This is the cause of New England’s energy problems. They closed down the nuclear reactors and never replaced them. Upgrade and reopen Maine Yankee, Vermont Yankee, etc and you’d see our rates go down with a “clean” and reliable energy source.

Hockey doesn't count as a sport? UMass National Champions in 2021

Edgar Padilla! I remember watching him play in High School at Springfield Central.

I don’t know the cost, but the Boylston Rooms in Easthampton is a really nice, but different venue.

https://www.boylstonrooms.com/

Some reasons why Norovirus spreads so much:
It is not killed by those Lysol/Clorox wipes or hand sanitizer gels (kills 99.9% of germs, guess who the .1% is)
A person is contagious for up to 48hrs AFTER symptoms END. This means that if you are sick for 24hrs, you are still contagious for another 2 days. And those virus particles you are shedding are not being killed with what most people are disinfecting with.

Wash your hands with soap and hot water, and if you are sick, stay home for 2 days after symptoms stop.

My brother is Oct 4 and started kindergarten at age 4. He’s a full grown adult now, but many times has stated he wished my parents waited a year to enroll him. He always felt behind his peers, and was very awkward when he started college at 17. It’s a tough birthday regarding school, but most fall birthday kids that started a year early I know would have rather have been the oldest kids in the class than the youngest.

A commuter rail to Springfield would be amazing. It’s the 4th largest city in all of New England yet people see Western Mass as this sleepy rural area. Springfield became a major historical city because it is the crossroads of New England, it’s in the center of everything.

Plenty of SFHs in the area for under $300k, and that includes very nice neighborhoods of Springfield, East Longmeadow, etc.

Easthampton/Northampton is getting all the attention and there really isn’t much affordable anymore, and people are paying premium prices for cheaply built factory housing from the 1920s. But Hamden County has tons of opportunity.

It depends on how long you’re staying in town for and when you are arriving. If you’re coming in after 5 and only for the evening, then Prudential Garage or 100 Clarendon are great, only $15-$10 for the night. There are lots of other garage options that also have evening rates, but I like those two for ease of getting to from the pike.

If you’re staying over night in the city, then park in your hotel, it will most likely have the best rate (expect $50-$75).

Hey now, Heroin Highway is I-91

You really need to add a budget when asking questions like this. Looking for 2+ acres with a good local scene that’s going to welcome in somebody from “away” is asking a lot, especially since we don’t know if your house budget is $250k or $2.5m.

Depending on what’s more important to you, open land, or community you’re going to get very different answers.

As an artists looking to set up a studio and make a living, I would suggest looking further south in the CT River Valley of Massachusetts. Greenfield, Turners Falls, Northampton, Easthampton all have thriving artist communities and the resources to help you get your business running. Western Mass is far more VT like than Boston, but a little more populated. Still plenty of open space, hiking, and farms. These areas are also full of “transplants” since there are major colleges in the areas, so you won’t be looked down on for “being from away, coming up to buy our limited houses that us locals can’t afford to buy anymore”

This is me, follow all 6 subs. We all agree that the left lane is for passing, not the fast lane.

Cornucopia in Thornes is a nice little natural market, and State St Fruit Store is a small grocery store with most your needs, but very walkable from campus.

As other people have mentioned, Big Y and Stop & Shop are the major chains in Western Mass. Big Y is family owned based in Springfield, Stop & Shop is part of the Ahold Corporation, a Dutch company that also owns Hannafords, Giant, and Food Lion.

You shouldn’t need much if you’re living on campus, the two small down town stores should be able to get you all your essentials.

Make sure you get yourself some nice waterproof boots, a warm coat, and some mittens. Winters can be chilly, but the spring and fall in Northampton are gorgeous. You’ll have a great time just on campus and downtown Northampton. Be careful, those who come to the valley for college tend to never leave.

There are no Whole Foods because Vermont has the greatest natural Co-ops in the nation. Upper Valley Coop in WRJ is small, but all natural. Across the river, Coop Food Stores in Hanover and Lebanon will have everything you need. Hunger Mt Coop in Montpelier is arguably the best all natural co-op in the country.

