News
by Tom Vannah | Dec 10, 2013 | News
A recent editorial in the Springfield Republican defending Obamacare revealed just how shallow the region’s biggest daily paper can be in its endless pandering to Democrats. The Republican’s insipid “Obamacare’s critics continue their...
by Stan Geddes | Jan 7, 2014 | News
Who loves the Greater Holyoke YMCA and the work it does in the City of Holyoke? Everyone. Unequivocally. Who does not like the YMCA’s plan to demolish buildings in the neighborhood surrounding it in order to accommodate its expansion plans? The mayor of Holyoke,...
by Maureen Turner | Dec 10, 2013 | News
A grassroots campaign to repeal Massachusetts’ casino legislation has cleared a major hurdle in its effort to put the matter before voters next year. Last week, Secretary of State William Galvin confirmed that the group had collected enough signatures to get the...
by Stephanie Kraft | Jan 7, 2014 | News
Scott Lively, best known to many as the promoter of an extreme Ugandan law against homosexuality, is now channeling his energies into state politics. Lively, whose base of operations is Holy Grounds—a church in Springfield that “looks like a coffee...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 10, 2013 | News
On Walmart Wages Some marked the start of the holiday season by camping out in big-box parking lots for bargains; others marked it by drawing attention to the low wages and spotty benefits granted to the people who work in those stores. The day after...
by James Heflin | Jan 7, 2014 | News
I first crossed paths with John Sims on an archaeological dig in Switzerland. It took me a few hours to figure out that he spoke English—not because he was a man of few words, but because his asides and comments arrived as odd-rhythmed mumbles he seemed to...
by Advocate readers | Dec 10, 2013 | News
SNAP Cuts Have Dire Consequences Eight hundred and eighty-nine thousand people in Massachusetts now have less money to feed their families. They are among the 47 million Americans who saw their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits reduced on Nov....
by Maureen Turner | Jan 8, 2014 | News
Count on the Boston Herald to put in plainly: the Massachusetts Gaming Commission is “an agency rife with potential conflicts that go far behind the much-publicized ties of Chairman Stephen Crosby, with several staffers linked to people in the hunt for coveted...
by Jeannette Wicks-Lim | Dec 10, 2013 | News
Each time a minimum wage hike is put on the table, the political debate spins on the question of whether such a move would cause business costs to increase so much that jobs are lost. To progress past this perennial debate, one key fact has to be pounded into the...
by Advocate staff | Jan 29, 2014 | News
Austin Brothers Valley Farm, Belchertown 413-668-6843, www.austinsfarm.com Naturally raised, hormone- and antibiotic- free beef. Shares can be purchased as all beef or mixed bag of beef and pork. Share are available in 5, 10 and 20 pounds for either 3 or 6 months....
by by Advocate staff | Dec 11, 2013 | News
Artists on Ice If you’re an ice sculptor, a chance to move your work to the level of public art may be opening for you at this year’s Greenfield Winter Carnival Ice Walk. Send an original design and a short biography to the Greenfield Recreation Department...
by by Merrill Matthews | Jan 8, 2014 | News
Do you think the Obamacare rollout raises important questions about government mandates, penalties and just how well bureaucrats can manage complicated issues? It’s not alone. There are a number of similarities between Obamacare and an energy mandate known as...
by Advocate readers | Dec 17, 2013 | News
Thank You, Nelson Mandela On February 11, 1990, the day Nelson Mandela was released from prison, I was coming out of a “prison of my own mind.” I had just moved away from home for the first time at the age of 27 and was preparing to enter graduate school...
by Advocate staff | Jan 14, 2014 | News
Following the Money—Across State Lines By Maureen Turner With Election Day not quite 10 months away, gubernatorial candidates’ fundraising is kicking into high gear. So who’s raising the most money—and, just as important, where is that...
by Stephanie Kraft | Jan 29, 2014 | News
“The high cost of cheap chicken: 97 percent of the breasts we tested harbored bacteria that could make you sick.” That headline on a Consumer Reports article published in December is all too typical of press reports about chicken and other meat from...
