In the News

Work in Holyoke on a large-scale complex devoted to treating local veterans reached a major milestone ahead of Veterans Day. For the past year, the sheer scope of the new Massachusetts Veterans Home at Holyoke has been coming into view. Visible from I-91 and parts of the Pioneer Valley – the $483 million project has been taking shape, including the eight-story building’s frame… Read more »

Barnes Air National Guard Base and the 104th Fighter Wing wouldn’t have been considered as a new home for F-35A Lightning II jets if it didn’t have a new security gate.   Thursday, the guard celebrated the completion of the new $6.7 million “Minuteman Gate” that relocates the base’s main entrance to Route 10 and 202 and upgrades base security.   “We’re going to get the F-35s… Read more »

Toni Hendrix was just 17 when she joined the U.S. Army, only on the condition she be stationed in Germany.   “I came from a poor family and it was a way to get a college education,” said Hendrix, who served in the military for seven years before returning home to Springfield.   It was also a chance for a young history buff to travel to places she had read about such as… Read more »

Springfield has moved a little closer to becoming the central hub of a statewide passenger rail system known as Compass Rail. The state received a $36.8 million Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements grant from the Federal Railroad Administration. The funding will bring the designs for the Springfield Track Reconfiguration Project, part of the planned Boston-to-Albany… Read more »

Members of Massachusetts’ congressional delegation, UMass President Marty Meehan, chancellors of each university campus, and leaders of the Massachusetts biotech industry met at the UMass Chan Medical School campus in Worcester on Oct. 29 to share the UMass research success story with Renee Wegrzyn, PhD, inaugural director of ARPA-H. The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, or… Read more »

Springfield Mayor Sarno, Congressman Richard Neal, and other city leaders gathered at Forest Park to announce some major renovations.   Renovations to the Walker Memorial Grandstand inside of Forest Park come after Congressman Richard Neal secured $3 million of federal funding for the first phase of redevelopment of the Forest Park Horticulture Master Plan. Construction is underway… Read more »

Federal dollars are heading to Springfield, Massachusetts to support a center devoted to teaching and training students in modern, advanced manufacturing. $850,000 in federal funds will help further establish the “Center for Advanced Manufacturing Systems” at Western New England University – a center focused on training students on the latest manufacturing technologies, from robotic… Read more »

By 2035 every vehicle sold in Massachusetts will be electrically powered, necessitating the creation of a whole new network of industries to program, maintain and service this fleet of cars and trucks. Recharge America has taken the first steps to help push Massachusetts toward its goals by partnering with Springfield Technical Community College to promote careers in electric… Read more »

The Springfield Water and Sewer Commission celebrated Wednesday the beginning of construction for its $298.2 million West Parish Water Treatment Plant, calling it the most significant public infrastructure project in the Pioneer Valley of the last 25 years.   The plant will replace 50-year-old filters and eliminate chemicals created as a byproduct of the current disinfection… Read more »

The University of Massachusetts Amherst celebrated former UMass Trustee and Springfield Urban League President Henry M. Thomas III on Tuesday Oct. 15 by officially unveiling the university’s location in Tower Square as the UMass Amherst Henry M. Thomas III Center at Springfield. The ceremony was attended by Henry Thomas and his wife, Devonia, members of the Thomas family, UMass President… Read more »