News
Tailoring Justice
On an August Saturday in 1994, a 17-year-old Chicopee teen named Christopher McGrory showed up at the Milton Bradley headquarters in East Longmeadow for what he thought was going to be a job interview. But the interview was just a ruse; waiting for him, instead, was...
Different Images
No one culture has cornered the market on discrimination and prejudice—although some certainly have embraced it more heartily than others. Over the next few weeks, an exhibit at Holyoke Heritage State Park’s Visitor Center offers a look at efforts from...
The Things We Have in Common
In the early 20th century, the American public was seized by fear of the seemingly unstoppable polio epidemic. At its peak, in 1916, more than 27,000 cases, and 3,000 deaths, were reported in the U.S., the majority of victims children. By the early 1950s, the disease...Imperium Watch: Dreams Die First
You don’t know whether to laugh or cry when you read about the 2007 Amherst College graduate who moved to New York, where, according to Laura Vanderkam on the City Journal Web magazine, she “recently beat out 500 other applicants for a part-time job...Oh No, Not Again!
After the 1994 midterm, when Dems lost the House and Senate, Bill Clinton was told to “move to the center.” He obliged by hiring the pollster Dick Morris, declaring the “era of big government is over,” abandoning much of his original agenda,...Between the Lines: Madigan's Rules of Order
Jim Madigan had the job I wanted last month: the dean of public TV in the Valley got to tell this year’s candidates for governor when to shut the hell up. As moderator of the penultimate gubernatorial debate, held in Chicopee and sponsored by an ad hoc Western...Letters: What Do You Think?
Dems Too Moderate It has become very common, especially among conservatives, to say that the Democrats have lost popularity because their policies have gone too far to the left. In fact, I believe the opposite is true: the Democrats lost millions of votes and...
Armitage Goes Down for Tax Evasion, Fraud
When the deregulation of power plant development in Massachusetts opened the field to merchant plants, a new generation of entrepreneurs swarmed in to replace the old regional utility operators. Into Agawam in 1994 came a newcomer, Michael Armitage, who jingled with...
A Race Too Far?
Stephen Buoniconti’s upper lip tightened, his smile faded, his eyes glowered. Just moments before, he’d seemed like his usual upbeat, friendly but formal self; now his face was fixed in a mask of suppressed frustration bordering on rage. If you’ve...Big Brother Watches Your Twitter Feed
Spying on the citizenry used to be a lot harder. Sifting through the patriots to find the radicals required elbow grease and Senate subcommittee hearings. Sometimes you actually had to have personal contact with the suspect and do some legwork. Put a tail on the...
A New Neighborhood Farm
Sitting at a large table in the front hall of her well-preserved Victorian home in Northampton, Lilly Lombard faces a sea of pamphlets, maps and illustrations. They all depict an empty stretch of floodplain land across town that is fertile with possibility. Lombard is...Between the Lines: Deval's Second Chance
For much of the year, Deval Patrick’s chances at re-election looked iffy at best. For one thing, Patrick had suffered a number of obvious political setbacks almost from the very instant he was sworn in as governor in 2007. For another, he was facing some tall,...
Lessons From a War Diary
My father’s war diary is a faded blue booklet of approximately 30 pages. I did not know it even existed until the day he died, when I found myself looking through one of his old filing cabinets. My father, Harvey B. Kramer, had been a lawyer and a judge in...Imperium Watch: Noisy Election, Silent Warming
The excitement of election night may wear off, but the new political alignments now create their own hustle and bustle. Republicans win the House; Democrats hold the Senate. House Speaker-presumptive John Boehner wipes tears of joy from his eyes and gets ready to plan...
Pioneered in Amherst
Ted White met me at the Simple Gifts farm in North Amherst on a gray morning last week, just after a torrential downpour. It turned out we’d both been worried about how photogenic the farm would be, but in the bursts of light now breaking through the clouds, the...
Crimson and Clover
When the Advocate finally caught up with future Northampton farmers Jen Smith and Nate Frigard last week, they didn’t have long to talk. They had just gotten home from their day jobs and had half an hour before a meeting with a representative from Grow Food...
Canine Candidate Passes On
Eleven years after his quixotic campaign for mayor of Springfield, Simon Powell has died. Simon’s 1999 bid wasn’t successful, but it certainly caught plenty of attention in political circles. After all, it’s not every day a dog runs for mayor....Letters: What Do You Think?
Voting Guide Not Nonpartisan Now that the shouting has died down, my wife and I would like to publicly thank Bishop McDonnell for making sure that the “nonpartisan” 2010 Massachusetts General Election Voter Guide from the Massachusetts Family Institute was...
Trash-Barrel Politics
The city of Springfield’s trash-pickup fee might be roundly despised by the city’s residents, but it’s certainly proven useful to its politicians. In 2006, the Finance Control Board imposed a $90 annual trash fee, in an attempt to plug up shortfalls...Between the Lines: Media Matters?
