Search Results

Keyword search: Opinion

By MARIETTA PRITCHARD

We don’t often discuss the war, but one day last week Olesya and I spent a few minutes doing just that. She told me with some pride about the destruction of the bridge to Crimea, which I hadn’t yet heard about. Somehow tons of explosives had been planted there. And this came on the heels of daring drone attacks on Russian air force bases. Many drones were being made by Ukrainians in their homes, she said, using 3-D printers and other easily accessible materials.

By OLIN ROSE-BARDAWIL

Two weeks ago marked 600 days since the war in Gaza began. Six hundred days and nearly 100,000 casualties later, many have woken up to the clear immorality of Israel’s assault on Gaza. However, there are still many Americans who cling to a few talking points that allow them to justify the brutality — talking points which, over 600 days in, seem just as tired and trite as the war itself.

By GERRY SHATTUCK

On Monday, June 2, at the Williamsburg annual Town Meeting, Article 27: South Main Street Shared Use Path Easements, failed to pass by the required two thirds majority vote. This came as welcome news to South Main Street residents and abutters. The article was written extremely broadly; it specified neither dollar amounts nor spending limits, and it would have granted the Select Board sweeping authority to “acquire … by eminent domain, permanent and temporary easements, on and off South Main Street” as part of a project to build a shared use path through the neighborhood. It authorized the board to “raise and appropriate, transfer from available funds, and/or borrow a sum of money to fund the foregoing project and any and all costs incidental or related thereto …”

The June 2 Williamsburg Town Meeting left me stupefied and heartbroken. What started as a routine exercise out of Norman Rockwell painting quickly turned to chaos. It is clear that the vitriol of national politics has landed in our friendly town. The vote on Article 27 — a measure to allow the town to negotiate agreements for easements for a bike path — had all the makings of a culture war issue. There were social media posts full of misinformation. An otherwise upbeat meeting quickly turned into screaming matches when the issue came up for discussion. It was shameful, and we owe one another better.

It was predicted that there would be a falling out of Donald Trump and Elon Musk. What wasn’t imagined or hypothesized was the extent and viciousness of the war. Almost simultaneous to this feud, but not as prominently reported, is the vicious attack Trump has made upon Leonard Leo. Leo, the architect and leader of the Federalist Society influenced and aided Trump in filling the Supreme Court with hand-picked conservative judges who have enabled and empowered Trump in his quest for exclusive power and riches. But the justices may have a greater allegiance to Leo and their tenure will surpass Trump’s presidential term. This battle will be by surrogates of Leo in the Supreme Court and members of Congress, who fear being challenged by candidates subsidized by Musk. Trump may have met his match finally and may succumb to this attack upon his agenda, his competence and his hold upon the three branches of government. Fending off Musk and Leo may be the greatest onslaught Trump has ever experienced and may be end of the Trumpian era.

By ATTORNEY GENERAL ANDREA JOY CAMPBELL

Over the past few weeks, our office has heard growing concern about immigration enforcement happening across Massachusetts. Families are being separated. Parents are being arrested in front of their kids. People are being pulled out of their cars in broad daylight. Even ICE admits that many of those arrested have not committed any crime.

By BRUCE COLDHAM

Many North Amherst residents are grieving the loss of our local community farmers — Simple Gifts. As folks drive by the farm, they may wonder what happened and what’s going on now. There is activity which you can see from Pine Street, as a local Hadley farmer is growing organic squash this summer. But the farm store and former-CSA pick up remain closed. The Simple Gifts organic vegetable farm, which worked in partnership with the land trust, the North Amherst Community Farm for 18 years, is no longer in business.

A good-sized group of people attended the informational session on Mount Holyoke College’s proposed Geothermal Hub/Energy Center/Power Plant, held June 5 at Gamble Auditorium, though the college did not appear to engage in widespread publicity. Citizens from the community used other methods to alert the public to this meeting. Except for one speaker, all attendees who either ventured to the microphone or spoke from their seats, praised the concept of geothermal energy, and requested that MHC relocate its Energy Center elsewhere on their vast campus. Speaker after speaker raised the following concerns: noise from this “electric power plant” with air handlers outside the building and on the roof would disturb abutters, neighbors, and patrons of nearby restaurants; air pollution from the gasoline still compacted into the soil beneath the site, which had long ago been a gasoline station, would damage the health of abutters and neighbors.

