for its process of creating fermentation of biomass by a unique, naturally-occurring anaerobic microorganism, an event that will likely catapult the Marlborough-based company onto the global stage. The...
Rail Trail Advocate Brings It Home
One of the “clearest signs of the health and success of a community,” says Craig Della Penna, “is the number of bicyclists and pedestrians you see on the streets.” For well over a decade, Della Penna has devoted himself to increasing this...Letters: What Do You Think?
Crossword Replacement Protested I object to your replacing the crossword puzzles in your paper with those of a highly amateurish nature. Henry Hook, Cox and Rathvon are highly regarded among cryptoverbologists. You have replaced them with puzzles of a pre-kindergarten...Million-Dollar Mamas
Look: you’ve got about a month until Mother’s Day. This year, are you going to come up with a gift worthy of the woman who carried you for 40 long weeks (or in some cases, longer—not that anyone’s holding any grudges)? Or are you going to wait...Out in the Cold
There’s no denying it: the past winter was a bleak, brutal season for climate scientists and global warming activists. The most obvious change, climate-wise, was in the realm of public opinion, which cooled considerably to the idea that human activity is warming...
Jail and the Census: A Change That Counts
Peter Wagner knows firsthand just how hard it is to get people excited about a topic as seemingly dry and technical as the U.S. Census. As the executive director of the Prison Policy Initiative, a non-partisan research organization in Easthampton, Wagner has spent...Imperium Watch: Check In With the Census
There’s still time for households that didn’t get their census forms in by April 1 to be counted. From May into early July, census workers will be following up with house-to-house visits and visits to special environments, such as nursing homes, college...Recalibrated Bond Rating Gives Cahill a Plus
When Tim Cahill announced last week that Fitch Ratings had raised the state’s bond rating, the state treasurer didn’t exactly lay it on thick: the rating upgrade, a press release from his office explained, was “due to the rating agency’s rating...BTL: Obama's Preemptive War
Anyone who was expecting the “anti-war” presidential candidate Barack Obama to be anything like an anti-war president was simply not paying attention to how he campaigned. It wasn’t just the daily vows to escalate in Afghanistan, or the repeated...Imperium Watch: The Fukushima Factor
“I don’t think right after a major environmental catastrophe is a very good time to be making American domestic policy,” U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell said on Fox News Sunday in the early days of the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster. But if the...E-Edition
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