Daily Hampshire Gazette - Established 1786
Clear
45°
Clear
Hi 78° | Lo 51°

Editorials

Editorial: Grant boon for UMass, Valley

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

State Rep. Ellen Story called it a “glorious, glorious day” for the University of Massachusetts, and she was right. Gov. Deval Patrick stopped by the Amherst campus earlier this month to announce that the Massachusetts Life Science Center was awarding $95 million dollars to UMass to advance its importance in biomedical research and its industrial applications. The money will be used to furnish the new $167 million Life Sciences Laboratories … 0

Photo illistration

Editorial: Best cure for Lyme disease is prevention

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Several public forums about Lyme disease have been held in local communities in recent weeks. The fact that these public discussions were held at all is testament to the widespread concerns, confusion and controversy that surround Lyme. Nearly everything about this tick-borne ailment — from its symptoms, to diagnosis, to treatment — is … 0

CREATORS.COM

Editorial: Business in need of watchdog

Monday, June 17, 2013

The driveway paving scam is an old one that still manages to snag unsuspecting victims every spring when hustlers make their way through the Pioneer Valley selling waste oil and slim coats of asphalt through high-pressure, now-or-never deals. Already this spring, a local elderly resident was scammed out of $1,200 by con artists … 0

Talkback »
hampforever wrote:
11:42 PM EST

Beautifully written. Clearly your years of experience working closely with students inform your perspective on this. I really appreciate your drawing attention...(full comment)

Deborah Coon: Time for Northampton to send children the correct message
hampforever wrote:
11:36 PM EST

Precisely! ...(full comment)

Stephanie Pick: Students deserve more than bare minimum
Other Local News
A letter from John Hancock, Sophia Smith's ear trumpet and a half-pound key: Finds from the Hatfield Historical Museum
From News »
Federal budget cuts result in fewer Pioneer Valley Head Start slots
From News »
Police at Patriots TE Aaron Hernandez’s home for second day
From Sports »
LaBron James helps Heat stave off elimination in Game 6
From Sports »
Editorial: Grant boon for UMass, Valley
From Opinion »
Ann Latham: Deaths in the family
From Opinion »
Cancer patients take fight to the gym
From Living »
Meditation: a new kind of family time
From Living »
Sunday tribute will honor Duane Robinson, the Academy of Music’s former manager, biggest fan
From Arts & Entertainment »
Clark Museum in Williamstown opens show featuring over 200 works of Winslow Homer
From Arts & Entertainment »

Editorial: With massive bird deaths, what price wind power?

Monday, May 27, 2013

Wind power is a cornerstone of President Barack Obama’s energy policy. He has strongly supported a $1 billion-a-year tax break for the industry, which has helped double the amount of wind power in his first four years in office. The intent is an admirable one: Wind power is … 4

Editorial: An unfinished experiment with school choice, charter funding

Sunday, May 26, 2013

The idea that competition drives innovation and chases out inefficiency is revered in America. Advocates of the 1993 Education Reform Act that created charter schools in Massachusetts, and of the 1991 law that launched school choice, rhapsodized about it. Take down boundaries between school districts, they argued, and … 0

Chris Barcomb, of Easthampton, sits where a bench used to be in front of Hay Market Cafe on Main Street Northampton Tuesday afternoon.

Editorial: What makes a downtown?

Friday, May 24, 2013

In response to long-standing problems reported by downtown shopkeepers, Mayor David J. Narkewicz took decisive action last week when he authorized the removal of six benches that had long been stationed along Northampton’s wide, tree-lined Main Street sidewalks. … 4

FILE PHOTO The Little Red Schoolhouse on the Amherst College Campus opened in 1937.

Editorial: End of an era for Little Red

Friday, May 17, 2013

As the final bell rang at a preschool on the Amherst College campus May 16, school staff and parents expressed dismay that the program was headed for a hiatus. Given the popularity of the 75-year-old school and the … 0

Editorial: Recycling’s durable value

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

About the same time that the American Lung Association was giving Western Massachusetts its annual poor grades for ozone pollution, news reports surfaced of Gov. Deval Patrick’s decision to lift a 23-year-old moratorium on new waste incinerators to allow gasification waste disposal plants. Traditional incinerators are still banned. … 0

AP PHOTO Ousted IRS Chief Steve Miller, left, and former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman talk during a break in testimony Tuesday at a hearing at the Senate Finance Committee.

Editorial: Healing the IRS

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

On Tuesday in Washington, the former commissioner of the IRS told a Senate panel that he was “dismayed” and “saddened” by an investigative report that concluded the IRS had wrongly targeted conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. Earlier, Douglas … 1

Editorial: Northampton floats flexible zoning

Monday, May 20, 2013

Residents of Northampton will want to tune in — and fast — to a major revamp being considered in how the city regulates what people can and cannot do with their properties. The city’s Ordinance Committee and Planning Board have been holding public hearings on a package of … 1

Editorial: A system that remains broken

Friday, May 17, 2013

Any way you cut it, what emerges from the din of a federal trial that unfolded this month in U.S. District Court in Worcester is a state probation department that is petty and mean-spirited at best, and highly dysfunctional at worst. The lens through which the community sees … 0

Editorial: Lessons of the Kermit Gosnell murder case

Friday, May 17, 2013

Limiting access to abortion does not stop the procedures from happening — that’s the takeaway from the Kermit Gosnell trial. For more than 15 years, Gosnell operated a cash-only, squalid West Philadelphia practice that specialized in late-term abortions for desperate, uninsured women. This week, Gosnell was found guilty … 2

Editorial: Finish the job on rental oversight

Friday, May 17, 2013

Ten years ago, Amherst’s health department set up a system to register rental units. Because it lacked enforcement power, only 700 properties were listed, roughly 44 percent of the number of rental properties, including complexes, in town today. It is time to finish the work through passage at … 0

Don't Miss This