by Tom Vannah | Jan 14, 2014 | News
Aw, too bad: I liked Chris Christie. Well, that is, I found him likable enough. Maybe because he’s fat. It makes him seem like a regular guy. For a pol. And now, caught up in accusations that he and his administration abused power for craven political...
by Tom Vannah | Jan 29, 2014 | News
I shouldn’t watch so much TV. I try to watch intelligent stuff, but still it’s not good for my health. TV makes me think about things I shouldn’t waste my time thinking about, ask questions for which I’m unlikely to find answers. No doubt, TV...
by Advocate staff | Jan 14, 2014 | News
Dobelle Doubles Down on Suit vs. WSUBy Stephanie KraftEvan Dobelle, who left Westfield State University under a cloud because of extravagant spending, has added a new complaint to his suit against the school (“Dobelle Sues. Should Anyone Be Surprised?”,...
by by Jesse L. Lederman | Jan 29, 2014 | News
Last week, Springfield mayor Domenic Sarno announced that he will appoint a new police commissioner from within the ranks of the Springfield Police Department. The announcement sparked controversy across the city. The larger issue is not whom he will appoint, but what...
by Advocate staff | Jan 14, 2014 | News
“We Will Go to Other Planets” Mount Holyoke College astronomy professor Darby Dyar has been named to three NASA teams that work on long-range plans to colonize the moon and land spaceships on Mars. Dyar’s threefold mission is to help develop...
by Advocate staff | Jan 29, 2014 | News
Spunky and ambitious: that’s the North Quabbin Community Co-op, which last summer got $23,500 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Holyoke-based Common Capital to do a feasibility study on moving to a more visible location in downtown Orange. Now the Coop...
by Advocate readers | Jan 15, 2014 | News
Respect Needed in Vaccine Debate Vaccinations are probably the most controversial topic that parents of young children face. In “Help the Herd” (Wellness, January 2, 2014), Ronald Baily accuses parents who choose not to vaccinate of being irresponsible...
by Advocate readers | Jan 29, 2014 | News
Minimum Wage Op-Ed Was BS Sal Circosta’s guest column “Minimum Wage, Maximum Rage” (Dec. 26, 2013), though written from the viewpoint of a small business owner, is unfortunately a regurgitation of the talking points most commonly found on...
by Ted Rall | Jan 29, 2014 | News
Hillary is the talk of 2016. Will she run? According to the pundit class whose water cooler speculation gets repackaged as “conventional wisdom,” the nomination is the former First Lady’s for the asking. Following a coronation that saves her cash and...
by Advocate staff | Jan 21, 2014 | News
Industry Would Preempt State GMO Labeling Laws By Stephanie Kraft As Western Massachusetts legislators wait for their colleagues to decide the fate of GMO labeling bills, a food industry trade group, the Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA), is pushing a bill...
by Stephanie Kraft | Feb 5, 2014 | News
On the phone with Kevin Noonan, director of the Craig’s Place shelter in Amherst, the Advocate heard the problem of the Valley’s homeless in deadly cold sifted down to one ominous fact: there’s a lot of shelter room, but not enough for every single...
by Maureen Turner | Jan 21, 2014 | News
Of the kids he grew up with in Springfield, Justin Hurst estimates that about one-third left the city for college or work and never returned, either settling down in another part of the state or country or, if they ended up with a job in Springfield, living outside...
by Advocate staff | Feb 5, 2014 | News
At Whole Foods, No Sludge-Raised Produce By Stephanie Kraft Whole Foods Market has said that it will not offer fruits and vegetables grown with municipal sludge as fertilizer after this fall, when the company puts into effect a new set of criteria for food sold in its...
by Tom Vannah | Jan 21, 2014 | News
Why would a cagey pol like Michael Bissonnette have his computers scrubbed on his way out the door? The former Chicopee mayor stands accused by his successor of trashing thousands of public records days before leaving office. According to the new mayor, Bissonnette...
by Advocate staff | Feb 5, 2014 | News
Circus School Success is never final: the New England Center for Circus Arts in Brattleboro is celebrating the realization of its 10-year dream of buying a piece of property where it can consolidate its programs, now run at five different sites. But for the Center,...
