In the News

Massachusetts’ federal lawmakers wrote a letter to the Department of Defense on Monday requesting the grounding of the V-22 Osprey aircraft.   Congressman Richard Neal along with Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey have requested the Department of Defense ground the full fleet of Bell Boeing V-22 Ospreys until safety issues are resolved.   A V-22 Osprey is an aircraft… Read more »

Congressman Richard E. Neal (D-MA-01) is today speaking before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission during a hearing on “Northern Ireland: The Patrick Finucane Case.”   Testifying to the committee, according to a release from the congressman's office, will be Geraldine Finucane, the widow of the renowned Northern Ireland human rights attorney Patrick Finucane, and her three adult… Read more »

City leaders and the veteran community honored Veterans Day with an annual ceremony at Veterans Memorial Plaza on Nov. 11.   A memorial ceremony was first hosted at 10 a.m. at the Saint Stan’s school.   Then at 11 a.m., a wreath-laying ceremony was hosted at the Veterans Memorial Plaza. U.S. Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield) joined Chicopee Mayor John Vieau, Chicopee… Read more »

As U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal took to the podium Monday at the celebratory opening of the $43 million Residences at Mill 8, Thomas Erb kept his eye in his watch and his ear to the sky.   It was nearly noon. And Erb, president of Electric Time Co. of Medfield, was the contractor who repaired and restored the building’s signature clock with its 10-foot dials that… Read more »

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 »