News
by Meg Bantle | Mar 28, 2018 | Articles, Food + Booze, Food Booze and Beyond, News, Newsletter
With the last of the snow (hopefully) behind us, many people across the Pioneer Valley are looking forward to celebrating religious holidays in the early Spring. I was not raised Christian Orthodox, but I often celebrated Easter with my family with Orthodox food and...
by From Our Readers | Mar 28, 2018 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our letters to the editor page. Here you’ll find reader comments on Advocate articles and other news. We collect readers’ opinions from emails, letters, Facebook comments, and comments to valleyadvocate.com. Want to get in on this? Email...
by Gina Beavers | Mar 28, 2018 | Articles, Between the Lines, News, Newsletter
When I was nine years old, I read A Wrinkle in Time, the 1962 young adult science fiction adventure that had become an academic staple in elementary school curriculum. I was a lover of books and I was quite taken with both the plot and the characters. So much so that...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Mar 27, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Hampshire County has the highest proportion of women of any county in the state, and yet for years has been represented in the Statehouse mostly by men. With the retirement of longtime Amherst Rep. Ellen Story in 2016, this has been especially true. But this year’s...
by Meg Bantle | Mar 26, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Jeffrey and Jennifer Tenczar, owners of Greg’s Auto Repair in Northampton, didn’t understand why their lot was filling up on a Saturday morning to the point that it was affecting their business until they called police about getting the vehicles towed and learned...
by Sarah Heinonen | Mar 26, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
“Enough is enough! Enough is enough!” Hundreds of voices echoed off of the brick and concrete buildings that line Northampton’s Main Street. They were the voices of adults and teenagers, gathered together and united to bring an end to gun violence in...
by Meg Bantle | Mar 23, 2018 | Articles, Columns, News, O Cannabis!
The statewide adult-use cannabis regulations are finally in place, but for many small towns the almost-90 pages of regulations aren’t much help when it comes to actual implementation. In Erving, a town with a population of 1,800, planning board members have been...
by Meg Bantle | Mar 23, 2018 | Articles, Columns, News, O Cannabis!
Towns and cities across the commonwealth have already passed marijuana moratoriums and bans as the date that the state can issue business licenses draws closer. Below is a map of moratoriums (in yellow) and bans (in red) in the Pioneer Valley to date. Those cities and...
by Sarah Heinonen | Mar 23, 2018 | Articles, News
It’s an old conundrum: vote for the person you really want or vote for the lesser of evils who has a chance to win. Some activists are trying to give Western Mass voters the chance to do both. A meeting was held on March 22 at Amherst College to discuss the potential...
by Gina Beavers, Meg Bantle, and Chris Goudreau | Mar 22, 2018 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News, Newsletter
Marlon Bundo is probably the most famous bunny in the news right now. He’s the grand-bunny of Vice President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence and he’s been a wascally wabbit this week. Karen Pence and her daughter wrote and illustrated a children’s book that...
by Chris Goudreau | Mar 21, 2018 | Articles, Music, News, Newsletter
Folk-pop super-group Cry Cry Cry, a trio consisting of acclaimed singer-songwriters Dar Williams, Lucy Kaplansky, and Richard Shindell, is heading to the Calvin Theatre in Northampton on Saturday, March 31. The band made their debut in 1998 with a self-titled release...
by Chris Goudreau | Mar 20, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
There’s a new cafe that’ll be opening in Northampton in the summer of 2019 where you’ll be able to hang out with seven or eight lounging felines while enjoying a cup of tea. It’ll be the first of its kind in the Pioneer Valley. Cat.Fe Northampton is the...
by Sarah Heinonen | Mar 20, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
The Berkshires 100 Percent Renewable Energy Summit brought local business leaders, activists, and politicians together to discuss ways in which municipalities in the county can move towards a goal of relying on only renewable energy by 2050. This was the fifth in a...
by Gina Beavers | Mar 20, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Daily Calendar, News, Newsletter
MUSIC Faculty Concert: Voices of a New World: 7:30 p.m. Free. Jamie-Rose Guarrine, soprano and Seth Keeton, bass-baritoneNadine Shank and Laura Bolton, piano and Karl Knapp, celloBezanson Recital Hall, FAC, 151 President’s Dr., Amherst. 413-577-2154....
by Meg Bantle | Mar 16, 2018 | Articles, Columns, News, Newsletter, O Cannabis!
