BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY WEDNESDAY, NOV. 11, 2015 — Today, THE PLANET salutes veterans. It is their day to receive the honors. It is our day to offer thanks for their sacrifices and service. Hail, heroes and heroines, all. Godspeed. For the day, THE PLANET offers this photograph of my father. […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY First of Two Parts (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, NOV. 9, 2015) — Laurie Tierney is the wife of developer David Tierney Jr. The Tierneys own a general construction and real estate-development company that has, for whatever reason (and the reasons are not germane to this series), found favor […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEEKEND EDITION, NOV. 6-8, 2015) — At 1:44 a.m. on Sept. 25, a 20-year-old “man” was shot in the foot, he says, as he left Johnny’s Beach Club on Wahconah Street via the back door. According to reports, investigating officers found a .45 caliber shell […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, NOV. 5, 2015) — Allow THE PLANET to share these post-election thoughts, randomly captured at various moments of the day and night, flitting about the senses like the CGI moths from Crimson Peak: Voters returned all six incumbents in the Pittsfield School Committee race. […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY ED NOTE: Let THE PLANET be the first to report that Rick Scapin, who lost by 13 votes to Donna Todd Rivers in Ward 5, was at city hall today informing the clerk’s office that he will seek a recount. Recounts almost never overturn outcomes. Any votes […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY ED. NOTE II — Linda Tyer will be the next mayor of Pittsfield. Unofficial results from all precincts show Tyer receiving 6,664 (59.63%) to Dan Bianchi‘s 4,512 (40.37%). Tyer told THE PLANET: “I am truly humbled by today’s election results,” said Tyer. “This was a significant vote for […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION, OCT. 30-Nov. 2, 2015) — Last night on PLANET VALENTI TELEVISION, we hosted a debate between mayoral candidates mayor Dan Bianchi and challenger Linda Tyer. After we left the studio, we retreated to our farm in Essex to keep bees and get away from, […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, OCT. 29, 2015) — There’s a scene in Woody Allen‘s Take the Money and Run where with his character, Virgil, is caught up in a bank robbery and sentenced to time in a Southern work camp straight out of redneck hell. You know the […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, OCT. 28, 2015) — Less than a week before the fateful day on Nov. 3, allow THE PLANET to share some pre-Election Day observations. These are not leanings. These are not endorsements. WARD COUNCIL RACES Ward 1: Lisa Tully (incumbent) versus Tammy Ives — […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, OCT. 27, 2015) — THE PLANET has learned more about Gungate. It is, as we say in the business, a story “with legs.” Our probe is ongoing, and we must do more digging before we can report on information that, if it bears out, […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY-TUESDAY, OCT. 26-27, 2015) — It’s finally happened. The citizens of Pittsfield have seen the true face of its $200,000-a-year superintendent of schools. That’s the silver lining of Gungate, wherein a 13-year-old boy brought a loaded handgun to South Junior High School, an asylum […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEEKEND EDITION, OCT. 23-25, 2015) — Last night on PLANET VALENTI TELEVISION, Supercitizen Terry Kinnas helped relieve some of the wearisome monotony of the campaign season by declaring his write-in candidacy in Ward 4, opposing the incumbent Chris Connell. Kinnas and Connell came on […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, OCT. 22, 2015) — Great guns. That’s what Dr. Watson has titled his tale about the loaded-not loaded gun found this week at South Junior High School. Pittsfield, welcome to Gungate. Herberg Middle School, as we all know, simply doesn’t exist, except as […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY Second of Two Parts (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, OCT. 21, 2015) — Pittsfield’s appreciation and stewardship of its important buildings and architectural treasures too often means (a) tearing them down (Union Station, the Palace Theater, the Peace House, and too many others to list) or (b) letting […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY First of Two Parts (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, OCT. 20, 2015) — It sits on a hill. It’s haunted. The ghosts inhabit vaults containing the surviving fraction of the past’s clutter — a sign from 1958 advertising dog-sled racing on Pontoosuc Lake; a target with arrow holes […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, OCT. 19, 2015) — Jaci Conry is a freelance writer who takes on such heavyweight topics as “i can do that Christmas” — tips on creating that oh-so-upscale perfect holiday wreath, mantle, and decor — and the benefits of “slow parenting.” That’s a […]
