Opinion
My Turn: Facts, opinions and falsehoods
By MARIE BETTS BARTLETT
The beauty of our U.S. news and information systems is that individuals get to say what they want to say, with only a few restrictions.The challenge is that people, including news organizations, routinely combine opinion and fact, and state their...
Carolyn Olsen: Questions about municipal retirement benefits explained
In response to letter [“City retirement benefit questions,” Recorder, April 7], all of this information is available either at the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission (PERAC) website at...
My Turn: Asbestos exposure can still compromise Massachussets veterans’ health
By CRISTINA JOHNSON
Over the last century, the U.S. military has primarily used asbestos because the World War II war effort needed cheap materials to mass-produce military equipment quickly. Considered a “wonder material,” asbestos was abundant in the markets, and...
Bob Armstrong: Saudi-Russian oil collusion affecting gas prices
The recent surge in gas prices is being orchestrated. Brace yourselves. What we’re witnessing might be just the tip of the iceberg. Maneuvers by Saudi Arabia and Russia in the global oil market indicate a troubling trend that could have far-reaching...
William Beckett: Burning wood for electricity is bad for our health
Kudos to Katy Eiseman for her call to end public subsidies in Massachusetts for wood-burning power plants [“Must stop subsidizing wood-fired energy,” Recorder, April 4]. Even if woody biomass-burning power plants did not release large amounts of...
Mary Collins: Let’s create 413 Day
St.Louis, Missouri (area code 314) has a yearly event to celebrate their city. Appropriately, it’s called 314 Day.Begun in 2006 to show love and support for the city, there are numerous activities and festivities citywide.I daresay we should have a...
Cathy Gouch: No good deed goes unpunished
Not so long ago I watched as a small team of volunteers weathered a cold and windy Saturday morning to help beautify our Main Street by removing layers of tattered and old flyers from the street light poles. With razor blades and cleaning solvent in...
My Turn: A new bridge over the Conn. River is not asking too much
By CRAIG FELTON
I am grateful to the Greenfield Recorder for granting me space to add to Chris Larabee’s article: “Visioning workshop considers future of downtown (Sunderland)” [Recorder, April 2]. I am quoted, rightly, as saying: “Forget about the roundabout.” I...
Neil Jones: City retirement benefit questions
With the recent retirement of Police Chief Robert Haigh Jr. it presents an opportunity to educate us taxpayers with whatever public information is available on the overall funding and factors of city employee retirement benefits. Perhaps an example of...
Alayna Van Tassel: Financial literacy is crucial throughout the year, not just in April
National Financial Literacy month is recognized in April, but personal financial literacy (PFL) education should have a place in Massachusetts schools throughout the year. When thinking about building a more equitable future for our children,...
Patricia Stevenson: When freedom of speech crosses a line
I write to say thanks to Tom Williams for his recent My Turn describing the despicable remarks made by our former President toward those men and women who sacrificed their lives so he can live in a free country and say whatever he wants to say however...
Susan Tracy: Support Ukraine funding
As Congress returns this week, funding for military aid to Ukraine will be on the table in the House. However, if Speaker Mike Johnson brings Ukraine aid up for a vote which will pass, the MAGA Republicans have threatened his tenure as speaker....
As I See It: Why America’s doctors are demoralized and in crisis
By JON HUER
It’s uncommon for us to think that doctors, who help us out of trouble, could be in trouble themselves. Yes, they could be and, now behind the facade of prosperity and authority, they are in deep trouble. But, when doctors themselves are in trouble as...
Connecting the Dots: The words between two sides so far apart
By JOHN BOS
To begin with, I cannot find the words to adequately express my deeply heartfelt gratitude for the many responses to my last column “With trust gone, cult seems bad choice” about my current cancer journey. I will never be able to erase the simple...
Pamela Kelly: Climate change expert shouldn’t be missed
William Moomaw is a global authority on climate change. A founder of the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy at the Fletcher School of Diplomacy in 1992, he was a lead author of five Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change...
My Turn: More public input sought in new phase of FirstLight relicensing
By JOHN HOWARD
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Ready for Environmental Analysis (REA) notice for FirstLight’s Turners Falls Hydroelectric and Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Projects on Feb. 22, a pivotal moment in the relicensing...
My Turn: Must stop subsidizing wood-fired energy
By KATY EISEMAN
The Massachusetts Legislature is considering a bill that would once again increase subsidies for burning wood, taking the state in the wrong direction in the name of “clean” energy.Biomass energy has been a controversial topic in Massachusetts for...
Pete Brown: Article on EV fires was ‘concern-trolling’
I was rather shocked to see a front-page headline (”EVs pose firefighting challenges”) in a recent issue of the Recorder about the danger of car fires caused by batteries in electric vehicles, as well as by the large amount of time and money being...
My Turn: Time to do right by seniors
By MARYANN SADOSKI and NANCY STAHELEK
It is time for the elders of the South County Senior Center to be acknowledged and be provided with a space to meet their needs for health and community involvement. Every time there has been a movement to acquire a site, it has gotten sidetracked...
My Turn: ‘Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong’
By J.M. SORRELL
‘For What It’s Worth” is a classic Buffalo Springfield song. It was written in response to the November 1966 Sunset Strip curfew riots. Stephen Stills wrote the song, and he first thought to write about soldiers and civilians in Vietnam, but he...