While the humans, are away the pets will play, but if cannabis is in the house, it could be a health risk to your furry friends. Doctor Ellie Shelburne, one of the co-owners of the Northampton Veterinary Clinic, said that cannabis is one of the top 10 toxins she...
by Chris Goudreau | Mar 16, 2018 | Articles, Music, News, Newsletter
Toronto-based alternative country, blues, and folk rockers, Cowboy Junkies, creates a melancholic feeling that’s combined with a mixture of genres and a collection of rock originals, cover tunes, and traditional songs. The band is best known for its critically...
by Chris Goudreau | Mar 15, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Local students want to meet with P. James Debney, CEO of Springfield-based gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson, in the next 30 days to create a dialogue about ways to end urban gun violence, not just mass shootings. Students from Springfield, Holyoke, and Boston...
by Gina Beavers | Mar 14, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
About 200 students assembled in front of Amherst-Pelham Regional High School at 10 a.m. on the morning of March 14. Gathered together, huddled against the cold, young activists solemnly honored the memory of the 17 victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Mar 14, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
At John F. Kennedy Middle School in Northampton, a police officer and administrator kept outsiders clear of hundreds of students gathered outside, but their words were audible in the cold, March morning. Students went up to a microphone one by one and gave the name...
by Advocate Staff | Mar 14, 2018 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News, Newsletter
A 19-year-old Canadian went to catch an event at Toronto’s Rogers Centre but was forced to park his Nissan Versa in a garage several miles away from the venue and from there take a cab. But when the show was over, he couldn’t remember where the garage was....
by Chris Goudreau | Mar 13, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
It wasn’t always such a bucolic village. Turners Falls, a village in the town of Montague has undergone a renaissance during the past decade. Where there was once empty storefronts, there’s now a vibrant downtown with a plethora of restaurants, a thriving arts...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Mar 13, 2018 | Articles, Between the Lines, News, Newsletter
I’ll never forget the Open Meeting Law conference I covered a few years ago in Northampton. Then State Senate President Stanley Rosenberg held the conference in March 2015 for local civic leaders and venting about the Open Meeting Law, which is in place for all of us...
by From our Readers | Mar 13, 2018 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our letters to the editor page. Here you’ll find reader comments on Advocate articles and other news. We collect readers’ opinions from emails, letters, Facebook comments, and comments to valleyadvocate.com. Want to get in on this? Email...
by Sarah Heinonen | Mar 9, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
“Come here, Bella,” called Roberto Bigio, 29, to a black lab across the room. The dog trotted over to Bigio, who stood in the corner of the common area in one of the pre-release/ minimum security units at the Hampden County Jail and House of Correction in...
by Chris Goudreau | Mar 6, 2018 | Articles, Food + Booze, Food Booze and Beyond, News, Newsletter
A limited edition craft beer called “the Farm to Trail Ale” was recently released on March 4 and celebrates the legacy of the Amherst-based Kestrel Land Trust, which has conserved more than 25,000 acres of forests and farmlands since the 1970s. The beer is a...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Mar 6, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
After several weeks of negotiations, Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant owner Entergy, potential buyer NorthStar, state agencies, and citizen activists have come to an agreement on how the shut down plant could be transferred and decommissioned by NorthStar. One...
by Chris Goudreau | Mar 5, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
It’s been more than six months since President Trump announced an end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protects undocumented immigrants who arrived in the country as children from deportation. March 5 was set as a deadline for...
by Advocate Staff | Mar 5, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter, Podcast
As chair of the Springfield Food Policy Council Steering Committee and board chair of Gardening the Community, Liz Wills-O’Gilvie thinks a lot about how growing up as a minority in an urban neighborhood affects your access to healthy food. She says there are 10...
by Chris Goudreau | Mar 2, 2018 | Articles, News
It’s been nearly two years since voters across Massachusetts voted to legalize marijuana, which set state legislative officials on the long process of creating regulations for the budding legal weed retail industry. But starting July 1, the legal weed business will be...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Mar 2, 2018 | Articles, News
Has this winter seemed unseasonably warm to you? Or what about that shocking cold a couple months ago? It turns out that with one of the warmest Februarys on record and a record-breaking two-week cold snap around New Year’s, the winter itself averaged out to be...
