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Whately, MA

Police & Fire
90 Percent Of Western Mass Motel Destroyed In Late-Night Fire 90 Percent Of Western Mass Motel Destroyed In Late-Night Fire
90 Percent Of Western Mass Motel Destroyed In Late-Night Fire Seventeen people were displaced when a two-alarm fire tore through a well-known, family-owned Franklin County motel over the weekend, authorities said.  The fire began at The Rainbow Motel at 64 State Road in Whately just after midnight on Saturday, May 18, the Whately Fire Department said in a Facebook post. The fire burned so hot and fast that 10 agencies from surrounding communities sent firefighters, equipment, and mutual aid to battle the blaze.  The department said 10 of the 16 motel rooms were heavily burned in the fire.  Luckily, no one was injured, but a Whatel…

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by Josh Lanier
Business
Puff, Puff, Pass On The Shirts: Western Mass Strip Club Wants To Convert To Topless Dispensary Puff, Puff, Pass On The Shirts: Western Mass Strip Club Wants To Convert To Topless Dispensary
Puff, Puff, Pass On The Shirts: Western Mass Strip Club Wants To Convert To Topless Dispensary The owners of a Franklin County strip club say they have big plans for the site once they reopen. Instead of nude dancers and beer, they want to have topless saleswomen and marijuana.  Nicholas Spagnola, a co-owner of Club Castaway in Whately, spoke with the town's selectboard earlier this month to unveil his revolutionary plan to carve out a "niche" in the fast-growing cannabis retail space.  “Our goal would be to operate a topless dispensary and to remove nude dancing and alcohol from the license,” Spagnola said.  Spagnola and his business partner Julius Sokol bought …

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by Josh Lanier
News
COVID-19: Four 'Red' Western Mass Cities At High Risk, Town-By-Town Trends, Rates COVID-19: Four 'Red' Western Mass Cities At High Risk, Town-By-Town Trends, Rates
Covid-19: Four 'Red' Western Mass Cities At High Risk, Town-By-Town Trends, Rates Keeping with the trend of declining COVID-19 infections, the Pioneer Valley has only 4 “red” communities - cities and towns with the highest risk of virus transmission. On Thursday, March 4, Massachusetts unveiled its latest weekly update on COVID-19 incidents by the municipality.  Red communities in Western Massachusetts for the week of March 4 are: Chicopee with a rate of 33.4, Hadley, 32 Ludlow, 33.4, and Springfield, 40.3. Springfield was the only city out of the four that was in the red but experienced a decline in COVID-19 incidents, according to state data. Statewide, the…

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by Kristin Palpini
News
COVID-19 Incidents Shoot Up In 3 Pioneer Valley Communities - Town-By-Town Trends and Rates COVID-19 Incidents Shoot Up In 3 Pioneer Valley Communities - Town-By-Town Trends and Rates
Covid-19 Incidents Shoot Up In 3 Pioneer Valley Communities - Town-By-Town Trends and Rates The COVID-19 incident rate shot up dramatically in Amherst where UMass is attempting to tamp down on the virus’s spread. The daily average COVID-19 rate in Amherst per 100,000 people was 26.6 last week, Feb. 4. As of Thursday, Feb. 11, Amherst’s COVID-19 rate is 78.8. Meanwhile, daily COVID-19 new incident rates also went up in two more of the Pioneer Valley’s largest communities - Easthampton and Northampton. On Thursday, Feb. 11, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health released the weekly town-by-town COVID-19 rate report. The numbers showed declining cases in nearly all of the Pio…

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by Kristin Palpini
News
COVID-19: Cases Skyrocket In Amherst As UMass Reigns In Partying, Shuts Down Campus COVID-19: Cases Skyrocket In Amherst As UMass Reigns In Partying, Shuts Down Campus
Covid-19: Cases Skyrocket In Amherst As UMass Reigns In Partying, Shuts Down Campus The COVID-19 incident rate shot up dramatically in Amherst where UMass is attempting to tamp down on the virus’s spread. The daily average COVID-19 rate in Amherst per 100,000 people was 26.6 last week, Feb. 4. As of Thursday, Feb. 11, Amherst’s COVID-19 rate is 78.8. The uptick in infections comes on the heels of the University of Massachusetts Amherst shutting down its campus to stop the virus’ spread. The roughly 13,000-member student body has been asked to self-quarantine. A spike in COVID-19 cases in Amherst has been linked to one or more “massive” frat parties thrown over the Feb. 6 w…

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by Kristin Palpini
Schools
COVID-19 Cases Spike In 2 School Districts; See District-By-District Incident Rates COVID-19 Cases Spike In 2 School Districts; See District-By-District Incident Rates
Covid-19 Cases Spike In 2 School Districts; See District-By-District Incident Rates Two local school districts experienced COVID-19 flare-ups over the last week, according to the most recent state data. On Thursday, Jan. 28, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released how many COVID-19 incidents were reported by students and staff from Jan. 21-27. Most of the Central and Western Massachusetts, as well as the Berkshires, had school districts where no COVID-19 incidents were reported that week. However, Shrewsbury and Hampden-Wilbraham school districts each reported 12-15 students and faculty that had become il…

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by Kristin Palpini
Police & Fire
Special-Needs/Weed CEO Is Accused Of Stealing $50,000 From Taxpayers Special-Needs/Weed CEO Is Accused Of Stealing $50,000 From Taxpayers
Special-Needs/Weed CEO Is Accused Of Stealing $50,000 From Taxpayers A marijuana entrepreneur who owns a Connecticut vocational center for people with special needs is facing fraud charges. Karen Gaston, 39, of East Granby, was charged in Connecticut on Tuesday, Sept. 22 with larceny in the first degree by defrauding a public community, health insurance fraud, and criminal attempt to commit larceny in the first degree by defrauding a public community, according to Connecticut’s Division of Criminal Justice. Gaston is the owner of Elegant Clinical Corporation in East Windsor, a nonprofit that seeks to provide vocational education to people with special needs…

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by Kristin Palpini
Business
Town-by-Town: 350 Employee COVID-19 Complaints Filed Against WMass, Worcester Co.s Town-by-Town: 350 Employee COVID-19 Complaints Filed Against WMass, Worcester Co.s
Town-by-Town: 350 Employee Covid-19 Complaints Filed Against WMass, Worcester Co.s Massachusetts has received hundreds of employee complaints alleging their workplaces are not meeting state safety and compensation standards during COVID-19. In March, the Massachusetts Attorney General started tracking worker complaints related to COVID-19. As of Friday, Aug. 7, Massachusetts workers had filed about 350 complaints against employers. The most heavily represented industry on the list is hospitals/nursing homes - over 50 complaints. The most common complaint was the nonpayment of wages. Of the complaints, 38 said they were retaliated against for coming forward with a grievan…

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by Kristin Palpini