BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY OCT. 23, 2019) — With news that superintendent of schools Jason “JIV” McCandless is looking to leave town in a hurry, and in response to multiple requests by readers to repost and update a series of columns we did when JIV and the […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY OCT. 21, 2019) — Sources connected to the District Attorney’s office tell THE PLANET that extensive testing of physical evidence taken from the scene of the alleged racial attack at Bard’s College (Simon’s Rock) show no indication the incident ever occurred. A D.A. […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION OCT. 18-20, 2019) — Sources tell THE PLANET Pittsfield school superintendent Jason “JIV” McCandless will be gone come September. Those within the Mercer Building and, we hear, in the administrative ranks scramble as rumors run wild. Some “can’t wait for this […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY OCT. 16, 2019) — The more things remain the same, the more they will eventually change. And so it is with THE PLANET. Next week we will unveil our new and improved site. It will load faster, feature a more refreshed look, and […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY OCT. 14 COLUMBUS DAY, 2019) — Replacing Columbus Day with “Indigenous People’s Day” is not about honoring the red man. It’s about punishing those of Italian heritage for the crime of being white and European. Chief among the pencil heads who bullied this […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION OCT. 11-13, 2019) — Happy Columbus Day weekend (you know where you can stick “Indigenous People’s Day,” JIV and Kathy Yon). For THE PLANET, the most troubling aspect of EMA’s proposed use of Strontium-90 for the test facility it wants to […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY OCT. 9, 2019) — Allow THE PLANET to present a most interesting press release, this from the Pittsfield Economic Revitalization Corp. (PERC). Betcha didn’t know there was a PERC! There’s also the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority, the Office of Community Development, the Office […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY OCT. 7, 2019) — Myor Linda Tyer’s Ode to Pittsfield, in the form of a political announcement disguised as an “economic engine,” has more odor than ode to it. A closer examination of the packet presented by the city (mayor Tyer, community development […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION, OCT. 4-7, 2019) — At last night’s Economic Development Committee meeting, it was revealed for the first time that EMA, the space cadets asking for $140,000 in taxpayer money to set up at the BIC, will use highly radioactive Strontium-90 in […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY OCT. 2, 2019) — It didn’t have to happen, but one wondered since the day after the preliminary elections if it would. And it has. THE PLANET refers to the first big blunder of this year’s mayoral campaign. It wasn’t a photo-op. More like […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY SEPT. 30, 2019) — “Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the Star Ship Pittsfield, whose four-year mission is to explore new scams, seek out new hustlers, and boldly go where most mayors have gone before: Into the Kapanskis pockets.” So […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION SEPT. 27-9, 2019) — The new business courting Pittsfield, Spacely Space Sprockets, tempted THE PLANET for The Weekend Edition. Alas, space provides too big a topic with not enough information, though the early signs are troubling, especially Mr. Spacely’s threat to […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 25, 2019) — There are only three issues to Campaign ’19 in Pittsfield. All other public problems and social concerns serve as offshoots. Before that, however, mayoral candidate and councilor-at-large contacted THE PLANET with a statement relating to claims that she promised […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY SEPT. 23, 2019) — So the lil’ high school snowflakes got their free day off. Bully for them. They disguised it as a “protest,” as if they would know the first thing about actual remonstrance. Of course, intimidated public school administrators, having lost […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION SEPT. 20-22, 2019) — That was the week that was. This one will be, too. Last weekend, THE PLANET visited the campus of Syracuse University, where we addressed students in the journalism, business, and engineering schools. We told them nothing of […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY SEPT. 18, 2019) — THE PLANET yawned along with 78% of the electorate yesterday for a sleep study known at the Pittsfield preliminary election. Every race turned out as we predicted. With 6,078 voters of an electorate total of 27,893 (22%), you can […]