by Chris Goudreau | Mar 1, 2018 | Articles, News
For almost a year, the state of Massachusetts has been operating the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP), which reimburses SNAP customers buying fruits and vegetables from local farmers’ markets. But the program has proven so popular that it’s already almost...
by Dave Eisenstadter, Sarah Heinonen, and Gina Beavers | Feb 27, 2018 | Articles, News
Born the same year of the Columbine High School Shooting in Colorado, 18-year-old Madison Pease of Southampton grew up hearing about school shootings. But it wasn’t until 17 people were killed in the recent shooting in Parkland, Florida, that she began thinking...
by Valley Advocate Readers | Feb 27, 2018 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our letters to the editor page. Here you’ll find reader comments on Advocate articles and other news. We collect readers’ opinions from emails, letters, Facebook comments, and comments to valleyadvocate.com. Want to get in on this? Email...
by Chris Goudreau | Feb 27, 2018 | Articles, News
Angel Rivera, a table games instructor and supervisor for MGM Springfield, held a stack of 20 chips, or as what they’re referred to in the gaming industry as, “checks.” and told more than half a dozen students on Feb. 26, the first ever day of classes at the...
by Chris Goudreau | Feb 27, 2018 | Articles, Music, News, Newsletter
Alternative rock band Deer Tick, known for its blend of influences from grungy alternative rock, to folk, punk, blues, and country, is heading to the Academy of Music Theatre this Friday, March 2, at 7 p.m. as part of Signature Sounds’ Back Porch Festival. Ahead of...
by Chris Goudreau | Feb 27, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
More than two dozen workers and union rights activists rallied outside the campus entrance of Greenfield Community College (GCC) on Monday, Feb. 26, to stand in solidarity with thousands of workers from around the country during the Workers’ Day of Action. The rally,...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Feb 27, 2018 | Articles, Between the Lines, News, Newsletter
Fifty years ago, in 1968, student protests rocked the Vietnam War debate, and were eventually credited with turning public sentiment against the war. For young people, particularly young men, their very lives were at stake with the instituted military draft sending...
by Gina Beavers | Feb 22, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter, Wellness
The Springfield Family Resource Center of Gandara is located in a modest building at 18 Gaucher Street in Springfield’s Pine Point neighborhood, and upon arrival it’s clear that this social service agency is a community lifeline. Inside, the narrow reception area...
by Sarah Heinonen | Feb 22, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Dee Marshall, 73, of Ware, sits in the front seat of the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA) shuttle bus wrapped in her pink coat. She had a doctor’s appointment in Longmeadow today, as she does every Friday. She left her house early this morning to catch...
by Gina Beavers | Feb 22, 2018 | Articles, Arts, News, Newsletter
Social media expert, New York Times best-selling author, and pop-critic, Luvvie Ajayi takes the stage at Mount Holyoke College as it continues its celebration of Black History Month. If you’re in the mood for great intelligence, wit, and charm, this is the place to...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Feb 21, 2018 | Articles, Between the Lines, News, Newsletter
On Tuesday, Amherst state Representative Solomon Goldstein-Rose became the second independent in the Massachusetts Statehouse, changing his party affiliation from Democrat to unenrolled. Predictably, party elders and political pundits — the same ones that predicted a...
by Gina Beavers, Chris Goudreau, Dave Eisenstadter | Feb 21, 2018 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, Newsletter
“I can’t wait until the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo-Bell ….” Viewers likely experienced an unexpected craving for Chinese food when a Chicago’s ABC affiliate mixed up Olympics host city PyeongChang with the popular restaurant P.F.Chang. The news station apologized...
by Meg Bantle | Feb 20, 2018 | Articles, Columns, News, Newsletter, O Cannabis!
Algebra and edibles do not usually mix, but for Mark Wikar one is absolutely essential for creating the other. Even though his background is as a pastry chef, Wikar now uses a lot of math to create perfectly dosed edibles at INSA, a medical cannabis dispensary that...
by Sarah Heinonen | Feb 19, 2018 | Articles, Arts, News, Newsletter
For those people who just can’t wait for Spring to come, there will be a sneak peek from March 3 to 18 at the Botanical Garden of Smith College, 16 College Lane, Northampton. Fields of Flowers: The Annual Spring Bulb Show will be open to all. Right now, the...
