Not even a month ago, the Ludlow School Committee faced a controversial proposal to remove several titles from school libraries. Ultimately, it failed without a vote last month. On Monday, Ludlow’s legislators introduced bills to blunt the national book-banning movement before it takes root in the commonwealth.
SPRINGFIELD—Six weeks from the primary, candidates for open local races assembled here for one of the first in-person face-offs of the 2022 primary season. The senate side of the evening happened as Longmeadow Senator Eric Lesser exits the Senate to run for lieutenant governor.
SPRINGFIELD—This week the City Council revisited a troubled revision to a drive-through special permit that had hit the skids earlier this year amid an abutter’s complaints. The item has still not achieved passage amid a sluggish review. Frustratingly, the once-complaining neighbor has been MIA, leaving councilors to straighten things out alone with the applicant.
SPRINGFIELD—In what may have become a pattern, the City Council here held a second regular meeting in sequential weeks. This occurred in March, too. Its May 10 meeting consisted of financial orders and leftovers from the prior week. Thus, the meeting sped along an unusual
SPRINGFIELD—Beyond selecting a new colleague, the City Council’s Monday night remained within the normal. Still, there were a few standout items. The Council approved the first components of the city’s new master plan for downtown, namely around MGM and the MassMutual Center. A discernable vision
UPDATED 5/26/20 4:17PM: To include addition comment from labor and city officials. SPRINGFIELD—With Governor Charlie Baker’s green light, city officials have announced how services will slowly but surely return to normal as the COVID-19 surge subsides. Restrictions and distancing measures will change how residents interact
Rising like a monolith above the plains of urban renewal in north downtown Springfield, The Republican stands watch. At one time, David Starr sat atop it all, the representative of the Newhouse publishing empire here in the Valley. But from his office at 1860 Main
SPRINGFIELD—A short agenda sailed through the City Council’s Tuesday meeting here without any banality or vainglorious interrogatories. In addition to the usual financial housekeeping and grant acceptances, the meeting’s focused on a new library and new labor pacts set to last into 2020. The early
SPRINGFIELD—The Community Preservation Act (CPA) came another step closer to realization with passage of first step on an ordinance formally establishing its organizational structure in Springfield. Last November, residents approved a referendum adopting the CPA and with it access to moneys to fund historic preservation,
SPRINGFIELD—City councilors called Mayor Domenic Sarno’s bluff and overrode his veto of an ordinance reviving a commission to oversee operations of the city’s police department. The veto had come within hours of the Council’s initial approval of the changes two weeks ago, but Sarno has signaled