News
by Tom Vannah | Jun 28, 2012 | News
The book on my bedside table right now is about fishing, the debut non-fiction work of Matt Rigney, a Guilford, Conn. native who lives in Whately. In Pursuit of Giants: One Man’s Global Search for the Last of the Great Fish is a very important book; for anyone...
by Maureen Turner | Jul 5, 2012 | News
In February, President Obama submitted his proposed fiscal 2013 budget of $3.67 trillion to Congress. Do you know what’s in the president’s budget? Is it higher or lower than last year’s? Which programs would get the most money, and which the least?...
by Stephanie Kraft | Jul 5, 2012 | News
The North Carolina state Senate has passed a bill banning the use of updated climate change science in proposals to deal with rising sea levels along its coast. The vote comes in response to demands by NC20, a group spearheaded by real estate interests in the...
by Our Readers | Jul 5, 2012 | News
Food Program Deserves Support In response to “Too Many Hungry People” (Letters, June 28, 2012), we wholeheartedly concur with the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts and applaud Sens. Kerry and Brown in voting down harmful amendments to our nation’s...
by Maureen Turner | Jul 5, 2012 | News
No sooner had the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act been released last week than our inboxes began filling up with press releases, as everyone from the AFL-CIO to the Libertarian Party to the Center for Reproductive Rights offered their take on...
by Mark Roessler | Jul 5, 2012 | News
“Funerals never start on time here,” said James Mooney, general manager of the Springfield Cemetery, Crematory and Columbarium. “People always have a hard time finding the place.” Though the nearly 40-acre cemetery is only a few blocks from the...
by Stephanie Kraft | Jul 12, 2012 | News
The Supreme Court has ruled that the massive health care law known as the Affordable Care Act—in the vernacular, Obamacare—is not unconstitutional. The ruling doesn’t leave the law invulnerable, but it undercuts the Right’s most reasonable...
by Maureen Turner | Jul 12, 2012 | News
A federal judge last week upheld a pair of tough anti-foreclosure ordinances passed last year by a unanimous Springfield City Council. The ordinances, which were sponsored by then-Ward 6 City Councilor Amaad Rivera, were designed to address the problems created by the...
by Maureen Turner | Jul 12, 2012 | News
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has announced that she has qualified for federal matching funds, something no presidential candidate from her party has done before. To receive federal campaign funds, a candidate must raise at least $5,000 in each of 20...
by Mark Roessler | Jul 12, 2012 | News
There’s foxes in the hen houseCows out in the cornThe unions have been bustedTheir proud red banners tornTo listen to the radioYou’d think that all was wellBut you and me and Cisco knowIt’s going straight to hell … So come back Woody...
by Mark Roessler | Jul 12, 2012 | News
Recently I received a press release announcing that over 10,000 people of faith have signed a petition calling on Manhattan’s Trinity church to drop charges against Occupy protesters. Faithful America, an online community of over 140,000 members, wanted to...
by Rebecca Burns | Jul 26, 2012 | News
At an October, 2011 meeting between Pakistani elders and human rights lawyers, 16-year-old Tariq Aziz stood up to volunteer for a dangerous assignment. The meeting, held in Islamabad by U.K. legal charity Reprieve, sought to expose the impact of drone strikes in the...
by Maureen Turner | Jul 19, 2012 | News
Last Wednesday was a busy day for Tim Purington. That afternoon, his agency, Florence-based Tapestry Health, officially announced that it was starting a needle exchange program in Holyoke. In addition to getting the program, which had been approved by city officials...
by Tom Vannah | Aug 2, 2012 | News
If Bill Pepin failed to grasp what my 11-year-old daughter and her classmates have known since the third grade, perhaps I could muster a little sympathy for his situation. If he believed in a fiction in which each parcel of property were a self-contained ecosystem and...
by Stephanie Kraft and Patrick Kelley | Jul 19, 2012 | News
An anti-foreclosure ordinance passed last year by the Springfield City Council has survived a challenge by banks and by the Massachusetts Bankers Association (“Court Lets Anti-Foreclosure Rules Stand,” July 12, 2012). The passage of the ordinance, which...