by Chris Goudreau | Feb 19, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Unionized workers in the Pioneer Valley are rallying together to support workers rights on Monday, Feb. 26, at Greenfield Community College at 3:30 p.m. as part of a national Workers’ Day of Action in which thousands of workers across the country are expected to speak...
by Sarah Heinonen | Feb 16, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
A simple traffic violation has added fuel to an ongoing conflict over the role that police in Springfield should play in immigration enforcement. A group of activists and a city councilor believe that Springfield police violated a City Council resolution forbidding...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Feb 16, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
The day after Donald Trump’s election in 2016, corporate communications trainer Cathy McNally vowed to join activist communities to oppose the conservative forces that got him elected. Founder and CEO of the Women Speak Up organization, she realized that it was...
by Sarah Heinonen | Feb 16, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Shelley Svoboda, 64, lives in the big old house in Amherst in which she grew up. “It’s cold and drafty. The insulation hasn’t been up upgraded since the 1970s,” she said. She heats with oil, and even though she keeps her thermostat set firmly...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Feb 14, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Representing the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, 11 undocumented individuals will walk from New York City to Washington, D.C., starting Thursday, Feb. 15. Among them will be Eduardo Samaniego, 25, of Amherst. Samaniego is in his...
by Gina Beavers | Feb 15, 2018 | Articles, Music, News, Newsletter
Foghorn String Band at the Parlor Room Listening to the Foghorn String Band is like pulling out your great grandma’s handmade heirloom quilt. It’s American roots music drawn from bluegrass, classic country, and Cajun musical traditions. The band has...
by Chris Goudreau | Feb 14, 2018 | Articles, Music, News, Newsletter
Indie rock and folk singer-songwriter Andrew Bird makes what he calls “three-dimensional music” – a mixture of violin, guitar, and virtuoso whistling, combined with intricate looping pedals. Bird has released more than a dozen albums since starting his solo...
by Chris Goudreau | Feb 14, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
This summer or early fall, MGM’s $950 million resort-style casino is set to open in the heart of downtown Springfield, but before that happens the casino needs to hire 450 table game dealers, which is where the Massachusetts Casino Career Training Institute comes into...
by Advocate Staff | Feb 13, 2018 | Articles, News
Spring will soon make her way into the Valley bringing longer days, birdsong, and bulbs. In the meantime, however, we’ve still got to forge through the remainder of winter, and although T.S. Eliot lamented, “April is the cruelest month,” those of us standing on this...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Feb 13, 2018 | Articles, Between the Lines, News
T.X. Watson, a transgender student at Hampshire College, is planning to sell their soul as part of their senior graduation project in art. The reason: Watson will have about $45,000 in debt upon graduation, and parting with their soul seems to be the best way of...
by From Our Readers | Feb 13, 2018 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our letters to the editor page. Here you’ll find reader comments on Advocate articles and other news. We collect readers’ opinions from emails, letters, Facebook comments, and comments to valleyadvocate.com. Want to get in on this? Email...
by Chris Goudreau | Feb 12, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
If you’ re a poet, author of fiction, or creative nonfiction writer living in the Pioneer Valley, you may have the opportunity to win a full scholarship to the Juniper Summer Writing Institute in Amherst, June 17 to 24th. The scholarship is made possible by...
by Advocate Staff | Feb 12, 2018 | Featured, News, Newsletter, Podcast
There never fails to be a whole lot of news about everyone’s favorite sort-of legal recreational/medicinal substance: cannabis. This week on our new Valley Advocate Podcast, produced in collaboration with Amherst Media, we speak with columnist Meg Bantle about...
by Meg Bantle | Feb 9, 2018 | Articles, Columns, News, Newsletter, O Cannabis!
Franklin County has a rich agricultural history, so it was no surprise that several different farmers spoke at the public forum hosted by the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) in Greenfield. The forum, which was hosted on Tuesday, is one of 10 public forums happening...
by Chris Goudreau | Feb 9, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Rabbi Raquel “Riqi” Kosovske of Beit Ahavah, the reform synagogue of Greater Northampton, told a crowd of more than 100 people during a frigid Feb.8 rally on the front steps on Northampton City Hall that the Jewish community in the Pioneer Valley stands with...
by Chris Goudreau | Feb 8, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Following four years of active duty in the Army during Operation Storm and a subsequent five years in the National Guard, Michael Collazo found himself spending nearly one year in a different type of harrowing circumstance: homelessness. Collazo, 50, was recently able...
