By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, AUG. 9, 2012) — We lead off today with a remembrance of the late, great Gore Vidal. Along the way to becoming a writer — and before and after all else (broadcaster, educator), that’s what we consider ourselves to be — THE PLANET […]
By DANVALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary ADD #1 TUESDAY 8/7/12 — May we cut to the chase here. Let THE PLANET be the first to report that Mitt Romney‘s choice for vice president will be … drumroll, maestro … … MARCO RUBIO. Rubio, the junior senator from Florida, will help Romney in that key […]
By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, AUG. 6, 2012 — Welcome to the new week. THE PLANET is back from scurrying to far parts of the country, and now we are back, all fagged, fashed, jet-lagged, and fulfilled. In the meantime, though … … Here’s a photo tribute to […]
By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, AUG. 6, 2012) — How stupid has America become? We share this wire story: Seventeen-year-old John Clark of Vancouver, Wash., knew what to do when he saw a boy struggling to stay afloat in the surf off the Oregon coast. The trained pool […]
By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, AUG. 2, 2012) — A couple days ago, Charley Garivaltis sent a comment to THE PLANET with which we agreed in total. The redoubtable CG, one of the best athletes ever to come out of Berkshire County and THE PLANET‘s vote for Best […]
By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, AUG. 1, 2012) — Welcome to August, a fond adieu to July. “Will it go round in circles? Will it fly high like a bird up in the sky?” — Billy Preston. Yesterday, the Boring Broadsheet ran a well-done piece by Dick Lindsay about […]
By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, JULY 31, 2012) — The mailbag has been full to overflowing, and let’s begin today by letting We The People have their say on issues that are of concern to them. THE PLANET is honored to provide this space for letters, opinions, and […]
By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, FRIDAY, JULY 27, 2012) — We start off the weekend an item that ran yesterday on THE PLANET. We included it as the last piece of several, and the amount of interest in this subject prompts its reposting today, to keep this alive for […]
By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012) — Former Pittsfield Arts Commissioner Dan O’Connell has sent the family obituary for Kitty Lichtenstein, the partron of the arts in Pittsfield who did more for the cause than any 10 you might care to offer. O’Connell writes: In the […]
By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 2012) — You remember Biddeford, Maine? That was the little town that rocketed Greylock Federal Credit Union President Angelo Stracuzzi to fame then shame. Angelo’s trip there right about this time of month a handful of years ago caught up with […]
By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, JULY 24, 2012) — The fiscal good news: the city of Pittsfield’s health insurance program ran at a surplus last year. The city pays for employee health insurance through the state’s Group Insurance Commission (GIC), which takes advantage of pool coverage. Now the […]
By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, JULY 23, 2012) — Responding to directives of the International Civil Aviation Organization‘s Runway Safety Area (RSA) regulations, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recommended that commercial airports have 1,000 feel of level ground adjoining the end of all runways. The FAA, however, realized […]
By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, FRIDAY, JULY 20, 2012) — THE PLANET has obtained a copy of the following e-mail, from Alfred “Alf” Barbalunga, school committee chair, to members of his committee, council-committee liason Kevin Sherman, and Dupere, the committee’s $3,000-a-month law firm. The e-mail is actually the “forward” of […]
By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, July 19, 2012) — Serious questions have been raised concerning the iPad initiative for Advanced Placement students in Pittsfield Public Schools, a program that will cost taxpayers $166,500 (333 iPads at $500 each). That’s a lot of money (the cost of one superintendent […]
By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012) — Those who argue that the 2.5 percent take hike under Mayor Dan Bianchi‘s FY13 budget is reasonable can make a reasonable case. The hike is about half of what the good citizens of Pittsfield have become used to, and […]
By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, JULY 17, 2012) — Some pictures are priceless because of their circumstances, such as Joe Rosenthal‘s immortal photo of the Marines raising the flag on Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, in 1945. Other pictures lack the historic dimension, but we cherish them for who […]
