News that Senator Benjamin Downing would not seek a sixth term sent ripples throughout the commonwealth on Monday. Words of disappointment and gratitude flooded social media after Downing announced his plans, but the 34 year-old senator’s ambitions for the remainder of his term suggest he
In the past week, there has been good news from Springfield city government. Efforts to improve the quality of life of current city residents have moved forward. Last week Mayor Domenic Sarno opened a new front against illegal dumping and today came the announcement of
…And the World: We begin today in Israel, where the Knesset is expected to take up a host of controversial pieces of legislation from the “infamous” NGO bill to those restricting to those further regulating businesses that are open on the Sabbath. Israel has faced
UPDATED 8:42PM: For grammar and clarity. With only days before Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire goes to the polls, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign is set to formally open its campaign office in Springfield. Following a soft open timed to last Sunday’s Democratic debate,
CHICOPEE—The image, especially in the social media era, is familiar: a politician reading to a classroom of children. Indeed, Senator Eric Lesser had actually read to students at Fairview Elementary School before. Taken in isolation such visits may seem somewhat unremarkable. Yet visits like this
In a Facebook post this afternoon, Amherst Representative Ellen Story confirmed her retirement from the Massachusetts House of Representatives after 24 years. Story, a native Texan, took the seat over from current Senate President Stanley Rosenberg when he was elected to former US Congressman John
…And the World: We being today in Taiwan, which has elected its first female president in a resounding victory for the Democratic Progressive Party. Tsai Ing-wen, a former law professor, leading her party back from the abyss in 2008, will face daunting task of the
UPDATED 1/14/16 10:40AM: To reflect an update in endorsements and to reflect a correction. Candidate James Gill is running as an independent, not, as previously reported, as a Democrat. With the slow gel of Democratic primary for Hampden County Sheriff is finally starting to firm
UPDATED: 1/16/16 1:29PM: To reflect a correction. Councilor Edwards led the Maintenance Development Committee in 2015, not Walsh, the 2016 chair. SPRINGFIELD—Opening its first meeting featuring new members with the election of a new City Clerk, the City Council began what some hope will be a
…And the World: We begin today in Israel which hurdles toward passage of an NGO (non-governmental organization) bill that would require organizations that receive more than half of their funding oversees to be subject to more rigorous registration requirements. It is written in such a