Western Mass Politics & Insight

Western Mass Politics & Insight News and Commentary on Springfield and the world... Watch for These Series:
Take My Council, Please: Springfield City Council Coverage.

Boston Beat: The Occasional Story About/On Boston

Our 100th: The US Senate Election News & Commentary

Longmeadow Daze: An Occasional Series on politics and government.

The federal government is suing the Commonwealth after Gov. Healey refused to let ICE and CBP use confidential license p...
05/29/2026

The federal government is suing the Commonwealth after Gov. Healey refused to let ICE and CBP use confidential license plates for civil law enforcement, which includes immigration. The Trump administration has lost several other lawsuits where they have tried to commandeer states.

Last week, Governor Maura Healey announced the RMV would not provide ICE and CBP with civilian plates. On Wednesday, DOJ sued.

The April 18 meeting of the City Council featured a fierce if not always accurate debate about the future of virtual p...
05/27/2026

The April 18 meeting of the City Council featured a fierce if not always accurate debate about the future of virtual participation for members.

The Springfield City Council had a debate on in-person attendance on April 18 that no councilor could miss.

LISTEN:Our editor-in-chief joined reporters from The Republican and the Greenfield Recorder on New England Public Media'...
05/23/2026

LISTEN:
Our editor-in-chief joined reporters from The Republican and the Greenfield Recorder on New England Public Media's The Rundown with Carrie Saldo to talk about a new school lawsuit, the end of federal oversight of the Springfield Police Department and more.

We break down a lawsuit filed alleging racial segregation in western Mass. schools, the end of federal oversight on the Springfield police department, the 350th anniversary of the Great Falls Massacre, the legacy and passing of former Rep. Barney Frank and much more.

Former Springfield City Clerk Anthony Wilson was among Governor Maura Healey's choices for the revised Massachusetts Can...
05/22/2026

Former Springfield City Clerk Anthony Wilson was among Governor Maura Healey's choices for the revised Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission. People who worked with Wilson in offered high praise of Healey's decision and Wilson himself.

Healey chose Christopher Harding, Xiomara DeLobato and Anthony Wilson, a former Springfield City Clerk, for the Cannabis Commission.

Longmeadow voters rejected a proposal to borrow $8.6 million to start up a municipally-owned Internet service, as other ...
05/14/2026

Longmeadow voters rejected a proposal to borrow $8.6 million to start up a municipally-owned Internet service, as other nearby communities have. The vote also came after a shadowy dark money with roots in Minnesota bombarded the down with ads and literature.

During own Meeting, Longmeadow rejected a $8.6 million debt exclusion that would have financed municipally-owned Internet provider.

Guest Op-Ed: Political organizer and strategist Matt Chilliak asks why nobody is asking US Senate candidate John Deaton ...
05/14/2026

Guest Op-Ed: Political organizer and strategist Matt Chilliak asks why nobody is asking US Senate candidate John Deaton about his own claims that he may have shot somebody as a teenager.

“Have you ever killed someone?” isn’t the type of question you normally need to ask someone running for office. You should ask John Deaton.

's push to create municipal-owned internet service provider reaches a critical point at this week's Town Meeting. That ...
05/11/2026

's push to create municipal-owned internet service provider reaches a critical point at this week's Town Meeting. That has also prompted an invasion of an untraceable dark money that has its roots in Minnesota and which has branched out and touched random issues and elections across the country.

For some in Longmeadow, it may seem like there has been somebody—or some thing—new in town for the better part of the last two years. As the town has moved toward developing its own municipal fiber, that is local Internet service, a nebulous and shadowy

Judge Michael Ponsor granted the joint motion of the City of Springfield and the federal government to dissolve the cons...
05/08/2026

Judge Michael Ponsor granted the joint motion of the City of Springfield and the federal government to dissolve the consent decree they had entered into. It had been established to oversee reforms at the Springfield Police Department.

A federal judge in Springfield has agreed to dissolve the consent decree that the city of Springfield and the feds had agreed to.

The principal public media outlet in Western Massachusetts, New England Public Media, is merging into its sorta/erstwhil...
05/08/2026

The principal public media outlet in Western Massachusetts, New England Public Media, is merging into its sorta/erstwhile parent GBH. The GBH says NEPM will continue to exist and insists the eventual savings will be reinvested into more reporting resources.

Seven years after New England Public Radio and WGBY merged to become NEPM, the nonprofit media landscape is shifting again.

In March, a panel of appeals court judges heard the appeal environmental groups and municipalities, including the city o...
05/08/2026

In March, a panel of appeals court judges heard the appeal environmental groups and municipalities, including the city of , had filed to reverse the Trump administration's clawback of climate grants. However, Trump's own tax bill may stand in the way and even if they overcome that, other pending litigation could shape the final ruling in Springfield's case.

WASHINGTON—Fifteen months after Springfield formally accepted its Environmental and Climate grant, it was fighting to keep the program alive .

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