UPDATED 7:26PM: To reflect a correction. A prior version of this post incorrectly identified the lockup involving Bigda as being in Wilbraham. It was in Palmer. Earlier this month, the Justice Department report on the Springfield Police Department landed with a loud thud. Not only
SPRINGFIELD—An accord to end the tensions between area social justice organizers and a local watering hole had already come together. But, as the sun beat down Saturday afternoon, it did feel as though the passing of Civil Rights icon Congressman John Lewis the night before,
The Friday passing of Georgia Representative John Lewis reverberated into the world and across the political landscape. He had been the last living speaker from the 1963 March on Washington and an icon in Washington. The mentor to a president and a colleague in the
UPDATED 11:32AM 7/17/20: To note Morse has now bought TV time, but not in the quarter new FEC reports cover. Nearly a year after the faceoff began between Congressman Richard Neal and Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse, the money race is coming into clear relief. Last
Whistle Stops is an occasional series of shorter hits from the legislative campaign trail. by Michael Lachenmeyer Correspondent-Intern Within the national Republican Party, few figures contrast with President Donald Trump as much as Governor Charlie Baker. Where Trump’s policies tack towards the right edge of
Shutdowns much of the nation underwent—if sometimes halfheartedly—to counter the novel coronavirus punched the ailing media industry in the gut. Closed businesses do not advertise, exacerbating the preexisting online flight of ad dollars. If the industry was reeling before, a pandemic would be an awful
UPDATED 10:37AM: To include statements from the City Council. After a two-year investigation, officials from the Department of Justice have found a disquieting pattern excessive force, shoddy and false recordkeeping and crummy supervision in the Narcotics Bureau of the Springfield Police Department. The damning portrait
Blessed are the viewers of public access, for they shall inherit knowledge of their community’s affairs. However, even devotees of Springfield government television may have mistaken what was the central issue during this past week’s budget hearings. If one could get past the City Clerk’s
UPDATED 4:30PM: To include a response from Walsh’s lawyer and details of his reply to the governor’s letter. A day after Governor Charlie Baker announced he was moving to terminate Bennett Walsh, the suspended superintendent of the Holyoke Soldiers Home, a superior court judge slammed
SPRINGFIELD—Horses are in the streets. Fireworks are flying through the air—and more than a few houses. Mayoral chicanery is afoot on the Police Commission and Council unanimity reigns on steps to produce racial progress. Such was the nearly five-hour virtual meeting Monday. The remote nature