By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, YEAR’S-END EDITION, 2015) — To close out the year, THE PLANET has a little fun in store for you. Below are a series of photographs, each needing a caption. Try your hand at wit, stinging, zinging, and capturing in just a few words the […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 30, 2015) — In a few short days, the new mayor, The Lovely Linda Tyer, shall take over. Here are 10 recommendations for TLLT from THE PLANET. 1. Order Sue Carmel to dress more professionally for city council meetings. The council chamber […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, DEC. 29, 2015) — As many folks realize, without THE PLANET, you just aren’t being informed. With that sentiment in mind, we bring you commentary on four recent “news” items. We do this to illustrate that even when the Mainstream Media (MM) “covers” […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, DEC. 28, 2105) — What are the defining factors that decide on the economic health or illness of a city? “We look at wages and employment,” says Charles Murray, of the American Institute for Economic Research. For Pittsfield, thus the story remains told — […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, CHRISTMAS WEEKEND EDITION, 2015) — On this Christmas Day and weekend, with summer more in the warm air than winter’s cold bluster, we leave you with this simple, little poem. No politics shall cross these keys today, no empty abysms, but rather a Christmas […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, CHRISTMAS EVE, 2015) — There’s probably not a soul out there who has escaped the shadow of cancer, either directly or by watching a family member, loved one, or friend go through it. THE PLANET? Count us in this not-so-select number. Over the […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 23, 2015) — Happy Birthday, V- O_- \ = —. <3 <3 <3. With that coded reverse-coda dispatched, THE PLANET presents mayor-elect Linda Tyer‘s response to the AG‘s recent finding that the Pittsfield City Council broke the state Open Meeting Law on […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, DEC. 22, FIRST DAY OF WINTER, 2015) — First, an important announcement. THE PLANET knows of two beautiful, adorable kittens, from a litter of eight, that are in dire need of adoption. They are in a neglected state, and we need two angels […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, DEC. 21, 2015) — Terry Kinnas is Don Larsen on Oct. 8, 1956. He’s perfect. Kinnas is now 8-for-8 — Eight formal complaints of law breaking by city officials, and eight favorable rulings by the AG’s office. THE PLANET thinks its eight, but […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, DEC. 17, 2015) — So what happened at the Community ReStart meeting Tuesday night? THE PLANET shares this Facebook post: Go PittsfieldCommunity Restart- Info Meeting & Send off for terminated Director Paul Deslauriers “In the end, the meeting as advertised in the agenda […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 16, 2015) — Today THE PLANET steps back from the sewers of corruption and politics to bring you a baseball story — one that’s also a story of the resilience of the human spirit. We pass it along, hot from our good […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAy, DEC. 15, 2015) — Tonight from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the second floor conference room at The Berkshire Athenaeum in Pittsfield, the troubled agency Community ReStart has scheduled a meeting to announce yet another reorganization. The agency also plans to “honor” its former executive […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, DEC. 14, 2015) — What is going on at Community ReStart, the “not-for-profit” agency formerly known as Bershire Co-Act? THE PLANET and many others want to know. About three weeks ago, the agency announced that it had parted ways with its director for the […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY Fifth of Five Parts (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEEKEND EDITION, DEC. 11-13, 2015) — This is how stupid the “Profiles in Cabbage” Pittsfield School Committee is. After the fight at the skateboard park across from PHS on Appleton Avenue and East Street, the cabbages want to padlock the […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY Part 4 of a Series (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, DEC. 10, 2015) — Yes, THE PLANET said Three Parts to the series on the phony deal authored by the Pittsfield School Committee in the teachers’ contract. Kathy Yon — a.k.a. Lady Boots The Betrayer — signed for the Pittsfield […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY Last of a 3-Part Series (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 9, 2015) — In the first two parts of this series, we examined how The Suits tried to hide the salary increases for teachers and other school department personnel (16.2 to 18.2%, revised upward based on more […]
