The Northampton City Council President is running for Mayor By The Shoestring Gina-Louise Sciarra has been on the Northampton City Council for the last seven years, first representing Ward 4, then becoming an At-Large Councilor. She was voted council President in 2020 and announced her run for Mayor earlier this year. We asked her about … Continue reading An Interview with Gina-Louise Sciarra →

By Hannah Shaffer We’re in a moment where we can significantly change how renting works in Northampton. For the first time, the city is drafting local legislation that will shift the responsibility of rental agency broker fees from tenants to landlords. Last June, I began attending Northampton Housing Partnership meetings as a renter interested in … Continue reading Op-Ed: Northampton Should Ban Rent Noho Broker Fees For Tenants →

An officer awarded by NPD for de-escalation has a history of violently arresting houseless Northampton residents for nonviolent activity. By Molly Keller In 2017, the Northampton Police Department received a grant from the retailer Wal-Mart to produce baseball style trading cards to be handed out to school children in the city. Kids who successfully collected … Continue reading NPD Misconduct Trading Card #5: Clay Delano →

“Our policy towards Venezuela, or any other country, ought not to be motivated by greed.”  – Congressman Jim McGovern  By Celina della Croce and Michael Kowalchuk On Wednesday, March 24th, peace activists gathered outside Representative Jim McGovern’s Northampton district office to protest US policy towards Venezuela. Though the US alleges that its series of sanctions seek … Continue reading Peace Activists Pressure McGovern’s Office to Take a Stand on US Policy in Venezuela →