by Tom Sturm | Aug 2, 2012 | News
A small portion of an otherwise broadly supported energy bill in the Massachusetts Legislature has prompted backlash by some state legislators and utility industry executives. House Bill 4225 was intended to expand the use of alternative energy and refine regulation...
by Our Readers | Jul 19, 2012 | News
The Guantanamo Legacy As I write this letter I am sitting at my desk in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, at the office maintained for defense attorneys who represent men held at the Joint Task Force Detention Facility here. In a short time I will be on my way to visit my client,...
by Stephanie Kraft | Aug 2, 2012 | News
When you go to the polls on September 6, you may not be very excited about the primary for Hampshire County Register of Deeds. You may have forgotten that register of deeds is an elective office, since there hasn’t been a race for it here for 23 years. You may...
by Maureen Turner | Jul 19, 2012 | News
Earlier this year, the Springfield City Council took up the issue of residency requirements for municipal employees, dusting off an old ordinance that called for many city workers to live in the city. Although on the books since 1995, the ordinance had been ignored by...
by Stephanie Kraft | Aug 2, 2012 | News
Early in July, the shouts of Republicans determined to repeal the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, were deafening—even after the Supreme Court stopped short of ruling the law unconstitutional. But will they repeal it? It’s one thing to...
by Our Readers | Jul 19, 2012 | News
Federal Budget Made Easy The vague billions and trillions of dollars that get discussed throughout the budget season federally and statewide often have a numbing effect on me. I have always voted and had an interest in politics, but like many, I suspect, have paid...
by Our Readers | Aug 2, 2012 | News
Voter Apathy: Readers Respond to Rall Re Ted Rall’s column “Why We’re Apathetic” (July 26, 2012): At the bottom of the second column, Mr. Rall states, “Romney could shore up his party’s nativist base . . . ” Excuse me. I...
by Maureen Turner | Jul 26, 2012 | News
One recent afternoon, I looked out my window to see a box turtle making its slow, steady progress from the side yard to the woods out back. We all rushed out for a better look, creeping closer and closer until the poor turtle tucked himself into his shell, signaling...
by Maureen Turner | Jul 26, 2012 | News
It’s almost a decade until Statehouse leaders will begin the work of redrawing legislative district lines again—indeed, the most recently redrawn districts don’t even assume their new shapes until after this November’s elections—but a...
by Maureen Turner | Aug 2, 2012 | News
In the 16 years since they were introduced, commercial genetically modified crops have radically changed the face of agriculture. GM crops are grown from seeds that have had their genetic makeup altered to create new traits—for instance, to make them resistant...
by Ted Rall | Aug 2, 2012 | News
Don’t be apathetic, they tell us. If you don’t vote, you can’t complain. But how can people get excited about a political campaign that doesn’t address the issues we care about most? Polls show that Americans are more concerned about the...
by Stephanie Kraft | Jul 26, 2012 | News
When the temperature heads for 90, our collective worries about money and politics are temporarily eclipsed by the urgency of the need for rain. Nationally, two-thirds of the corn crop is damaged; rises in the price of corn are expected to affect the price of feed,...
by Maureen Turner | Aug 7, 2012 | News
The Northeast Organic Farming Association will hold its 2012 summer meeting Aug. 10 to 12 at UMass Amherst. The conference will include more than 200 workshops on organic farming and gardening, sustainability, nutrition, food politics and related topics, as well as...
by Our Readers | Jul 26, 2012 | News
Don’t Let Verizon Edit Internet Think you have the right to speak freely via cellphones, websites and social media? Well, Verizon doesn’t. In fact, the telecom giant is now claiming that the First Amendment gives it the right to “edit” you and...
by Maureen Turner | Aug 9, 2012 | News
Piping plovers, marbled salamanders and northern right whales all got a reprieve last week, when the state Legislature ended its session without acting on a bill that would have dramatically overhauled the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act. Those plovers and...
