SPRINGFIELD—In a lavish ceremony last year featuring city vehicles festooned with flags and all the pomp and circumstance the City of Homes can muster, Springfield swore in John Barbieri as its top cop. Some observers likened it to a coronation, and Barbieri, possessing a humble mien, probably would have
UPDATED 4/2/15 3:53PM: To reflect confirmation from Bewsee and new comments from her. Papers were only available yesterday, but it seems a major political cycle is underway in Springfield with word that another potential candidate has dipped a toe into the mayoral pool. Arise for
Springfield resident and former bakery owner Salvatore Circosta has confirmed his campaign for mayor in a press release issued earlier today. Touting his community outreach while running his bakery & cafe at the X, the release said he would make his formal announcement Thursday at
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
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
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
SPRINGFIELD—Fresh from being sworn in for a second year as the City Council president, Ward 2 Councilor Michael Fenton kicked off the election year legislative session with a casino ethics ordinance that has turned heads across the state and the nation. The ordinance, an amendment
SPRINGFIELD—Lighting a menorah on Court Square in downtown, a 35 year tradition, seemed unlikely to make world news. Local rabbis joined city officials, the mayor and US Rep Richard Neal to mark the first of eight days the temple menorah burned with only a day’s
SPRINGFIELD—With the latest election cycle concluded, eyes are beginning to turn to 2015. While it is too early to know exactly what to expect from next year’s elections, the City Council appears set to reelect Ward 2 Councilor Michael Fenton as its president for another