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SPRINGFIELD POLICE TO VOTE ON CONTRACT WITH BODY CAMERA PROVISIONS

NEPR (June 21, 2018)

Members of the Springfield police union will vote on a contract agreement Friday. The deal includes a gradual 13 percent pay raise and — for the first time — police body cameras.

CONNECTICUT CASINOS SEEK LATER LAST CALL

NEPR (July 5, 2018)

Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods are pushing to keep their casino bars open beyond Connecticut’s current 2 a.m. cut-off on weekends, and 1 a.m. on weekdays. This comes after Massachusetts regulators said MGM Springfield could serve alcohol until 4 a.m. on the casino floor.

IT TAKES 500,000 POUNDS OF SAND TO THROW A BEACH PARTY IN NORTH ADAMS

NEPR (July 12, 2018)

On Saturday, nearly 500,000 pounds of donated sand will transform one of North Adams's main roads into an urban beach for the 20th annual Eagle Street Beach Party.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN IS HOPEFUL ABOUT SCOTUS FIGHT

NEPR (August 1, 2018)

*Picked up by POLITICO Massachusetts Newsletter

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has acknowledged that Democrats face an uphill battle opposing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, but said they've won similar fights in the past.

THE ROAD TO 5G CELL SERVICE RUNS THROUGH WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS

NEPR (October 2, 2018)

*Also ran on WBUR in Boston

Americans' wireless data consumption has skyrocketed since 4G technology was introduced nearly a decade ago. Smartphones have become essential for on-the-go work and entertainment, fueling the need for 5G. But how do you create a cellular network that accommodates everything from streaming services to self-driving cars? The answer may lie in the basement of a UMass Amherst laboratory.

PLASTIC PINK FLAMINGOS IN THE YARD? CO-WORKERS’ ‘FLOCKING’ PRANK CATCHES ON

The Marshfield Mariner (July 13, 2016)

When the Tilden family came home from vacation Sunday, July 3, they found an army of pink plastic birds standing in their yard, along with a flamingo pin and note telling them to pass along the flock. They are the latest victims in a workplace prank streak hijacked by 9-year-old Zoe Zanetti.

NORWELL NEIGHBORHOOD GATHERS FOR ANNUAL INDEPENDENCE DAY PARADE

The Norwell Mariner (July 13, 2016)

Uncle Sam was running late to the Norwell Homes’ 7th annual Independence Day parade Sunday, July 10.

NORWELL FIRE DEPARTMENT GETS NEW BREATHING EQUIPMENT

The Patriot Ledger (July 1, 2016)

The fire department plans to buy 26 new self-contained breathing apparatuses for $16,600, just 10 percent of their overall value. The rest of the cost, nearly $150,000, will be paid by a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant.

LINDSEY MCGINNIS: OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THE ROLE OF STUDENT JOURNALISTS

Daily Hampshire Gazette (August 13, 2018)

Last month, I read about Zoya Azhar’s experience running the opinions section of Smith’s student newspaper, The Sophian, and how the paper has struggled with low readership and an overall lack of writers.

In some ways, I sympathize. Having just finished my tenure as the editor-in-chief of the Mount Holyoke News, I know firsthand what it’s like to run an independent college newspaper.

PUTTING YOUTH VOICE AT THE CENTER OF MENTORING

Youth Today (August 13, 2018)

One in three young people will grow up without a mentor outside of their family. With someone to help navigate personal, professional, and academic challenges, they are more likely to enroll in college and hold leadership positions in their community. This is something Americans can agree on – nearly 9 in 10 feel that more mentoring is needed in our country.

FORMER RANDOLPH ‘TROUBLEMAKER’ JOINS PAUL PRATT MEMORIAL LIBRARY, BRINGING AN EYE FOR RENOVATION

The Cohasset Mariner (March 19, 2019)

Growing up, Meaghan James frequently visited her local library, but rarely checked out a book. “I was going to the library to hang out with my friends, and there might’ve been some running around, typical middle school things,” she said. A librarian would inevitably ask the rambunctious, tag-playing teenagers to leave, forcing them to regroup at a nearby frog pond.