by Advocate staff | Jan 21, 2014 | News
Laugh and Learn “Learning is natural. School is optional,” reads the pithy motto of North Star, the alternative not-a-school for teens in Hadley. But even the freest of learning isn’t always, well, free. So on Friday, Jan. 24, North Star will host a...
by Susan Millinger | Feb 5, 2014 | News
New England has a long, proud history of citizen participation; the town meeting is still alive and well in western Massachusetts, as elsewhere in the Northeast. Given this history of citizen engagement, it may be surprising to realize that some New England states lag...
by Shane Ryan | Jan 21, 2014 | News
Have you ever taken a selfie? Think about that question for a moment before you answer. Think about the word itself, which was just chosen as the International Word of the Year by Oxford Dictionaries. Surely you’ve taken a picture of yourself before. I...
by Advocate readers | Feb 5, 2014 | News
Tilting at Top Cops Regarding your Jan. 23 guest column, “Springfield Needs a Police Commission”: Jesse Lederman’s quest for a Police Commission is quixotic. Come home and run for mayor, Jesse. C.V. Ryan Springfield Self-Inflicted Injury Your...
by Robert Underwood | Jan 21, 2014 | News
We have all read the “official” unemployment rates. I have always wondered how many people believe those rates. Several years ago the author Barbara Ehrenreich said the real unemployment rate was closer to 30 percent. It must be even worse by now. When I...
by Advocate staff | Mar 4, 2014 | News
Seen This Painting? Drop a Dime Agatha Christie could have written this one, except she didn’t. It’s a real-life mystery centering on the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College—a cold case file involving a stolen work of art, Interior With Figures...
by Advocate staff | Feb 12, 2014 | News
Singing for Seeger Is it just us, or did it seem to you that almost every single person in the Valley had some sort of personal response to the recent death of Pete Seeger—an anecdote about a Seeger song that touched them; a memory of a Seeger performance...
by Stephanie Kraft | Mar 4, 2014 | News
The magnet of the Upper Valley is Northampton, home to Smith College, whose stately brick architecture, perched on a low rise, crowns the bend where Main Street turns to Elm Street. On Main Street, historic buildings with eye-catching architecture—the...
by Advocate readers | Jan 22, 2014 | News
Humane Meat? Not Possible In response to “Here’s the Beef” (January 16, 2014), about the opening of Sutter Meats: trendy words “sustainable,” and “locavore” may ease the minds of meat-eating consumers, but they obscure the...
by Rev. Talbert Swan II | Mar 4, 2014 | News
For the second time in seven months, the American justice system has failed to produce justice, demonstrating that it sees color vividly and in high definition. As the news that Jordan Davis’ killer would not be convicted of murder flooded the airways I sat,...
by Advocate staff | Jan 29, 2014 | News
Droning, Buzzing Confusion By Stephanie Kraft A drone that would track hunters in forests was offered for sale in October, at the beginning of the Massachusetts bow hunting season, by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA says the idea is to spot hunters...
by by Advocate readers | Mar 4, 2014 | News
Of Reagan and Seeger Amherst resident Simon Lesser (“Hail, Seeger!”, Letters, February 20, 2014) must either be very young or very stupid. Maybe both. He rants about President Reagan, a great American who kept this country safe by stopping the Cold War,...
by Maureen Turner | Feb 12, 2014 | News
In the days following the freak tornado that hit Springfield on June 1, 2011, politicians from around the state flocked to the city. They met with municipal officials, toured devastated neighborhoods and, to a person, vowed to help Springfield recover from the damage....
by Pete Redington | Mar 12, 2014 | News
Are you ready for some basketball? The NCAA has $10.8 billion that says you are. This month, CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting Systems will show all 73 games of the “March Madness” NCAA Men’s Division 1 Basketball Tournament live on their various...
by by Charlotte Burns | Feb 12, 2014 | News
What an unbelievable privilege it’s been to get to know Frances Crowe from years of attending her Friday Night Movies and discussion at the old firehouse on Masonic Street in Northampton! The Friday night movie has become a habit for me. Each week, Frances shows...
