Was a big flap over here on local morning radio:
"Northampton brings back downtown benches" Associated Press, May 31, 2013
NORTHAMPTON — Six benches will be reinstalled in downtown Northampton a week after their removal sparked protests and debates about homelessness, poverty, and the use of public space, Mayor David Narkewicz said Thursday.
Narkewicz ordered the removal of six of the 16 public benches downtown last week following complaints from businesses about loitering and aggressive panhandling that was driving away shoppers. One business owner complained of fights and drug use.
The mayor and other city officials said the benches were meant for short-term use by business customers.
‘‘Feedback on my experiment has been swift, impassioned, and substantial,’’ Narkewicz said.
‘‘Legitimate concerns have been raised about the loss of downtown seating, particularly for the elderly and disabled, and the perception removing benches may create that Northampton is somehow less welcoming, insensitive to class and poverty issues, or walking away from its well-established leadership role on homelessness and hunger,’’ he wrote.
Some people complained that the removal of the benches was aimed at discouraging the homeless from hanging around and failed to address the underlying problems of poverty.
Homeless? In Northampton?
As for the underlying causes of poverty, those rest in corporate control of the economic and political proce$$, and at bottom the private central banking Ponzi scheme that undergirds it.
--more--"
Another hot issue:
"Northampton man pleads guilty in fatal arson
A Northampton man charged with setting fires in the city, including one that killed an elderly man and his son, has pleaded guilty to arson and manslaughter charges during his trial. Anthony Baye pleaded guilty Monday in Hampden Superior Court, as the second day of testimony in his trial was getting started. He had been charged with murder in the December 2009 deaths of World War II veteran Paul Yeskie Sr., 81, and his son, Paul Yeskie Jr., 39, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charges of manslaughter for each death. Baye, 28, is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday."
Related: Globe Can't See Through Northampton Smoke
From dismissal to guilty plea?
Globe also never gave me anything on the police brutality, and local media quickly dropped it.
Also see: Six green ideas from Northampton
UPDATE:
"Mass. woman accused of killing wife seeks bail
A Massachusetts woman awaiting retrial in the 2010 strangulation and beating death of her wife has asked a judge to free her on bail. A lawyer for Cara Lee Rintala, 46, asked a judge Thursday to release his client on $250,000 bail. In the motion, her lawyer said Rintala’s family, friends, and members of her church have all helped raise the money and support her release. The Daily Hampshire Gazette reported that prosecutors oppose granting bail because of the seriousness of the charges. Authorities said Rintala killed Annamarie Cochrane Rintala, a paramedic, in their Granby home in March 2010 after months of stress about finances. The murder trial in March ended in a mistrial."
That's been another hot issue on local radio.
