A fog hangs over Springfield this election cycle. Contrary to the sunny assessment of and accolades for the incumbent, Domenic Sarno’s mayoralty has not been wine and roses for all. Yolanda Cancel is running a spirited bid, but Sarno has refused to engage with the
UPDATED 10/30/19 9:25PM: The Rules Committee has advanced the resolution to the full House. Representative James McGovern does not chair one of the committees that is part of the US House’s impeachment inquiry. The rep in the next district over, Richard Neal, does. Still, the
SPRINGFIELD—In its last full meeting before the November 5 election, the Council tackled principally financial items. More contentious ordinances and interventions, many of which were sent to committee at the last few meetings, remain on the backburner. Instead, grants, perks and tax breaks were on
UPDATED 2:00PM: To include details of Commission Calvi’s letter and other investigations. SPRINGFIELD—Before his online commenting past became public, Chris Pohner, a retired firefighter, was Domenic Sarno’s candidate for City Council at-large. On the afternoon of September 14, Sarno was rallying the troops at Pohner’s
UPDATED 4:41PM: To include comment from Mayor Sarno, reference to Pohner’s comments to The Republican, and clarification about “bathroom bills.” SPRINGFIELD—In 2016, after decades of trying, momentum was building to enforce the city’s residency ordinance. Most of the city’s bargaining units had accepted compliance. Applying
SPRINGFIELD—Once again, the City Council logged some mileage to get through the agenda. This past Monday, it was worth it. More than a dozen items were approvals of recommendations from the Community Preservation Committee (CPC), the panel that develops spending plans under the state Community
HOLYOKE—With state Democratic primaries, rising to full boil, including many against incumbents, candidates are missing few opportunities to meet party activists. The 413-based chapter launch for the College Democrats of Massachusetts was no different. On the surface, the event was not explicitly about primaries. US
When Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the US House of Representative formally announced the opening of an impeachment inquiry, she described team effort of sorts. While articles of impeachment will ultimately be drawn up in the Judiciary Committee, the many other committees investigating Donald Trump
Our One Hundredth is an occasional series on Massachusetts’s US Senate Elections. GREENFIELD—United States Representative Joseph Kennedy, III blitzed the commonwealth this past weekend as he launched his bid to unseat fellow Democrat Ed Markey in the US Senate. There is certainly a generational subtext
SPRINGFIELD—Queasiness about the city’s marijuana process had seemed set to dominate Monday’s meeting of the City Council. However, ratification of the first four host community agreements (HCA) flew by with little trouble. Instead, the struggle to reform police oversight stormed back to the fore, exposing