King Arthur flour company has the best quality flour, but I think La Panciata in Northfield is my favorite bread bakery in New England.

Just as important as affordable housing and jobs are schools. If you want young families to come and stay, you need a good school system.

This has been a major problem on the island communities in Maine. They don't have enough young people to keep the schools open, so no young families move in and their homes become vacation rentals. This is how a community dies and once you loose your schools, its very hard to start again from scratch.

I can always find Holyoke because it's flipping the bird to the rest of Western Mass

As others have mentioned, I’m curious why you need to be 30mins outside of Boston if you will rarely go there? You can find some really nice places further west along I-91 that are much less expensive, and none of the major traffic and congestion of metro-Boston.

Baystate Medical Center in Springfield is an amazing hospital with a specialized Children’s Hospital and Children’s ER. Bradley Airport between Springfield and Hartford can get you anywhere you need to fly with reasonably priced flights and less busy. And while you might not be in the center of Boston, it’s the midpoint to everywhere, 90 mins to Boston, Albany, and New Haven, and 2.5hrs to NYC. Also much closer to the natural beauty of Vermont, The Berkshires, and Adirondacks.

Springfield and Holyoke don’t have the best school systems, but Wilbraham, Longmeadow, Northampton, Easthampton all do (and really most of the smaller cities/towns).

Boston is great, I usually am in the city every other month or so. It almost always takes me 90mins while my friends on the north and south shore can often take 45-60mins to go 15miles.

Maybe I'm not looking into this deep enough, but wouldn't buying 200 Maine lobsters be supporting Maine lobster? He could have served salmon.

This is fascinating. Sometimes when I'm bored I'll answer with a silly voice just to see what happens. 9/10 its silence.

I live in MA but have a 603 cell phone for work. I get 2-3 603 calls a day and every one of them is spam. I know just filter out anything from603 area code, if it were real, they'd leave a message.

Off subject…but why do so many Maine plates end BE*? I’m always looking for the BEN plates

I failed because of my horn when I was 21. I got pulled over in Barrington on my way to work, and then profiled and searched until they found an ancient roach clip. I was then arrested and lost my license for a year. Still on my record 20yrs later. I have to go to Canada for work a few times a year and can’t get global entry because of it. It was pretty much the deciding factor of moving out of NH and to western Mass.

I used to live on an island, everything was LP. Even the refrigerators ran on propane. Technically off the grid because nothing was wired or connected to any outside systems, but still fossil fuel.

If you’re willing to travel out to P-Town and southern CT, then travel to the western part of the state. Wachusett is an awesome hike right in the north central MA along Rt 2.

The CT River Valley has a multitude of options from simple Sugarloaf and Mt Holyoke (Skinner Park), and larger hikes along Mt Toby, and the Mt Tom and Holyoke range hikes.

The western hill towns and Berkshires have even more including Glendale Falls and the Arches, Chesterfield Gorge, Chapel Ledge in the hills and Bishbash Falls, Monument Mountain, and Mt Greylock in Berkshire County. Eastern Mass has the ocean, drive west for the hikes. It’s a lot closer than you think, and we keep the dragons inside during the daytime.

So many great childhood memories at 1-7-10 in Augusta! Probably been 20yrs since I’ve last been there though.

That's quite reasonable and my response is directed at the "Oops I changed my mind."
Now, for the sake of looking at all angles, what would you think of this scenario:
A 33 year old mother of 2 is 26wks pregnant with her 3rd child and it is a healthy pregnancy. She has been at home for 8 years because her husband is able to provide enough for them to be comfortable, but paycheck to paycheck. Suddenly the husband and both children die in car accident. He does not have life insurance and now this woman who has been out of the work force will need to pay for the mortgage and all bills and still need to give birth and care for this child and she decides that it's too much and she doesn't want it.
I know this is made up, and many women would want to carry through as something to keep from her lost family, but for some it would be too much. Do you force this women you don't know to care for a child she does not want out of a moral obligation?
I'm not trying to change anybody's mind, or even push a single side. It's a difficult moral dilemma similar to the classic "Trolley Problem" and it's worth thinking about from multiple angles.