The Shoestring

The petit bourgeoisie begs for spare change BLAIR GIMMA On Monday, Feb 5, local small business owners met at Union Station to talk with a statewide Retail Task Force, whose focus is to “to review and report on efforts to strengthen the local retail sector in the commonwealth.” Shoestring co-editor Will Meyer and I felt […]

A new local film designed to recruit future police officers isn’t very good. WILL MEYER & LES MACK The Northampton Police Department released a short documentary film last week. I am not sure if it will be submitted to major film festivals, as it was first published on YouTube, skipping a theatrical release all together. […]

Northampton City Council owns a van BLAIR GIMMA [Editor’s note: We are thrilled to announce that Blair Gimma will be reporting regularly on Northampton City Council meetings. This is the second installment of a regular column that will push beyond the banality of journalistic convention; it will try out creative ways to hold elected representatives […]

A new amendment to Northampton City Council rules could chill dissent in The Chamber BLAIR GIMMA & WILL MEYER On January 8th, after a four month long showdown over surveillance, Northampton City Council voted to uphold an ordinance that significantly limits the installation of police cameras downtown. The Council stood strong after Mayor Nakewicz’s troubling, […]

On the history of a Hadley witch hunt in the age of Donald Trump SARAH JANE YOUNG On January 10th, 2018, Donald Trump wrote to the world via Twitter: “The single greatest Witch Hunt in American history continues. There was no collusion, everybody including the Dems knows there was no collusion, & yet on and […]