The morning starts out fine: up before the sun, get breakfast going, feed the cats, take a breath of air with a cup of coffee, watch the birds, think about how nice it is not to have to think about anything for another 20 minutes or so. I could have easily prolonged...Letters: What Do You Think?
Prostate Cancer: Alternatives Nice to read a cautionary piece on surgery for prostate cancer [“In Defense of Waiting,” November 4, 2010] and nicer yet to read a few dietary tips for promoting prostate health. But it would have been an even greater service...Bivalves for Brown
Years in the making, the federal Paycheck Fairness Act—which would address gender-based pay inequities—is expected to finally have its day at the Capitol. As the Advocate went to press, the U.S. Senate was expected to take up the bill for a vote sometime...Rich Man, Poor Man
Next time you hear an economist or denizen of Wall Street talk about how the “American economy” is doing these days, watch your wallet. There are two American economies. One is on the mend. The other is still coming apart. The one that’s mending is...Imperium Watch: Cracking Down on Mining
The Obama administration is moving to crack down on the mining industry for safety and environmental violations. For the first time in its history, the Department of Labor is suing to close a mine for safety reasons: Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine in...Give Back the Cookies, Sen. Brown
Last week, the U.S. Senate killed the Paycheck Fairness Act, a proposed law that would have taken on salary imbalances between men and women in the U.S. While a companion version of the bill passed in the House last year, Senate Republicans had filibustered the bill...Between the Lines: Blind Justice for Ryan?
I saw the police video. It didn’t tell me much I hadn’t gleaned from the initial newspaper reports. Without audio, it’s impossible to know what the police officer and the former judge were saying to one another—although maybe it wouldn’t...Letters: What Do You Think?
What Could Be How sad! Senator Mitch McConnell’s stated priority is to make Obama’s administration a one-term presidency. Not get us out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Not create jobs. Not provide all Americans with adequate health care—none of those are...
Mason Square Reclaims its Library
Last week, residents of Springfield’s Mason Square neighborhood were treated to a long-overdue, and much welcomed, sight: a moving truck parked outside of 765 State St. The truck was there to move the Springfield Urban League from the building, which it bought...
Soleful Art Gets a Gallery of its Own
With the coming of the cold weather, Springfield’s “Art & Soles” public art project has moved indoors. Last week, all of the 19 giant fiberglass sneakers, personalized by Valley artists, were gathered in a temporary gallery at 1391 Main St....
“An Angry Young Magazine”
Paul Krassner had a front row seat to the 1960s, and he was arguably the era’s loudest and most influential heckler. He reported on events from outside the mainstream, preferring to work with fringe and underground sources to tell stories no one else would...Imperium Watch: Wealth Without Wall Street
If politicians don’t downsize banks and financial firms that are “too big to fail,” the American people could bring powers of their own into play that they haven’t yet exploited. Consumers in the U.S. haven’t come of age in their...Between the Lines: He's No FDR
In his first term, President Franklin Roosevelt denounced “the economic royalists.” He drew the line against the heartless rich: “They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.” What a different Democratic president...Letters: What Do You Think?
War Stories I have been doing research on my father’s service in World War II. He, like Steve Kramer’s father (“Lessons From a War Diary,” Nov. 11, 2010), was a POW in Germany. I had compiled a list of 27 men in Dad’s barracks in Stalag...
Beer: The Next Level
DISCLAIMER AND WARNING: During the reporting of this article, I was coerced with fine beer and good conversation by Will and Dan Shelton to adopt a certain editorial slant favorable to their products. They intimidated me with tales of their harrowing adventures across...Myths of Justice
In the 2006 U.S. Supreme Court ruling Kansas v. March, Justice David Souter and Justice Antonin Scalia conducted a public debate within their opposing written opinions. Discussing the fates of death row prisoners, Souter opined that in such high stakes cases, innocent...Imperium Watch: Wealth Without Wall Street
BerkShares are an alternative currency used in Berkshire County under a program initiated by the E. F. Schumacher Society in 2006 (see last week’s Imperium Watch). Since BerkShares debuted, 2.7 million have been put in circulation in the state’s...WikiLeaks: Demystifying Diplomacy
Compared to the kind of secret cables that WikiLeaks has just shared with the world, everyday public statements from government officials are exercises in make-believe. In a democracy, people have a right to know what their government is actually doing. In a...Letters: What Do You Think?
Put the Planet First In early November a delivery of nuclear waste en route to a “disposal site” in northern Germany met with some unanticipated obstacles. Dozens of farmers lined the route, blocking roadways with their tractors. Trees and stumps cut down...Between the Lines: What's News?
In the latest example of a society allergic to measured responses and shades of gray, the reaction to the WikiLeaks dump has been embarrassingly in the red. Julian Assange is a hero, a freedom fighter, a speaker of truth to power. Or he’s a traitor, a rapist, a...A Wasted Crisis
When BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers, the ensuing environmental crisis could have been a transformative moment for our nation’s energy policy. It was not. In the midst of widespread public outrage against the oil...
