Planet Valenti

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY [ED. NOTE: On Monday afternoon, Aug. 8., at a secret location on a mountaintop high above the city, THE PLANET will be sitting in from of a couple video cameras and in between sheriff candidates Tom Bowler (incumbent) and Alf Barbalunga (challenger) filming a one-hour conversation-cum-confrontation. Shortly […]

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY EDITOR’S NOTE: Before we get going, we mourn the death of all-time basketball great Bill Russell, 88, who died Sunday. He was the greatest winner all time in any sport: 2 high-school state championships, two national college championships, a gold medal in the 1960 Olympics, 11 world […]

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION, JULY 29-31, 2022 — This week, your next governor, Maura Healey, came to town for some back-door dealing. Now that Remo’s has been shuttered, its back room no longer accessible, the cement bags have been stacked in another location. That new […]

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JULY 27, 2022) — As a lad,  from the moment school let out in June, we and the gang practically lived at Deming Park in summer. “Sandlot” and the infinite varieties of baseball, all dependent on how many guys showed up, dominated, with […]

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JULY 25, 2022) — Politics is weird. How weird? It’s so weird that anything you say about it will be true. Even if it’s false, it will be true. Politics never has, isn’t, and never will be pure, and when candidates pledge to […]

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JULY 22-4, 2022) — As some Tanglewood the weekend away and other simply tangle, THE PLANET wishes to share a response we received from a correspondent wanting to know who “Chuck Garivaltis” is and is he a man “I should know.” […]

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JULY 19, 2022) — Alf Barbalunga, challenging two-time incumbent Tom Bowler for sheriff, pledged to run a clean campaign on the issues, not on personal attacks. Team Alf, as they refer to themselves, say that’s been the case thus far in what shapes […]

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY ADD TUESDAY 7/19 P.M. — We have this from the Pittsfield Police Department on last night’s shooting: On Tuesday July 19th 2022 at approximately 12:25 am, members of the Pittsfield Police Department (PPD) responded to the area of Pleasant Street for a ShotSpotter activation indicating multiple rounds.  […]

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION, JULY 15-7, 2022) — It was the worst of times. It was the “worst-er” of times. What the Dickens does THE PLANET mean? How about the dark cloud the Tyer Administration has pulled over nearly every aspect of municipal governance, save […]

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JULY 13, 2022) — Today we focus on regional and national issues, more specifically state and fed. That’s why Edison invented the “roundup column,” to address THE PLANET‘s challenge of too many stories, not enough space or time. STATE Ball(ot) Busters — Those […]

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JULY 11, 2022) — Having thoroughly enjoyed The Land That Time Forgot, THE PLANET returns, first to clear the desk of some of the stories begging for comment. The Dews and Don’ts — Since we’ve been cracking down on the “going, going, gone” […]

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY 4th OF JULY, 2022) — THE PLANET‘s offering today will be brief. First, we wish everyone a safe 4th. Second, we are taking this week off, at least from the blog. That huge sound you just heard wasn’t the wind front-lining a coming […]

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JULY 1-3, 2022) — While “they” ask us about some nobody I’ve ever heard of but in whose every waking moment I evidently have a rent-free party pad in his mind, allow THE PLANET to clean up a real journalist’s notebook […]

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JUNE 29, 2020) — [BOOMING VOICE OF] DON PARDO: Lllllladies and gentlemen, it’s time to play, THIS OR THAT, the game show where YOU get to choose YOUR preference. And here’s the star of our show, THE PLANET !!!!! [RIOTOUS APPLAUSE AS THE […]

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JUNE 27, 2022) — Nice of council president Peter Marchetti to push for a recall of colleague Charles Kronick, Ward 2 councilor in Ward 2. What does the prez have to do that’s more important than muzzling the only councilor (with Tony Maffuccio) […]

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY Second of Two Parts (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JUNE 24-6, 2022) — When he announced for sheriff, Alf Barbalunga said he would meet incumbent Tom “Pudge” Bowler in debate anytime, anywhere. Bowler’s campaign got back to us and accepted that challenge. That being settled and […]