BY DAN VALENTI The Eskimos have a vocabulary rich in verbs. They also have a multitude of words for what we cover in one: “snow.” The live by knowing the differences in the various kinds of frozen precipitation, and their vocabulary reflects this importance. In fact, a language’s words reveal much about a culture’s values. […]
BY DAN VALENTI The Boss’ Son Tells It Like It Is For this, I might become a Yankees fan. Yesterday, Hank Steinbrenner, showing more than a wee drop of his old man, issued a remark to an AP reporter that should make Joe Fan cheer. Joe Fan is the working stiff that the game has […]
BY DAN VALENTI Pittsfield taxpayers, get ready for another snow job. The storm we refer will affect only the taxpayers of the city. The politicians and the unions won’t have to move a flake. That’s when the mayor presents his budget, and the council, having lied told you there is no room for substantial cuts, […]
BY DAN VALENTI One of The Planet’s favorite venues is the Red Lion Inn. It’s a place of history that keeps on top of today. The Inn presents the solidity of tradition with the excitement of discovery. The Inn stands as a living, vibrant symbol to a time, not long ago in America, when parents […]
BY DAN VALENTI Here are some of the bits and pieces taken from the floating flotsam and jetsam orbiting The Planet (“Meet George Jetsam …”). More on (God Help Us) ‘Paul Dowd Stadium’ Naming Names — Another reason not to rename Wahconah Park in honor of Paul Dowd, Paul Nixon, Paul McCartney, Paul Harvey, John […]
BY DAN VALENTI As The Planet has presented in the past two days, both in cyberspace and on the radio airwaves, the mainstream media, led by the Boring Broadsheet, mischaracterized the Vatican’s ruling on the former St. Stanislaus Kostka church in Adams (the best mainstream coverage came from the Springfield Republican). We were right. They […]
BY DAN VALENTI The Planet did the final hour with The Fat Man and Ronnie this a.m. from noon to 1 p.m. That’s Bill Sturgeon and Ron Lee of WBRK’s “Bill Sturgeon Show.” We covered a lots of ground in a fast moving hour, including the St. Stan’s story, the possible renaming of Wahconah Park, […]
BY DAN VALENTI ——————————– This update on another breaking story (we post this at 8:45 p.m. 2/15/11): The Pittsfield Parks Commission, by a 5-0 unanimous vote, extended the Pittsfield Colonials’ license at Wahconah Park from May 2011 through September of 2013. —————————– We return now to our featured story on the former St. Stanislaus Kostka […]
BY DAN VALENTI A reminder that tomorrow is the February CEDS meeting. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m., 2nd floor conference room, Berkshire Regional Planning Commission offices, 1 Fenn St., Pittsfield. The public is technically welcome (The Planet would love to see what they’d do if the public actually started showing up […]
BY DAN VALENTI A disgruntled member of 1Berkshires, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Planet of what the source called a “sneaking suspicion” the group was essentially created as a shell organization to fight the PR wars for GE regarding the cleanup of PCBs in Pittsfield and downstream, especially South County. The official stressed […]
BY DAN VALENTI It’s been a busy day on The Planet, with all sorts of weather fronts moving in and out — low pressure, high pressure, turbulence, wind (lots of hot air, some of it ours), rain, and sun (there’s no snow in this part of the universe). Here are some items of the day. […]
BY DAN VALENTI There’s dumb. There’s dumber. There’s dumbest. And there’s Seth Rogovoy. Yesterday, The Planet got wind of Rogovoy’s twittering from the jury box. [EDITOR’S NOTE: Conor Berry of the Berkshire Eagle, who covered the trial, disputes that Rogovoy was twittering from the jury box itself, as in literally. The Planet agrees and never […]
BY DAN VALENTI This is a campaign year, and in the City of Pittsfield, it promises to be wild, wooly, wet, and wanting. Wild because several would-be incumbents are now lame ducks (Ruberto, Lee, Lothrop), wooly because the hair will fly as campaigns have become more caustic each year, wet because voters will again get […]
BY DAN VALENTI The local banking scene can always be used as a thermometer of an area’s economic health, a separate question from a region’s economic development. As we can see in Berkshire County, particularly Pittsfield, the local banks are strong while economic development, as measured by a shrinking tax rate, is weak. So what […]
BY DAN VALENTI Welcome back from Super Sunday, and greetings from Day 1 of the rest of your week. Today we present an assortment of news and views culled from confabs with our various spies, agents, confreres, and partners in truth, justice, and The Planetary way. The Planet has a “community newsroom,” with news hounds […]
BY DAN VALENTI As this site manages growth, we shall carefully watch “hours in versus benefits derived” (HvB). That’s what a systems analyst (and acquaintance) told The Planet about the future (What, you were expecting Nostradamus, already?). She took me through the math of HvB, a buzz-wordy management tool, not because we needed it but […]