The Odds Against Mothers
It’s not often that a diaper sitting in the middle of a breakfast table would be warmly received. But at a fundraising breakfast held last month in Northampton by the advocacy and support group MotherWoman, the diapers (which were clean, and eco-friendly cloth...Imperium Watch: Green Butterflies, Purple Pills
Early evening turns the world of television to a landscape of prescription drug ads, usually peopled with “patients” enjoying affluent lifestyles. The ads are bland and saccharine until they conclude with lists of side effects. The side effects, rattled...Petrolati Punked by Probation Probe
The writing may have been on the wall earlier this fall, when Ludlow State Rep. Tom Petrolati refused to cooperate with an investigation of the state Department of Probation ordered by the Supreme Judicial Court. In fact, Petrolati’s fate may have been sealed...Patrick Picks Sullivan for Cabinet Post
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has chosen former Westfield Mayor Richard Sullivan to replace departing Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles, who recently announced his resignation from the post. The appointment gives Sullivan oversight of the...A Bit of a Break
While Springfield’s mayor and councilors battled last week over the city’s controversial trash fee [see “Round One to Tosado?”], they were in accord over at least one point: lowering the city’s tax rate. Just not in complete accord. This...Between the Lines: In Praise of the Free Market
It’s funny how the staunchest defenders of the free-market economy often seem to understand very little about that economy. If they understood it well, you wouldn’t keep hearing this refrain in the logic of people who oppose tax cuts for the...Imperium Watch: Taxes–What History Tells Us
No other function of government exposes a nation’s real priorities like taxation. At a time when the issue of tax policy has come to a head, it’s instructive to look back at the history of the income tax in America. The current debate in Congress hinges on...Round One to Tosado?
Has the city of Springfield finally seen the end of the Great Trash Fee War? Last week, the City Council rejected a proposal by Mayor Domenic Sarno to extend the much-despised residential trash fee, instead supporting a competing proposal, by Council President Jose...
Thinking Inside the Block
Publicist Annie Thompson likens him to Cosimo di Medici, the legendary patriarch of the Florentine family revered for its arts patronage, an integral force in the creative and intellectual flowering of the Renaissance. The comparison is not far off the...Letters: What Do You Think?
Corporations Abuse Trust Every time we have extended an olive branch of trust to corporate America, they have turned around and screwed everyone involved. Corporate America decides money is more important than safety and the mine blows up, or the oil rig explodes,...Farm Field to Springfield
When it’s summertime in this localphile Valley, you can’t swing a harvested beet without hitting a farmers’ market. The latest trend: winter markets, which can be a boon to farmers’ off-season revenue streams—and to customers who each...Senior Food Program Needs Help
With the state budget in a dizzyingly downward spiral—last week, the Patrick administration floated the idea of $1.5 billion in cuts in the coming fiscal year—organizers of a food program for low-income Valley seniors are hoping for an influx of community...Between the Lines: Death of the Moderates
“Given his druthers, Obama will pursue the most left-leaning course that he can get away with.” So says Jennifer Rubin, a right-wing pundit at the neoconservative-leaning Washington Post. “Obama,” Rubin claims, “would have marched through...
Friendly Neighborhood Pirate Radio
“I said, get here ahead of time. What happened? This is live radio, Mark. Where are you?” Mo Gareau (formerly Ringey) said. I’d called her cell phone, and she answered me on the air—10 minutes into her morning interview show, where I was...Letters: What Do You Think?
The Greens? Or the White House? Eric Weltman’s article on energy (“A Wasted Crisis,” December 9, 2010) seeks to blame environmentalists for the failure of the latest Senate energy bill. In fact, according to a recent article in the New Yorker by Ryan...Public Health Council Weak on BPA Ban
Almost a year after the Patrick administration called for new regulations on the potentially harmful chemical bisphenol-A (or BPA), state health officials have responded, with a policy that activists say falls far short of what’s needed. Last week, the Mass....Imperium Watch: A Tale of Two Senators
Massachusetts Senator Scott “Just a Regular Guy” Brown believes in loyalty—to the banking and financial services interests that swept him to Capitol Hill on a magic carpet of cash. Brown was one of three Republican senators (the other two were...Web Sting
On Monday, Nov. 29, federal authorities seized 82 websites which, they allege, were involved with the illegal sale and distribution of counterfeit goods and copyrighted material. Where once online visitors found fully functional sites, they are now greeted by a...H&H: We Remember
Died September 1: Doug Kohl, a Northampton developer who cared about the quality of the neighborhoods he built and listened to the concerns of everyone with a stake in his projects. Not just a McMansion builder, he created resident-friendly co-housing projects as well...E-Edition
Best Of 2025
Readers Choice 2025
