FROM OTHER SOURCES (#11): NEWS AND FEATURES FOR AND ABOUT AMHERST.
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.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Ardern Says New Zealand on ‘Right Side of History’ as MPs Pass Zero-Carbon Bill. by Eleanor Ainge Roy. (11/7/19). Jacinda Ardern’s landmark climate legislation has passed in New Zealand parliament, with historic cross-party support, committing the nation to reduce its carbon emissions to zero by 2050 and meet its commitments under the Paris climate accords. (from The Guardian).
More than 11,000 Scientists from around the World Declare a ‘Climate Emergency.’Study Outlines Six Major Steps That ‘Must’ be Taken to Address the Situation. by Andrew Freedman. (11/5/19). A new report by 11,258 scientists in 153 countries from a broad range of disciplines warns that the planet “clearly and unequivocally faces a climate emergency,” and provides six broad policy goals that must be met to address it. The analysis is a stark departure from recent scientific assessments of global warming, such as those of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in that it does not couch its conclusions in the language of uncertainties, and it does prescribe policies. (from The Washington Post).
It’s Electric: District Weighing Expansion of E-buses. by Garrett Warren. (11/14/19). The Amherst Town Council and school system have an impending choice to make that will determine how much closer our district can come to the full implementation of electric school buses in its fleet. Amherst schools have had one electric bus on the roads, the eLion bus, since 2016, allowing plenty of time to collect data about the pluses and minuses of going electric. If Amherst rids itself of fears from problems experienced with that bus, some advocates say the town will be more likely to accept a Volkswagen (VW) settlement grant which could fund further research and push the district toward newer electrical buses, and ultimately, a better climate. (from The Graphic).
The Paris Climate Problem: A Dangerous Lack of Urgency. by Georgia Gustin. (11/7/19). Most countries aren’t cutting emissions fast enough, and their pledges for the next 10 years fall far short of what’s needed, a new analysis warns. (from Inside Climate News).
ELECTIONS
Status Quo Prevails in Amherst School Committee Elections. by Scott Merzbach. (11/5/19). All four incumbents seeking reelection to the Amherst School Committee easily won new two-year terms at Tuesday’s town election, while a candidate who narrowly lost his initial bid in March 2018 will join them. In the only contested election on the ballot, incumbents Kerry Spitzer, Eric Nakajima, Allison Bleyler McDonald and Peter Demling were returned to the committee. (from The Daily Hampshire Gazette).
Sea Change for Northampton City Council: Five Newcomers Elected. by Greta Jochem. (11/5/19). After facing no challengers for a decade, longtime Ward 5 City Councilor David Murphy, owner of The Murphys Realtors, was unseated by Alex Jarrett, a founder and worker-owner of Pedal People, in Tuesday’s election, which brought out 26 percent of the city’s voters. (from The Daily Hampshire Gazette).
Progressive Victories You May Have Missed on Election Night. by Alexis Goldstein. (11/7/19). There were a number of headline-grabbing victories in the November 5 election — from a Democrat winning the Kentucky governor’s race to Virginia voting in a Democratic state government trifecta by flipping both the House of Delegates and the State Senate blue. But there was also a series of smaller progressive victories you might not have heard of Tuesday night, from Maine to Missouri, and Indiana to San Francisco. (from Truthout).
LIBRARY
Amherst Officials Concerned about Low Wages for Part-Time Jones Library Employees by Jim Russell. (11/8/19). During a budget hearing of the four elected boards in town on Thursday, officials expressed concerns about low wages paid to some part-time workers at Jones Library. Town Manager Paul Bockelman said it is already a priority to bring the wages at least up to $15 per hour. (from MassLive.com).
MEDIA
On The Death of Local Papers. No News is Bad News. by Chris Faraone. (11/1/19). Journalism in Boston’s suburbs isn’t just in crisis—it barely even exists. So what happens when no one is minding the shop in the towns where most Bay Staters actually live? (from Boston Magazine).
SCHOOLS
Amherst Ultimate Team Disciplined Over Incident at a Home. by Scott Merzbach. (11/ 6/19). The boys Ultimate team at Amherst Regional High School will play a significantly reduced schedule in the spring after several players, following an incident at an Amherst home, were subjects of an investigation by Amherst Police and the school district last June. (from The Daily Hampshire Gazette).
RACISM
Five Swastikas Were Drawn on UMass Fine Arts Center. by Emiliee Klein. 11/6/19). Amid Halloween activities, UMass Amherst campus police discovered five swastikas drawn in chalk on the Fine Arts Center last Wednesday, Oct. 30. (from The Amherst Wire).