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Columns

Jeff Wagenheim: Charter schools are needed engines of innovation

Thursday, May 23, 2013

NORTHAMPTON — As discourse on public education goes, the diatribe about charter schools by Deborah Keisch Polin and Tim Scott (“The high price of charters,” May 17) gets a failing grade for its misleading insinuations and outright falsehoods. Let’s start with the most volatile issue facing our schools: money. The authors say the Northampton school district loses thousands of dollars a year for each city child who attends a charter, … 0

John Stifler: Is wider gap an unintended consequence for charters?

Thursday, May 23, 2013

NORTHAMPTON — The current debate about charter schools in the Gazette is an earnest argument between throughtful supporters of these schools and concerned critics who argue that charter schools cut into the resources of conventional public schools. What neither side has mentioned, at least not so far, is an aspect of charter schools that ought to cause concern to anyone who hopes that … 0

Kipp Armstrong & Susannah Howe: Don’t blame public education troubles on charter schools

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

NORTHAMPTON — We respectfully disagree with the sentiments offered by Deborah Keisch Polin and Tim Scott in their guest column Friday. Our largest frustration rests with their misrepresentation of the finances involved in funding charters. The formula is as follows: Charter schools receive directly from the state the average amount the sending district is spending on a child in the district, adjusted to … 1

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Donald Robinson: Facing up to climate change
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Kristin DeBoer: Can the Valley be resilient to climate change?

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

AMHERST — There are lots of people who don’t worry that much about the future of life on Earth. I used to be one of them. Everyone needs time to enjoy today without fretting about tomorrow. However, like most environmentalists, I worry now — a lot. What is … 0

ADAM FISHER Raven Storm, 30, who lists her address as the streets of Northampton, solicits donations on Main Street last week.

Adam Fisher: Let’s go ahead and legalize begging

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

NORTHAMPTON — Here’s a modest proposal for the United States, Britain, France, Spain and whatever other countries imagine themselves to be exemplars of social and economic maturity: Let’s legalize begging. Since, among others, American policymakers to date have … 0

Claudia Lefko: Loss of arts center a setback for Northampton

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

NORTHAMPTON — The lease is up; the Northampton Center for the Arts is moving. Well, at least it’s moving out of Sullivan Square, but there is no place to move into. It’s not for lack of trying. Both the center and the Northampton Community Arts Trust have invested … 1

Jo Comerford: Congress, special interests and the sequester two-step

Monday, April 29, 2013

NORTHAMPTON — They’ve hit a new low. Citing significant concerns about long lines at airports and flight delays caused by the furlough of air-traffic controllers, Congress is allowing the Federal Aviation Administration to override strict sequestration rules and re-direct funds within its budget. And they did so with … 0

Louis S. Greenbaum: Amherst’s proposed rental permit bylaw a case of legal overkill

Monday, April 29, 2013

AMHERST — In a ringing endorsement of a proposed rental permit bylaw for Amherst, Eric Beal, the chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals, concluded that “Although the rental permit bylaw cannot cure all that ails us, surely that is no excuse to do nothing.” On the contrary, … 1

Priscilla White: Amherst’s rental permit bylaw is right answer

Sunday, April 28, 2013

AMHERST — I am a University of Massachusetts graduate who lives and works in Amherst. I am also a landlord with an owner-occupied home that includes a rear supplemental apartment that I rent to UMass students. It is a harmonious, mutually beneficial arrangement we all enjoy and it … 0

Lois Pare: From chronic Lyme to determined activism

Friday, April 26, 2013

GRANBY — I am a wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Up until 2005, I was a vibrant woman, teaching, working, gardening, reading, foster-parenting, playing with my family and filling every moment of the day with life. I never knew how wonderful my life was, but do now. In … 0

The right abutment, foreground, of the Lake Warner Dam on the Mill River in North Hadley is seen from River Drive. KEVIN GUTTING

Andy Morris-Friedman: Lake Warner is part of Hadley’s heritage

Thursday, April 25, 2013

HADLEY — Located in North Hadley, Lake Warner is one of those natural places that is a jewel. I go boating there whenever I get the chance. Just the other day I kayaked there for the first time … 0

Don Robinson: Taking the true measure of Calvin Coolidge

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

ASHFIELD — Ceremonies today in Dallas marking the completion of the George W. Bush Library and Museum call to mind interest locally in building a suitable memorial to Calvin Coolidge, our former mayor and governor who became the 30th president. Traditionally presidents, and most legal scholars, have held … 0

Bruce Watson: The next Senate debates

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

LEVERETT — Now that the Senate has debated whether ordinary Americans have the right to own arsenals that can mow down half a neighborhood without reloading, you might wonder what other flash debates are on the docket. Next month, the Senate will consider removing all stop signs. Ninety … 1

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