by Advocate readers | Mar 12, 2014 | News
Conspiracies and Actual Conspiracies In Charlotte Burns’ letter “Skeptical of Case Against Tsarnaev” [February 27, 2014] she writes, “Having lived through the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War and 9/11, I am totally...
by Advocate readers | Feb 12, 2014 | News
Ensnared By Goddess Hillary At any moment, America will experience the start of a modern-day phenomenon known as the Bandwagon Mentality. We have seen this time and again, but this time the creation of the bandwagon mentality will feature Hillary Clinton and her run...
by Norman Solomon | Mar 12, 2014 | News
International law is suddenly very popular in Washington. President Obama responded to Russian military intervention in the Crimea by accusing Russia of a “breach of international law.” Secretary of State John Kerry followed up by declaring that Russia is...
by Advocate staff | Feb 12, 2014 | News
Police Commission Scramble City councilors race mayor on issue of police oversight. By Maureen Turner The Springfield City Council is just two meetings into its new term, but it’s already taken on one of the thorniest issues in city government: a proposal to...
by Ellen Moyer, Ph.D., P.E. | Mar 12, 2014 | News
The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation is reopening public land to commercial logging, despite public comments overwhelmingly opposing this move. Loggers are preparing to clear-cut intact forests in the Quabbin Reservation, the largest tract of...
by Tom Vannah | Feb 12, 2014 | News
For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a visceral reaction to the idea of capital punishment. The notion of a government—any government—executing its citizens makes me feel weak. It makes me feel the extent of my own vulnerability and potential...
by Advocate staff | Mar 12, 2014 | News
Gas Company Explores Right-of-Way in Valley By Stephanie Kraft “I don’t want any part of it. I never would give up our land for it.” That’s the way Laura Chapdelaine of Montague feels about the pipeline Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. wants...
by Advocate staff | Feb 19, 2014 | News
Don’t Just Sit There—Read! South Hadley’s Odyssey Bookshop hosts a number of book discussion groups: for young adult readers, crime aficionados, Shakespeare lovers, fans of fiction. But its newest book group is especially near and dear to co-owner...
by Advocate staff | Mar 12, 2014 | News
Lively Protest Activists gathered last week outside the Holy Grounds Coffee House on Main Street in Springfield, to protest the harsh anti-homosexuality bill recently passed in Uganda. Holy Grounds was started by the Rev. Scott Lively, an evangelical minister (and...
by Advocate staff | Feb 19, 2014 | News
UMass Students Find GMOs in “GMO-Free” Foods By Maureen Turner Last fall, Rick Pilsner, an assistant professor of environmental health sciences at UMass Amherst, gave his students a challenge that would be of interest to many consumers: to determine...
by Advocate staff | Mar 19, 2014 | News
Worth Quoting “[In the 1960s], American students sought to wrest themselves entirely from the disciplinary control of their colleges and universities, institutions that had historically operated in loco parentis, carefully monitoring the private...
by Pete Redington | Feb 19, 2014 | News
This weekend’s NFL Scouting Combine, in which 300 top draft prospects will be evaluated by coaches and scouts, will have its first high-profile openly gay attendee in University of Missouri defensive end Michael Sam, who turned the page on a new chapter in NFL...
by Advocate readers | Mar 19, 2014 | News
What Has Noho Done for Springfield? It is unclear why the Valley Advocate chose to run a recent cover story describing economic threats to Northampton posed by casino development in Springfield (“Can Noho Survive a Springfield Casino?”, March 6,...
by by Advocate readers | Feb 19, 2014 | News
Showing the Abuses of Empire Bravo to Charlotte Burns for her excellent guest column on our free Friday night films in the Valley Advocate (“Friday Nights with Frances,” Letters, February 6, 2014). I would like to add to the column: it is not a...
by Advocate staff | Mar 19, 2014 | News
The First Churches of Northampton is exploring the sale of its Tiffany window, Rev. Todd Weir confirmed in an interview last week with the Valley Advocate. The church will propose the details of its plan in a letter to the Massachusetts Historical Commission....
