HOLYOKE—Come next week, for the first time in 11 years, Aaron Vega will not represent the Paper City in any elected capacity. Compared to some here, this is a relatively brief period in public life. However, Vega’s arc has encompassed two citywide offices without the
Six Flags New England may be closed, but former(ish) Holyoke Soldiers Home Superintendent Bennett Walsh has had a roller coaster of a week. On Monday, a Hampden County Superior Court judge reversed Governor Charlie Baker’s termination of Walsh. His Excellency and his health secretary had
UPDATED 11:30AM: To include a statement from Walsh’s attorney. A Hampden County Superior Court Judge has sided with the former(ish?) Hoyloke Soldiers’ Home Superintendent, ruling that Governor Charlie Baker’s termination of Bennett Walsh was not valid. The ruling, if upheld, could entitle Walsh to backpay
A Fifth of Hampden is a series of profiles of candidates for Holyoke’s Next Rep HOLYOKE—In the recent past, before State Rep Aaron Vega announced his retirement from the state House of Representatives, David Bartley, a city councilor here, had also expected to retire. After
The saga of the employment status of once-upon-a-time Holyoke Soldiers’ Home Superintendent Bennett Walsh has reached a critical stage. Both the commonwealth—technically the Home’s Board of Trustees and the state Health & Human Services office—and Walsh filed papers for declaratory judgment on the pleadings. The
HOLYOKE—Whether intentionally or not, political power and attention here follows the city’s geology. Rising from the Flats—a term unrelated to terrain—to the foot of Mount Tom is Cherry Hill, where the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home stands. Despite its perch overlooking everything but the mountains, the wave
UPDATED 7/31/20 8:14PM: To note an updated counterclaim from the commonwealth which no longer say the Board did not specifically recommend Walsh. The employment status of Bennett Walsh, the Superintendent of the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home (HSH) at the dawn of the facility’s COVID-19 outbreak, remains
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
The race for the 2nd Hampden & Hampshire Senate seat is quite unlike any other for both the region and the candidates. Campaigning under the shroud of the novel coronavirus has voided rallies, standouts, debates and almost every visible element of the race, save yard
This post is the first of two assessing how the outbreak has altered top-ticket Bay State races. Last Thursday on the floor of the House of Representatives, US Representative Richard Neal was managing a pending bill. It was not the first time he managed, but