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Category Archives: Springfield

Springfield

Take My Council, Please: We Didn’t Start the Fire…

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

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Briefings: WSHM to WGGB: Welcome to the Family…We’re Moving in!…

UPDATED 2/27/15 4:49PM: For grammar and clarity. Changes are afoot in Greater Springfield’s media following the purchase of one of the region’s major television broadcasters by a media company that already had a foothold in the Valley. Last year Des Moines-based Meredith Corporation, the owner

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Take My Council, Please: It Becomes a Term of Years…

UPDATED 2/14/15 11:35PM: To reflect a correction. The vote to transfer bond proceeds to overruns on other projects was originally reported to be 13-0. It was, in fact, 12-1 with Fenton in dissent. SPRINGFIELD—Finally holding a meeting after a rush of early-week storms scrubbed its typical

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At His Kickoff, Far More than a Game of Follow the Lederman…

SPRINGFIELD—Entering after a rousing introduction from his political mentor E. Henry Twiggs, longtime city activist Jesse Lederman, a McKnight neighborhood resident, formally kicked off his bid for City Council at-large Wednesday night. Promising to bring a smarter, more innovative direction to 36 Court Street, Lederman called

Editorial: Perhaps Rail Can at Last Bridge East & West…

January is bill-filing time at the Massachusetts legislature and area lawmakers, including the newest ones were busy. It is too soon to declare any bill a success—they must pass first—but one piece of legislation Senator Eric Lesser filed has potential beyond the meaning of its

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After 10 Years, It Is Truly Mitt Night in America…

And so it came to pass. The epic goes unfinished. Troy did not fall. Turnus was not slain. Thus another story came to be. The White Whale escaped. Gatsby is dead…or at least his political career is. Today former Massachusetts Governor and 2012 Republican presidential

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Editorial: Doth the Mayor Protest Too Much…or Not Enough…?

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

Take My Council, Please: An Opening Bet for the Public’s Trust…

SPRINGFIELD—A cautious, but generally supportive City Council approved the first step of a casino ethics ordinance Monday evening signaling more debate, discussion and possible amendment in the weeks ahead. Ward 2 Councilor Michael Fenton, the body’s president, and Ward 7 Councilor Timothy Allen introduced the

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Briefings: The 2015 Council Session in Committee…

SPRINGFIELD—With the new year comes new committee assignments for the City Council. Ward 2 Councilor Michael Fenton, the body’s president, announced his choices to chair and sit on the various panels that investigate and review items referred to it by the full Council or on

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Springfield Casino Ethics As More Than a Game of Chance…?

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