The prospect of running against an incumbent mayor apparently bolstered by a milieu of progress and strength is not deterring challengers in Springfield. Between MGM and a flurry of largely disaster-funded construction, the conventional wisdom is that Mayor Domenic Sarno is bulletproof, but that has not calmed
SPRINGFIELD—The ward seats on the City Council may be where most of the electoral action will be in this municipal election year. At least two incumbent councilors were already expected to face a challenger and now a third as Marcus Williams, a Grants & Contracts
UPDATED 3/8/15 7:34PM: For grammar and clarity. SPRINGFIELD—Mike Fenton might have never joined the City Council. In early 2009, Fenton had a tuition-free offer from Western New England’s law school, but his choice was BC Law, even though he would incur a six-figure debt to
UPDATED 9:52 PM: NEPR reports confirm Mayor Sarno has signed the casino ethics ordinance. SPRINGFIELD—Amid some uncertainty about details in the new contract, approval of the city’s pact with its firefighters—the first in years—was nearly derailed as officials scrambled to secure the details. While ultimately
UPDATED 2/27/15 4:49PM: For grammar and clarity. Changes are afoot in Greater Springfield’s media following the purchase of one of the region’s major television broadcasters by a media company that already had a foothold in the Valley. Last year Des Moines-based Meredith Corporation, the owner
UPDATED 2/14/15 11:35PM: To reflect a correction. The vote to transfer bond proceeds to overruns on other projects was originally reported to be 13-0. It was, in fact, 12-1 with Fenton in dissent. SPRINGFIELD—Finally holding a meeting after a rush of early-week storms scrubbed its typical
SPRINGFIELD—Entering after a rousing introduction from his political mentor E. Henry Twiggs, longtime city activist Jesse Lederman, a McKnight neighborhood resident, formally kicked off his bid for City Council at-large Wednesday night. Promising to bring a smarter, more innovative direction to 36 Court Street, Lederman called
January is bill-filing time at the Massachusetts legislature and area lawmakers, including the newest ones were busy. It is too soon to declare any bill a success—they must pass first—but one piece of legislation Senator Eric Lesser filed has potential beyond the meaning of its
And so it came to pass. The epic goes unfinished. Troy did not fall. Turnus was not slain. Thus another story came to be. The White Whale escaped. Gatsby is dead…or at least his political career is. Today former Massachusetts Governor and 2012 Republican presidential
Leave it our mayor to occupy two perhaps diametrically opposed planes at the same time. This week Mayor Domenic Sarno criticized social service agencies’ placement of poor families—homeless in hotels—in several apartment buildings throughout the city. It was reminiscent of, though distinct from, his complaints
