FROM OTHER SOURCES: NEWS AND FEATURES FOR AND ABOUT AMHERST (#13)

Editor’s Note: “From Other Sources” offers links to articles that may be of interest to Amherst readers. We will update this section every other week, emphasizing different timely topics. We have now added a tag called  “From Other Sources” so that you can easily find previous editions/links. Simply click the “From Other Sources” tag on the tag menu, found in the right-hand sidebar on any open article.

CLIMATE/ENERGY

How Batteries in Electric School Buses Could Be Used to Feed the Grid. by Jan Ellen Spiegel.  (11/6/19). During the summer, idle school buses could be put to work in energy storage. (from Yale Climate Connections).

World’s Current Fossil Fuel Plans Will Shatter Paris Climate Limits, UN Warns. by Nicholas Kusnetz.  (11/20/19).  Within a decade, planned coal, oil and gas production will more than double what’s allowable to avoid 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming, and that gap only grows. (from Inside Climate News).

Northampton Climate Plan Generates Comments, Controversy.  By Greta Jochem. (12/5/19). The city’s draft Climate Resilience and Regeneration Plan looks at how the city can adapt to climate change and make the city carbon-neutral by 2050 — a goal endorsed by a City Council January 2018 resolution. Some say 2050 isn’t soon enough. Alisa Klein, Ward 7 city councilor and a member of the Energy and Sustainability Commission said, “ A number of us on the commission feel like we need a much more rigorous and strengthened plan to try and achieve carbon neutrality for 2030, not 2050.” That’s one of a series of comments on the plan from the Energy and Sustainability Commission and the public. (from The Daily Hampshire Gazette).

Tesla Boom Lifts Norway’s Electric Car Sales to Record Market Share. by Lefteris Karagiannopoulos.  (4/1/19).  Almost 60 percent of all new cars sold in Norway in March were fully electric, the Norwegian Road Federation (NRF) said on Monday, a global record as the country seeks to end fossil-fueled vehicles sales by 2025.  Exempting battery engines from taxes imposed on diesel and petrol cars has upended Norway’s auto market, elevating brands like Tesla and Nissan, with its Leaf model, while hurting sales of Toyota, Daimler and others. In 2018, Norway’s fully electric car sales rose to a record 31.2 percent market share from 20.8 percent in 2017, far ahead of any other nation, and buyers had to wait as producers struggled to keep up with demand. (from Technology News).

COLLEGES
‘This is my family’: Filmmaker Ken Burns kicks off $60M fundraising campaign for Hampshire College.  by Jim Kinney.  (12/3/19). Burns and newly appointed Hampshire College President Ed Wingenbach hosted events Tuesday at the college’s Red Barn meeting center, announcing a fundraising campaign with the goal of collecting $60 million by 2024.  (from MassLive.com).

How Umass Has Changed: Subaswammy’s Impact Through the Decade. by Abbie Gracie.  (12/4/19). UMass jumped from number 42 to 26 in the U.S. News & World Report’s list of top public colleges and universities, according to Neil Swidey’s Boston Globe article, “‘ZooMass’ no more. Is turning UMass Amherst into an elite university what the state needs?” The university has also boosted its number of applicants, average GPA and SAT scores in said applicants, diversity percentage and its overall graduation rate. (from The Amherst Wire).

GOVERNMENT
Dear Jo: People Make Government Work Best. by Jo Commerford. (12/5/19). When advocacy groups flood the State House or take over the Beacon Street steps, the building rumbles with chants and cheers. K-12 education advocates made this happen for the Student Opportunity Act — demanding the urgency that led to the creation of a comprehensive bill and its passage. But that full-court press isn’t reserved only for education. Around climate justice and more, statewide lobby days are essential to power the commonwealth’s democratic engine. Grassroots organizing also breaks through in the form of calls, petitions, district meetings, letters and tweets. Each contact we receive reminds us that bold action on pressing issues cannot wait.  (from The Daily Hampshire Gazette).

HOUSING
Life Together: The Rise of Cohousing in New Zealand, Papakāinga and the ‘Social Mortgage’. By Leonie Hayden.  (12/3/09). It’s a way of living that is often mistaken for either a ‘hippy commune’ or a boarding house, but cohousing is slowly becoming a viable solution to New Zealand’s growing housing needs. It’s also a way of fighting the isolation and loneliness that is harming our collective wellbeing. (from Spinoff).

HUNGER
New SNAP Rule Will Cost Many of the Nation’s Poorest Their Food Aid Including Here in The Valley. by Robert Greenstein. (12/4/19). Today, the Trump Administration issued a draconian rule in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps) that will cut off basic food assistance for nearly 700,000 of the nation’s poorest and most destitute people. (from Center for Budget and Policy Priorities).

SCHOOLS
Amherst Forum Addresses Middle School Needs. By Scott Merzbach. (11/27/19). A renovation of the Amherst Regional Middle School building, with projects that could include installing a sprinkler system, repainting the interior and putting skylights in classrooms without windows, should be a priority for school officials.That was advice offered at a forum on Monday focused on the public schools, and mandated by the town charter, in which information was presented on ongoing projects, and feedback was received on a range of topics, from budget matters to standardized testing.  (from The Daily Hampshire Gazette).

SPORTS
Amherst Regional Defense Leads Hurricanes into Division 5 Football State Championship This Saturday. by Gage Nutter.  (12/5/19).  It might be hard to believe, but Amherst Regional’s defense has gotten better since the start of the season. Through 11 games, the unit has put up four shutouts and is holding opposing offenses to an average of 6.0 points per game. The team has gone up against some of the best offenses in the area in West Springfield, South Hadley and Northampton, and has found ways to neutralize each of their strengths. (from The Daily Hampshire Gazette).

It’s Time to Abandon Div I Football at UMass.  UMass Football Team and Its Brand are Taking A Beating.  by Dan Shaughnessy.  (11/12/19).   UMass’s football program is an embarrassment. This is not the fault of the student-athletes. It is the fault of the UMass administration and the athletic department. The players are not being put in a position to succeed, and that’s on the grownups and the citizens of Massachusetts who are letting this happen. Simply put, the Minutemen should not be playing big-time college football. They lose by whopping scores. UMass is 1-9. Here are the scores of the Minutemen’s last five games.  (from The Boston Globe).

TRANSPORTATION

Kansas City Becomes First Major American City with Universal Fare-Free Public Transportation. by Martin Cizmar.(12/5/19). City council voted unanimously to make city bus routes fare-free, reports KSHB, directing the city manager to develop and enact a plan. The city’s light rail was already free. Free bus service, which is expected to cost about $8 million, has been pitched as a major help to low-income residents who rely on transit to commute to work. (from 435mag.com).

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