Western Mass Politics & Insight

Former Springfield City Clerk among Healey’s Picks for Revised Cannabis Panel…

wmasspi — Thu, 21 May 2026 02:09:33 +0000

Following a change of law that granted her sole authority to appoint the Cannabis Control Commission, Governor Maura Healey has announced her choices to run the revised and often troubled agency. In a release, Healey announced the appointment of three new commissioners including. One name is quite familiar to Western Mass and Springfield in particular.

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Briefings: Longmeadow Town Meeting Pulls Plug on Municipal Internet…for Now…

wmasspi — Wed, 13 May 2026 02:44:13 +0000

During Town Meeting Tuesday night with just under 650 voters, Longmeadow rejected a $8.6 million debt exclusion that would have financed the build out of a municipally-owned Internet provider. At the meeting, backers, which included the Select Board, mostly jousted with the Finance Committee. The Committee, a volunteer advisory panel, had given the project a thumbs-down.

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Op-Ed: Did a US Senate Candidate Kill Someone? Voters Deserve to Know…

wmasspi — Wed, 13 May 2026 02:40:50 +0000

By Matt Chilliak

“Have you ever killed someone?” isn’t the type of question you would normally need to ask someone running for public office.

It’s probably the most important question no one is asking Massachusetts Republican candidate John Deaton, who’s running for U.S. Senate again.

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Longmeadow Daze: Something Wicked Dark Money This Way Comes…

wmasspi — Mon, 11 May 2026 03:33:06 +0000

As Longmeadow has moved toward developing its own municipal fiber, that is local Internet service, a nebulous and shadowy advocacy group and one of the nation’s largest telecommunications groups have moved in—at least on Facebook in town.

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Briefings: With Judge’s Nod, Federal Oversight of Pearl Street Concludes…

wmasspi — Fri, 08 May 2026 05:05:28 +0000

A federal judge in Springfield has agreed to dissolve the consent decree that the city of Springfield and the federal government had agreed to in 2022. On Thursday, Judge Michael Ponsor granted the joint motion to end the agreement, which the parties had filed about 10 days ago. The ruling was not a surprise.

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West & East of Local Public Media, NEPM & GBH, to Formally Join Hands…

wmasspi — Fri, 08 May 2026 03:15:09 +0000

Seven years after New England Public Radio and WGBY merged to become New England Public Media, the nonprofit media landscape is shifting again. Last Friday, the GBH Foundation, which oversees NEPM now, announced that it would formally absorb the 413’s largest public broadcaster.

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Appeal Is Just One Stop on the Long Path to Saving Springfield’s Climate Grant…

wmasspi — Thu, 07 May 2026 05:24:25 +0000

WASHINGTON—Fifteen months after Springfield formally accepted its Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change (ECJCC) grant, it and several cities and environmental groups were fighting to keep the program alive. Far from 36 Court Street, in a wood-paneled courtroom between the Capitol and the White House, a motley crew of grantees urged a federal appeals court to reverse a lower court’s dismissal that had doomed an effort to revive the ECJCC program.

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Baystate Acquisition of Mercy to Alter Medical Landscape & Hopefully Avoid a Crisis…

wmasspi — Mon, 04 May 2026 05:20:43 +0000

The COVID pandemic, in the words of Mercy & Baystate's then leaders, provided an opportunity to collaborate and share resources. As the shroud of the coronavirus began to lift, they took turns appearing at the weekly pressers. One did not quite represent the other at each tradeoff. Little would anybody know then that their successors—or perhaps successor—could conceivably be in a position to do so.

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Springfield and Feds Move to Close the Lid on Pearl Street Oversight…

wmasspi — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 05:46:26 +0000

Just over four years after the City of Springfield, the Springfield Police Department and the federal government reached a court-monitored settlement, the pact may be coming to an end. Springfield and the feds jointly have filed a motion to terminate the agreement. If the court agrees, it will end a saga that has cast a pall over Pearl Street and City Hall for years.

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Analysis: Class Dismissed at Hampshire Should Be a Warning Bell for the 413…

wmasspi — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 06:24:54 +0000

Hampshire College, which ran a non-traditional baccalaureate program for undergraduates, is not representative of the 413’s higher education institutions. Yet, the closures of colleges do happen. Hundreds of layoffs will follow Hampshire’s demise. Just as important, the episode underscores the stakes for the wider Western Mass region.

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