by Maureen Turner | Jul 26, 2012 | News
Despite intense lobbying by opponents, the Massachusetts Legislature last week passed a controversial habitual offender bill known as the “three-strikes” law. Under the law, felons who’ve been convicted of at least three violent crimes, with at least...
by Our Readers | Aug 9, 2012 | News
Why Don’t GM-Crop Growers Strike Back? In regard to your recent story about organic farmers suing Monsanto (“Patently Problematic,” Aug. 2): on the whole, things are going pretty well with GM technology. As you note, adoption is spreading in much of...
by Stephanie Kraft | Aug 9, 2012 | News
It’s no news that the federal Food and Drug Administration has not always been diligent in vetting medicines and medical devices American consumers trust it to oversee. If it had, we wouldn’t have had the scandal with Vioxx that shook people’s...
by Stephanie Kraft | Aug 9, 2012 | News
Since last week, the Affordable Care Act–you may know it as Obamacare–offers women, including adolescents, preventive care benefits at no cost. Among the services new and non-grandfathered health care plans must provide free of charge: Well-woman visits,...
by Tom Sturm | Aug 9, 2012 | News
There may be no better illustration of how, even in the relatively progressive commonwealth, monied special interests are all but granted exclusive decision-making power over our daily lives than the ongoing battle over the expansion of the Mass. Bottle Bill. The bill...
by Maureen Turner | Aug 10, 2012 | News
What would be the proper baseball analogy to describe Gov. Deval Patrick’s turn-around on the so-called “three strikes” crime bill last week? That the governor struck out looking? That a brush-back pitch of political and public pressure chased him...
by Maureen Turner | Aug 10, 2012 | News
On Women’s Rights• From Nuciforo’s position paper on women’s rights:“The right to choose and the right to privacy are fundamental constitutional rights. Nuciforo strongly supports those rights as recognized by Roe v. Wade. He supports a...
by Our Readers | Aug 16, 2012 | News
Bottle Bills and “Unicorn Farms” The real victor in the failure of the passage of the Bottle Bill was not “monied special interests,” but John Q. Taxpayer and his family, who will not be nickel and dimed to death every single time they buy a...
by Pete Redington | Aug 16, 2012 | News
The non-governmental organization (NGO) movement pushing reform of the financial industry in the form of the so-called Robin Hood Tax has traveled across the pond from England to the United States, drawing considerable interest and support. While anti-tax crusaders...
by Stephanie Kraft and Patrick Kelley | Aug 16, 2012 | News
Repeat something often enough and it becomes true; that’s the cavalier way of dealing with reality that’s still being practiced by plenty of politicians and political activist groups. The runup to this year’s elections is expected to be a carnival of...
by Maureen Turner | Aug 16, 2012 | News
Late last year, Andrea Nuciforo, a Democratic candidate for the 1st Congressional District seat, released a statement explaining how he would build his agenda as a member of Congress. His method, described in a nine-point list, included a focus on collaboration; the...
by Stephanie Kraft | Aug 23, 2012 | News
The point has been made in this column before, but it needs to be made again: It’s funny how the staunchest defenders of the free-market economy often seem to understand that economy very little. If they understood it well, you wouldn’t keep hearing this...
by Our Readers | Aug 23, 2012 | News
Bottle Bill: Dollar Figure Missing Here is a short response to “Bottle Bills and Unicorn Farms” (Letters, August 16, 2012) and to “Spinning the Bottle” (August 8, 2012) because one is extremist blather and the other has left out some important...
by Christopher Weber | Aug 23, 2012 | News
“It’s fine that people want to help the planet, but the timeline is too short,” explained John, a tall, slender young man with thick, mussed hair. “If we rush, we’re going to pass drastic solutions.” He looked and sounded like a...
by Stephanie Kraft | Sep 13, 2012 | News
Is the NFL on the move toward its own brand of socialism? A study by the North American Association of Sports Economists found that of 28 National Football League stadiums built between 1990 and 2011: *23 had 50 percent or more of their building costs paid by the...
