News
by Advocate staff | Dec 31, 2013 | News
Music in the ancient style: The Arcadia Players, the Valley’s own historic music ensemble, performed Handel’s Messiah on period instruments at Mount Holyoke College’s lofty Abbey Chapel Dec. 20. Started up here by nationally known harpsichord and...
by Michael James Barton | Nov 27, 2013 | News
The Obama Administration is currently working with the international community to relieve Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad of his chemical weapons stockpile. Of course, there’s ample reason for pessimism. Even if American and Russian officials were to work in...
by Advocate readers | Dec 31, 2013 | News
For Shame And in this week’s “I can’t believe what I just read” is the piece by Maureen Turner (“Prison Politics,” December 17, 2013) in which she attempts to frame the argument against the prison-industrial complex by describing...
by Maureen Turner | Nov 27, 2013 | News
When I moved to the Valley in 1996, casino gambling was a red-hot issue. A number of communities had already voted on whether they would welcome a casino inside their borders. In Holyoke, they’d said yes; in Springfield, where the matter was a major factor in...
by Clive Thompson | Dec 31, 2013 | News
In the spring, members of Congress set off to fly home for a holiday—and ran into mammoth lines at the airports. Why were things so bad? Because of airport furloughs caused by the “sequester.” Critics warned that the sequester would cause hardship...
by Maureen Turner | Dec 4, 2013 | News
There’s something rather romantic about the way Mitchell Etess, Mohegan Sun’s CEO, talks about his company’s new partnership with the Suffolk Downs racetrack. In a statement announcing the deal last week, Etess might have been describing two new...
by Sal Circosta | Dec 31, 2013 | News
Two years ago I opened the doors to my new business, Sal’s Bakery and Café in Springfield. As a new small business owner, I had my ups and downs. Taxes, inventory, utilities, advertising, everything comes with an ever-increasing price tag. Now our...
by Advocate staff | Dec 4, 2013 | News
No Fun What’s on the kiddies’ Christmas list this year? A potty seat with a built-in tablet screen, so toddlers can watch videos and play with apps while they do their business? The Monopoly Empire game, which replaces the iconic tokens with branded...
by Advocate staff | Jan 2, 2014 | News
The Health Care Scrimmage: A Few Yards Gained The lurching machinery of the Affordable Care Act moves slowly forward as people continue to sign up for health insurance in spite of daunting technical difficulties. In Massachusetts, where 97 percent of the...
by Advocate staff | Dec 4, 2013 | News
Who’s Been Slacking Off in Santa’s Workshop? By Maureen Turner What conveys the magic of the holiday season better than a toy box full of lead, toxic plastics and lots of little parts that toddlers can choke on? Last week, MassPIRG released its 28th...
by Advocate staff | Jan 7, 2014 | News
Worker-owned, patron-supported: On the brink of being forced to empty its shelves, the Food For Thought Bookstore workers’ collective appealed to its supporters and raised $40,573—more than its goal of $38,000— between Nov. 16 and the end of 2013,...
by Bernadette Giblin | Dec 4, 2013 | News
A bevy of emails has landed in my inbox, each raising the same question: Is there a safe, effective, economical way to remove the weeds growing on Northampton’s Florence Fields besides a broad spraying of Roundup? Yes, of course! After all, the best-selling...
by Advocate readers | Jan 7, 2014 | News
Horns for the Advocate? Regarding the Halos and Horns issue (December 26, 2013), I think you missed a good opportunity to assess yourselves as deserving horns for failing to offer sufficient coverage of perhaps the two biggest anniversaries affecting our lives: the...
by Advocate readers | Dec 4, 2013 | News
Patrick’s Puzzling Priorities Tom Vannah got it right in his column, “Our NIMBY Governor” (November 21, 2013): Deval Patrick is indeed “smug” and “tone deaf” and, furthermore, he has a strange set of priorities. He recently...
by Pete Redington | Jan 7, 2014 | News
The Olympics are never political. Except when they are. The question of what, if anything, might be done by the gay rights community and its supporters to address Russia’s stringent anti-gay laws came to a crescendo recently when President Obama named the...
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...
