This post is part of a series on the new Democratic House and Western Massachusetts. SPRINGFIELD—The day after Democrats won the US House of Representatives, Richard Neal was standing inside the federal courthouse atrium he helped build. The Moshe Safdie-designed structure is still State Street’s
UPDATED 11/26/18 6:20PM: To note Roman’s resignation letter and his new job’s location. Transition will come early to the Holyoke City Council. Ward 2 Councilor Nelson Roman will be resigning December 31 to pursue a job out of state. Although Roman’s exit will have an
SPRINGFIELD—Days before Thanksgiving, the City Council ingested parts of its massive agenda Monday night while leaving some leftovers for later. Although the sprawling to-do list included myriad financial items and orders, the legislative prerogatives had the most attention. Some were continuation of prior approvals while
Over the last few years, the Springfield City Council has expressed increasing boldness in its lawmaking power. Discarding the long-believed and largely false trope that the Council is principally a land use body, councilors have now put forward legislation regarding diversity, police management, and the
EASTHAMPTON—Dan Carey will be the odd man out among Hampshire County’s legislative elections for several reasons. Not the least of which is he was the only candidate in the region to have a general election. But in the indigo-blue 2nd Hampshire House district, Carey, an
EAST LONGMEADOW—Results in Massachusetts produced few surprises even as less than stellar results came in for Democrats nationwide. The election changed almost nothing in terms of partisan control in Massachusetts. However, a host of transformations lie before the region. The only competitive races in the
About five years ago this blog urged residents of our city, Springfield, to vote with their whole hearts, their whole minds, and their whole souls on the casino subject. Our preferred outcome lost, but the point was to call our fellow residents to speak at
There are only a handful of legislative races with general elections this year in the Pioneer Valley. There are so few it hardly feels unfortunate that we were unable cobble together our election guide for the general. Most of what races there are feel uncompetitive
Many states lay claim to inventing America. Few get as close to that being true as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Not every pivotal event in American history happened in our state, but it is not an overstatement to suggest that revolutions—political, cultural, technological—common start here.
We face a critical moment in our country and our commonwealth has a role to play in it. As pervasive as the daily national news grind can seem, it can also seem distant and irrelevant. That could not be any less true. Here in the