SPRINGFIELD—With its annual review of the city budget looming ahead, the City Council flexed its muscles Monday night turning back or sending to committee several financial orders. It may be too early to assume the Council will cut Mayor Domenic Sarno’s $616 million budget, but
…And the World: We begin today in Israel where polls show the public unenthused by the prospect of a unity government that would bring the Opposition Zioinist Union into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud-led administration. Haaretz report that polls show the Zionist Union, itself a
Better late than never. On Thursday the Massachusetts Senate approved protections for transgender individuals’ right to access public accommodations. The House is set to approve a similar bill. While bathrooms have dominated this issue, the implications are far broader than the lavatory. If enacted into
UPDATED 2:58 PM: To add additional details of Monday’s night Hampden Sheriff debate. SPRINGFIELD—More than two years after the race for Hampden Sheriff began with the retirement announcement of Michael Ashe, the five candidates for the office appeared for their first debate Monday night. After
…And the World: We begin today in Brazil where the drama involving the government there took another abrupt turn as the acting Speaker of the Legislature’s lower house annulled the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff. Waldir Maranhão, the acting Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies
Closing an odd and fraught chapter in the history of Holyoke, the City Council selected former Ward 2 Councilor Diosdado Lopez to fill the seat once held by at-large councilor Jennifer Chateauneuf. Following a long feud with a critic, Chateaunef resigned April 4, prompting a scramble
SPRINGFIELD—In a somewhat wonky meeting on a dreary May Monday, the City Council considered a host of financial measures from grants to appropriations to bonding. While most sailed through the body, there were speed bumps, which may presage a rockier path for Mayor Domenic Sarno’s
…And the World: We begin in Syria, where efforts are underway to salvage a faltering truce among the various non-Daesh warring factions. US Secretary of State John Kerry has called the situation out of control as he and other world leaders scramble. Several options are currently
Budget release day in Springfield has been less of a somber affair in recent years. During five years of Control Board rule followed by the economic crisis beginning in 2008, doing more with far less was a constant and self-defeating, if unavoidable refrain in the
HOLYOKE—Filling a vacant seat is nothing new to veteran city councilors here. Yet, even at-large Councilor Joseph McGivern, the body’s longest-serving member, finds the task of replacing his colleague, Jennifer Chauteauneuf, who resigned earlier this month, a departure from previous times the Council filled a vacancy in its