Jerry J. Bird

Guest columnist Dr. Stephen Frantz: South Hadley bans harmful rodenticides

On June 9, the South Hadley Board of Health passed a regulation banning application of second generation anticoagulant rodenticides [SGARs] on town-owned/-operated property. SGARs are environmentally harmful wherever they are applied, including to federally listed threatened and endangered species, household pets and even young children. Plus, low-income and minority populations tend to be financially least […]

Victory Lap with Jessica Lapachinski: The power of influence and impact

There is a man who lives about a mile from me who routinely walks his dog in the mornings. One day I was driving to work when he gave me a big wave and an even bigger smile. I didn’t think much of it. Maybe he thought I was somebody else he knew. But then […]

A Look Back, July 13

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Easthampton author sues Anthropic over pirated book used to train AI

EASTHAMPTON — Easthampton author Daniel Gilbert has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Anthropic, the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence company behind Claude, claiming it used his book without permission when it downloaded millions of pirated books five years ago. Gilbert filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Springfield in May, claiming Anthropic stole from the […]

Senate passes social media bill with retro vision for online networks

BOSTON — The Senate on Thursday passed a bill to regulate youth social media use in what some senators said is an attempt to return the platforms to the “OG social media” of the early aughts. Senators passed the bill (S 3164) by a vote of 38-2, after adding amendments that address overnight push notifications, […]