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SPRINGFIELD—There are still no legislative retirements among state lawmakers here, but the number of contests has only grown. Johnnie Ray McKnight, a former municipal candidate, has pulled papers for the 11th Hampden District. That puts him on track to challenge four-term state rep Bud Williams.
BOSTON—Governor Maura Healey announced Wednesday she would submit one of the furthest-reaching pardons of marijuana convictions in state history to the Governor’s Council. Barring Council opposition, the move could wipe out potentially hundreds of thousands of convictions for simple possession dating back to the dawn of the War on Drugs.
NORTHAMPTON—Aside from incumbent Maura Healey, the last Massachusetts Attorney General that had not previously held elective office was Edward Brooke. Still, three of Andrea Campbell’s recent would-be predecessors had been district attorneys.
Springfield politicos are no strangers to the Rumbleseat, a Chicopee pub just across the city line. Some have even held fundraisers here. Earlier this month, Ward 1 Councilor Adam Gomez sat at an outdoor high-top seat counter, as he had many times before. Come January,
SPRINGFIELD—Horses are in the streets. Fireworks are flying through the air—and more than a few houses. Mayoral chicanery is afoot on the Police Commission and Council unanimity reigns on steps to produce racial progress. Such was the nearly five-hour virtual meeting Monday. The remote nature
SPRINGFIELD—It was not their first confrontation, but the first where they could really mix it up—and they did. In a debate Wednesday night, James Welch, the incumbent senator for the Hampden Senate District, and his opponent, former Springfield City Councilor Amaad Rivera jousted on healthcare,
UPDATED 9/22/17 11:22PM: To issue a correction. Robles was born in Puerto Rico, not Springfield. In the hours after his death last week, Jafet Robles’s gaze was everywhere. Often rocking a cap and Neighbor 2 Neighbor (N2N) T-shirts and sweatshirts, the Springfield activist’s fierce eyes
The High Sheriff in America This post is the first in a series about the end of Michael Ashe’s 42-year tenure as Hampden Sheriff. PHILADELPHIA—Imposing, 30-foot walls separate the Gothic Eastern State Penitentiary from the charming, adjacent residential neighborhood. When built nearly two hundred years ago,
UPDATED 11:22PM: To include additional media and for grammar and clarity. SPRINGFIELD—With a debate growing over the effectiveness and cost of the United States imprisoning a larger share of its population than any nation on earth, US Senator Elizabeth Warren visited a local nonprofit that
SPRINGFIELD—Before a crowd filling tables and the back wall of the Elks Lodge on Tiffany Street, Mayor Domenic Sarno announced what had long been a foregone conclusion: he was running for reelection. As political events go, it had its moments. But for a politician usually