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
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—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
SPRINGFIELD—Lighting a menorah on Court Square in downtown, a 35 year tradition, seemed unlikely to make world news. Local rabbis joined city officials, the mayor and US Rep Richard Neal to mark the first of eight days the temple menorah burned with only a day’s
SPRINGFIELD—With the latest election cycle concluded, eyes are beginning to turn to 2015. While it is too early to know exactly what to expect from next year’s elections, the City Council appears set to reelect Ward 2 Councilor Michael Fenton as its president for another
SPRINGFIELD—Facing almost no resistance in either votes or oratory, the City Council voted Monday night, in effect, to continue its role in the battle against the proposed biomass power plant on Page Boulevard. Former City Councilor and City Solicitor Patrick Markey made an offer to
It was a little more than two weeks ago that the Springfield City Council did something it so rarely does. The body voted 12-1 to both assert the power it is imbued—power that it actually holds exclusively—and harness it for a cause that is not
UPDATED 9/12/14 4:18PM: To clarify that Sarno’s action does not, in itself, terminate the Council’s appeal. He may or may not authorize funds, but he does not have the discretion to authorize the appeal itself or not. SPRINGFIELD—In a decisive move to continue the battle against
UPDATED 8/17/14 11:00AM: For grammar & clarity. As a general matter, since the return of Springfield City Council has avoided the banality and pettiness that sometimes typify other Valley municipal legislatures. Without a doubt both happen at 36 Court Street, but it does not tend to
UPDATED 7/14/14 4:02PM: For grammar, clarity, and additional quotes & links. Welcome to the Sunday Feature: An effort to bring you lengthier, more in-depth stories on some Sundays. SPRINGFIELD—“More than sufficient, the budget passes.” Those six words from City Council President Michael Fenton on Jun