Testimony I submitted to the Massachusetts Joint Committee on the Judiciary, June 3, 2025 in support of H.2052/S.1178: An Act to Reduce Mass Incarceration. Twenty-five years ago, when I began the Real Cost of Prisons Project, I naively thought if people understood the real costs of mass incarceration to people imprisoned, their loved ones and their communities and the hundreds of millions of dollars we pay yearly to keep people caged, they would see that this state-run, outrageously costly system harms, not helps, everyone involved.

By KAREN GARDNER

2,400,000,000,000! In case all those zeroes makes your head spin, that’s 2.4 trillion dollars or you could say 2,400 billion dollars or 2,400,000 million dollars. My goodness, that’s a lot of dollars! And that, though the number might turn out to be even greater, is what the president, the recurrent guy, wants badly to add to our national debt according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). It should be said that this increase to the debt has little to do with improving the lives of regular Americans.

Why are there Palestinians in Gaza, which is to say, why are there Palestinians still in Gaza? Why were they not removed, in the weeks and months following the Oct. 7 attack, to camps in the Sinai, where their food, shelter, and medical needs could have been taken care of easily and safely? Presumably Egypt was opposed, though we have heard very little about Egypt. Was the request made of Egypt by the Biden administration? Was diplomatic pressure brought to bear against Egypt? Uncertain. One thing we do know is that Egypt was never called out as one of the parties responsible for civilian casualties in Gaza, neither by the Biden nor the Trump administrations.

I cannot believe it. They want to make the church into housing. A disgrace. It mean more traffic. This should be stopped.

Why does it seem that Republicans are unconcerned about their growing unpopularity for all the evil and rotten things they are doing? Might this be due to the belief that there will not be a midterm election next year? As Trump continues to disempower the constitutional checks and balances of government the possibility of a fair election, or any election at all, has become more than just some paranoid conspiracy dream. Our country is savaged while too much of news media and our Democratic politicians have their heads in the sand. Without an election the great democratic experiment that has been America will be no more.

It appears the beginning of July will mark the end of Beaver Brook Golf Course. It will be purchased by a nonprofit land trust and rewilded into a park.

By DANIEL CANTOR YALOWITZ

We all learn at some point in life that nothing is permanent, all is transient. This is a powerful and poignant life lesson when it comes to us, usually through some major loss or transition. Growing up, I always thought that what I had and who I had around me would always be there. As I grow into my late 60s, I find that I’ve had to relearn and reframe that thinking — loss and change are a daily occurrence that somehow I must adjust to. It is a way of life for all of us.

By LOLI VIANA

There comes a time when even the most well-intentioned frameworks outlive their usefulness. When the structures that once protected us begin to hold us back. Northampton prides itself on its fiscal prudence over the last decade, but the current budgeting framework — once necessary and right — is no longer serving our city. The refusal to acknowledge this shift and the reluctance to move toward a more needs-based approach are now causing real harm. It’s undermining our city’s ability to meet its most fundamental responsibility: to serve its people.

By DOUGLAS J. AMY

One of the main things that separates Republican politicians from Democratic ones these days is that the Democrats seem to still care whether people live or die. Not so much the Republicans. The fact is that the way Donald Trump and the Republicans are slashing vital government programs will inevitably result in the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans — and many more abroad.

I was glad to see another article about the upcoming Northampton elections. It is important for residents to know who is running and what choices we have. However, as a former trustee at Forbes Library, I was very disappointed to again see no mention of the library. Forbes Library serves the entire community. Many people do not realize that the board of trustees, the governing board of the library, is elected. The board is responsible for hiring and evaluating the director and for the oversight of the library budget and policies. It is important that people know who is running for a position on the board. There are seven trustees and this year four seats will be decided in November’s election. I hope more information about the Forbes Library Board of Trustees election will be forthcoming.

I’m writing to express my deep concern about HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s recommendation to stop giving Covid vaccines to pregnant women and babies. His policy is not just unkind — it’s dangerous.

I am conflicted by Peter Bloom’s June 3 guest column [”Academic integrity”] commenting on Smith College’s honorary degree to Northampton’s Evelyn Harris. His point about the importance of “academic integrity” cannot be disputed. But in this instance, he gives Smith College a pass on its own responsibility for academic integrity. While the writer correctly cites the letter Smith College posted on its website explaining the issue, he does not point out that the letter also has no citations — not the Harris speech’s “borrowed” language, not from whom or what sources it was borrowed.

It’s no secret that western Massachusetts, like anywhere, is facing a profound political crisis. The Trump administration is tearing up the fabric of our society as ICE stalks our streets. With everything from Medicare to the Department of Education under siege, the very foundations of our lives are at stake. With simultaneous cuts to public services and disproportionate funding at the state level, we are confronting a precarious, dire moment.