HAUNTED DIRT: SELLING BELCHERTOWN'S BROKEN DREAM

Narrative Nonfiction Assignment

Tucked in the bucolic Western Massachusetts landscape, just south of Belchertown center, is a sprawling campus of graffitied brick buildings and white cottages. An administration building leers over a gravel parking lot on the property’s outer edge with an air of importance. A dormitory where well-meaning attendants once chemically sedated disabled residents has lost its fire escape to rust and wind. Trespassers brave enough to climb the dark, glass-strewn staircase of the former men’s ward are rewarded with access to a rain-warped rooftop with a westward view of the Mount Holyoke Range State Park. 

CHINA TRAVEL GUIDE

StudentUniverse

“Wherever you go, go with all your heart”– Confucius

China is a country of diversity and extremes. As the world's most populous state (home to over 1.38 billion people), you can experience different worlds entirely depending on where your feet are planted. Electric energy and human innovation climb as high as the eye can see in Shanghai, but travel 2,900km west and you reach Tiger Leaping Gorge with unmatched hiking panoramas.

UP THE HILL: HOW CLINTON’S TOP ADVISOR IS MOVING ON FROM THE 2016 ELECTION

Mount Holyoke News (April 19, 2018)

Elle magazine described her as a key member of Hillary Clinton’s “Girl Squad.” To Fortune.com readers, she was “the wonk shaping Hillary Clinton’s plans for the country.” POLITICO named her one of the top 50 “thinkers, doers and visionaries” transforming American politics in 2016.

ART MUSEUM CELEBRATES 140TH ANNIVERSARY

Mount Holyoke News (September 15, 2016)

The Mount Holyoke College Art Museum (MHCAM) will celebrate its 140th anniversary with a year-long exhibit titled “140 Unlimited,” which opened on September 6. 

MHN 100: HOW A LETTER TO THE EDITOR SPARKED MOUNT HOLYOKE’S FIRST LESBIAN SUPPORT GROUP

Mount Holyoke News (October 19, 2017)

In September 1975, after years of living a self-described “double life,” an unidentified student penned a letter to the editor, hoping to ease the sense of isolation for “women who love other women.”

NETFLIX RELEASES FIRST FEATURE LENGTH FILM

Mount Holyoke News (November 19, 2015)

Netflix released “Beasts of No Nation” to its 60 million members last month, marking its official entry into the film industry. Throughout the past 10 years, Netflix has changed the television landscape, and plans to do the same with Hollywood.

FIELD HOCKEY DOMINATES IN CONFERENCE OPENER

Mount Holyoke News (September 21, 2017)

At their first New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) game, the Mount Holyoke field hockey team beat the Clark University Cougars in a landslide win of 6-1 on Saturday, Sept. 16. The last time the team played Clark, a year ago, MHC won 5-1.

REVIEW: “BLACK MASS”

Mount Holyoke News (October 22, 2015)

“Black Mass,” the biographical crime drama based off Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill’s book of the same name, paints an appropriately unforgiving portrait of one of Boston’s most notorious mobsters.

BABY'S STARTING MOUNT HOLYOKE IN THE.... SPRING?

The Gates (February 12, 2018)

When I started college, the ground was crunchy with salt and the snow was so thick you could sled down the amphitheater steps. I was careful to not invade my roommate’s space as I unpacked (she had started in September and would not move back in for a few days). Besides my residence hall’s community advisor, there was one other person on my floor — an athlete, maybe — and the whole process was very calm and very quiet.

STUMBLING THROUGH SHANGHAI

The Gates (March 30, 2018)

A lot of things went wrong during my semester abroad in Shanghai, China. Specifically with the living abroad part of studying abroad (the academic part is another blog altogether). Some of these mishaps didn’t really have an upside. When I couldn’t find my brand of dry shampoo, for example, there was no miraculous Chinese alternative ... I just used baby powder. But most disasters shook out OK. All told, these situations led me to try, taste, explore and experience things that I may not have otherwise — and to grow in ways that were never on my agenda.

WHAT "DON'T GIVE UP THE NEWS" MEANS TO ME

The Gates (May 18, 2018)

I could fill 16 tabloid-size pages with all my thoughts about the Mount Holyoke News, and I could probably do it on a tight deadline. But who would read that?

What I will say is this: Joining the student newspaper was the best decision of my college career. Nowhere on campus feels more like home than Blanchard 324, the paper’s newsroom since 1988.