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Its Powell Time!…

During the odd-numbered years, Springfield finds itself in the throes of yet another municipal election cycle. Usually, the focus has been on the mayor’s race, as is the case to some extent this year. The City Council Race, however, could be heating up to a

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A Bridge Too Far…From Stable: Conclusion…

Spotlight on Minneapolis Bridge Disaster Tomorrow marks the two week anniversary of the I-35W Bridge collapse which horrified a country, but thankfully has only claimed 9 people. Another 4 or 5 remain missing. The question remains as to whether this nation will have the will

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Boston Beat: A Bridge Too Far…From Stable…

Spotlight on Minneapolis Bridge Disaster Today in the theme of the I-35W Bridge, we move east to Boston to discuss a famous and historic structure which is nonetheless emblematic of the problems Minneapolis brought to the fore. Boston’s Longfellow Bridge, also known as the Salt

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Oh, NO! 0-8!: A Bridge Too Far…From Stable…

Spotlight on Minneapolis Bridge Disaster Last night the AFL-CIO sponsored a debate for the Democratic nomination for President. The event was held at Soldier Field in Chicago and took on a distinct flavor when compared to the other debates. Present were NM Gov. Bill Richardson,

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A Bridge Too Far…From Stable…

Spotlight on Minneapolis Bridge Disaster Today begins a multi-part series on the implications of the Minneapolis Bridge Disaster. The preceding days of silence from WMassP&I on the issue were spent, in part, researching and reading the headlines in order offer WMassP&I’s first spotlight issue, which

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A Less than Clean Sweep…

Mayor Charles Ryan, presumably with the blessing of Stephen Lisauskas, SFCB Executive Director, fired American Sweeping Co. of North Andover after a lackluster job at cleaning the city’s streets. Aside from providing ample evidence that privatization of government services is not a universal good (or

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Sarno v. FCB…

Well it should seem perfectly clear to the Springfield community that this year’s mayoral election will be basically the challenger running against the Control Board. In other words, a redux of Decision 2005. In 2005, School Committee person Thomas Ashe, attempted to unseat Mayor Charles

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Just a Few Updates…

According to the Springfield Intruder, Bill Dusty’s new Springfield oriented blog, John Lysak has thrown his hat into the ring for City Council. Rather, he has announced he will throw his hat into the ring July 18. See the link at left to the Intruder

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Puccia Resgins…

Need more be said? The resignation comes a day after the newly seated Springfield Finance Control Board held its first meeting. For more details, see Urban Compass.

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Changing of the Guard @ 36 Court St., sorta…

Number 10 Downing Street is not the only place where transitions were happening. In downtown Springfield, the Springfield Finance Control Board (FCB) held its first meeting with the new members appointed by Gov. Deval Patrick. The new members are Chris Gabrieli, former gubernatorial candidate, James