by Cathy Young | Aug 23, 2012 | News
The uproar over Chick-fil-A, the fried-chicken chain that faces boycotts and threats of license denial over its conservative Christian owners’ opposition to same-sex marriage, highlights a remarkable fact: in one generation, the stigma against homosexuality has...
by Tom Sturm | Sep 13, 2012 | News
Whether you view government as the last foil to corporate greed or as a progressively more annoying and intrusive “nanny state,” a U.S. Appeals court in Washington, D.C. has just rendered a decision that (stunningly) reeks of common sense. Striking down an...
by Chris Lehmann | Aug 28, 2012 | News
As the rough beast known as the 2012 presidential campaign slouches toward the candidate-coronation phase of things at the end of August, it’s also entered the high-baroque phase of language manipulation. In July, Romney campaign hands deftly altered the video...
by Jerold Duquette | Sep 20, 2012 | News
The news that former Springfield mayor Charlie Ryan had endorsed Republican U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown was a bit surprising. When I read the newspaper story describing his announcement at a popular local bakery in my old neighborhood, however, I was not...
by Mark Roessler | Aug 30, 2012 | News
Photographer Lewis Hine did not always adequately identify all his subjects. The photos in the gallery were all taken in the Pioneer Valley. If you think you recognize any of the subjects, please contact Joe Manning at manningfamily@rcn.com or call (413)...
by Stephanie Kraft | Sep 20, 2012 | News
Climate change is cutting the productivity of nuclear power plants and other energy generating facilities as summers get hotter. That’s because heat raises the temperature and lowers the volume of cooling water. Nuclear plants along the Connecticut River were...
by Stephanie Kraft | Aug 30, 2012 | News
Michigan, Utah, California, Massachusetts, New Hampshire: wherever his home is, many of Mitt Romney’s image problems touch down in Massachusetts. To be fair, Massachusetts is a state in which the Republican presidential contender has spent a lot of time,...
by Our Readers | Sep 20, 2012 | News
No Lurid Graphics for Cigarette Packs I hope everyone, especially policymakers, will read Tom Sturm’s piece “The Court of Appeal” (September 6, 2012) and think seriously about it. I continue to be amazed that any young person would start smoking...
by Maureen Turner | Aug 30, 2012 | News
How does Katie Stebbins love Springfield? Let her count the ways—she’s already up to #29, the Springfield Museums. Stebbins began her list—ambitiously titled “365 Reasons to Love Springfield”—in November of 2011, on her aptly named...
by Maureen Turner | Sep 20, 2012 | News
Suzanne Seymour recently turned 50, which, she reckons, makes her an “elder” in the LGBT community. She says this with a laugh. But it’s a role she also takes very seriously. Whatever progress has been made toward equality for gay, bisexual and...
by Maureen Turner | Aug 30, 2012 | News
Let’s dispense with this up front: there’s not much chance that Bill Shein will win next week’s Democratic primary for the 1st Congressional District. But he should. Shein faces two other candidates in the Sept. 6 primary: Richie Neal, the 2nd...
by James Heflin | Sep 20, 2012 | News
I never really intended to watch the Democratic National Convention. I generally loathe all the self-congratulatory, aggrandizing nonsense of both parties’ outings. Thing is, every time I tuned into the DNC for a minute, someone or other was delivering an...
by Mark Roessler | Aug 30, 2012 | News
The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of the working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life. Between these two classes...
by Maureen Turner | Sep 20, 2012 | News
Your house might look nice after a Saturday-morning cleaning blitz—but is it healthy? Well, that depends on what you used to achieve all that sparkly, shiny good-smelling-ness. Based on a recent report from the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, the odds are...
by Our Readers | Aug 30, 2012 | News
Chick-fil-A Article Misses I could not disagree more with Cathy Young’s editorial “Tolerance Goes Both Ways” (August 16, 2012) in which she states that “the stigma against homosexuality has been replaced by a stigma against anti-gay...
