In our first episode of the new year, Sarah and Mike acknowledge the overwhelming national and international backdrop of the current moment before diving deep into a different time altogether—1893 Turners Falls. They discuss the special archival section from the New Years Day edition of the paper and answer listener questions about it. Then, back to the present for some bread-and-butter Montague Reporter content: a dam gets undammed and a pit gets filled. Looking at the future, a glut of elections is forecast for this year in Montague.

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Catching up after a little gap, Sarah and Mike recap a potpourri of stories from the last 6 weeks:

• Permits don’t last forever! A prospective solar development in Wendell whose permit was approved in 2018 hits yet another snag— will this be the final blow?
• Industrial buildings don’t last forever! We get an update on the ongoing Strathmore mill demolition saga.
• Police chiefs don’t last forever! Montague is getting a new one.
• Dogs sometimes don’t last forever when they are deemed dangerous by the town selectboard and that is sad for everyone (but all dogs considered in the recent hearings are still around!)
• Empty lots in the Patch don’t last forever! New apartment buildings are going up!

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Smoke from a downtown Turners Falls fire still hung in the air as Sarah and Mike sat down to record this episode on Friday October 10th. They dig into the politics surrounding a postponed vote on the proposed six-town regional school district and also discuss another nearby regional school district that made the news. Then, after an update on solar regulations in Wendell, Mike debriefs an interesting meeting he had with folks from a locally headquartered media advocacy group.

Check out our previous episode on the six-town regionalization proposal for more background on that story.

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