…And the World: We begin today in Turkey where local elections appear to have favored Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AK party despite weeks of protests and shutdowns of social media networks. Erdogan and Parliament were not on the ballot, but the mid-forties polling his
This Tuesday, April 1st, Westfield faces a choice that is no laughing matter. It will choose its next representative in the Massachusetts General Court, filling the seat Don Humason vacated to become State Senator. While Humason still represents Westfield in the Senate, his constitency now
UPDATED 3/30/14 8:07PM: For grammar & clarity. The relative calm of the race in Westfield to fill Don Humason’s rep seat suddenly ended this week as two hit pieces went out against Democrat John Velis, one of which has since been owned by Republican Dan
UPDATED 3/29/14 1:16PM: For grammar. SPRINGFIELD—The City Council’s brief meeting Monday night reflected well both the city broadly and the council’s difficult embracing technology and also the latter’s battle for respect as a branch of the city’s government. A light agenda greeted councilors including an
…And the World: We begin today in the Indian Ocean, where Malaysian officials now believe the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 ended. In a press conference, Malaysian authorities essentially extinguished all hopes that any survivors would be found. The Sydney Morning Herald writes about Chinese
UPDATED 1:19PM: For grammar and clarity. GRANBY—Caucus season has come and gone and with it a phase in down ballot races. Campaigns now focus less exclusively on wooing activists and take on the more visible, familiar contours of a campaign like collecting endorsements from organizations
WESTFIELD—With time running short, the candidates to replace Don Humason in the Westfield-only 4th Hampden House special election have done battle before seniors and the venerable Jim Madigan. Republican Dan Allie and Democrat John Velis traded political jabs, but found a great deal of agreement
UPDATED 9:19PM: For response from Arise and news of McFarlin’s retirement and to reflect a correction. Barbieri is the third, not the second Police Commissioner of Springfield. SPRINGFIELD—Backing off from the conventional wisdom, Mayor Domenic Sarno announced the appointment of Deputy Police Chief John Barbieri
…And the World: We begin today in Crimea, where voters there in an election result fitting a former Soviet region voted overwhelmingly to join Russia. Given the turnout and measures taken to ensure the proper result, this poll is simply no credible. Yes, it would
UPDATED 11:23PM: To reflect confirmation of details via other news reports and to correctly state a women is running for Gale Candaras’ seat. A previous version of this story said one was not. SPRINGFIELD—State Representative Cheryl Coakley-Rivera of the 10th Hampden district, Springfield’s only Hispanic