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WEATHER TONIGHT Snow late. Low of 22
The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
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— George J. Stigler
Area prepares as winter storm nears
HCC, WSU to announce ‘low cost degree’ By PETER FRANCIS Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Dr.’s Elizabeth Preston and William Messner, presidents of Westfield State University and Holyoke Community College, are expecting to lay out plans at 10:30 this morning in HCC’s Frost Building for a new ‘low cost degree’ program, the Mass President’s Transfer Agreement, which would allow students to enroll for the Fall 2015 and receive degrees at both institution for $30,000. Westfield State has already had a similar agreement in place with Springfield Technical Community College since the fall of 2014. Governor Charlie Baker has made helping more students obtain a college degree a top priority for his first term, citing online and three-year degree programs, as well as expanded co-op initiatives, as potential vehicles for educating Baystaters better. Preston believes that the need for a more educated population has been felt at the state and federal level “The message has been made loud and clear: more college graduates are needed,” she said yesterday. “Regionally, we have worked collectively and with intent to develop
that hardly anybody in America goes to bed angry at night.”
75 cents
FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2015
VOL. 84 NO. 020
“The trouble is
said the issue is that the current language neither specifically allows nor prohibits a transit facility in the district. “The transit center may not be an allowed use, the zoning is not explicit,” Vinskey said. “The (Planning) Board decided that the best course of action is to have a transit center be an allowed use. Only the City Council has the authority to made changes to the zoning codes to make a transit facility an allowed use.” Article III, Section 3-100,
By ALBERT STUMM Associated Press PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Cities in the Northeast prepared for a messy mix of rain, snow and sleet that is bearing down on the area this weekend in what forecasters are calling the Interstate 95 corridor’s first brush with a significant winter storm this season. The National Weather Service said the exact track of the storm was unclear, but some areas could expect up to 8 inches or more of snow, and even those that don’t get much may experience dangerous road conditions. The storm is expected to arrive in the Philadelphia region tonight and dump from 1 to 4 inches by tomorrow morning, said Valerie Meola, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, New Jersey. She said the storm’s impact will be felt especially in the morning. “There will be a lot of that accumulation then, and then rain will come and wash it all away,” Meola said yesterday. The fast-moving storm system will travel up the Eastern seaboard, creating “the potential for significant snow and ice” before moving out to sea off New England by early Sunday, the weather service said.
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See Winter Storm, Page 3
Above shows an aerial view of Westfield’s CORE district and planned site for PVTA’s Transit Pavilion.
Planning Board seeks CORE District change By DAN MORIARTY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The Planning Board will submit a proposed change to the City Council after a preliminary review of the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority plan to construct a Transit Pavilion on Arnold Street. The board is making that recommendation to the City Council, at its Feb. 5th session, because of the ambiguity of the language of the Commercial Office Retail Commercial (CORE) District zoning ordinance. Principal Planner Jay Vinskey
JAY VINSKEY
Analysts expect state budget woes to continue
Shortstop Bar and Grill grand opening Shortstop Bar and Grill co-owners Julie and Nabil Hannoush, center, join their daughter and executive chef Monica, white coat, in a ceremonial ribbon-cutting of Westfield’s newest family-friendly sports complex located inside Extra Innings at 99 Springfield Road. Surrounding the Hannoush family are business leaders, friends, city council members, and state and local officials. For more information: www.shortstopbarandgrill.com (Photo by Frederick Gore)
BOSTON (AP) — Fiscal problems that have triggered a shortfall in the state’s current budget are likely to spill over to the next year’s spending plan, lawmakers and state officials were warned yesterday. The House and Senate Ways and Means committees, along with officials from Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration, held a revenue hearing at the Statehouse as they sought to determine how much Massachusetts is likely to collect in taxes in the 12-month period starting July 1. Once an estimate is agreed upon, it will be used as a starting point for discussions on the next budget. Baker announced this week that the state faced a projected $765 million deficit in the current fiscal year, which runs through the end of June, and said he would soon outline steps aimed at closing the gap. State revenue commissioner Amy Pitter said during a Statehouse hearing yesterday that she expects overall tax collections to increase somewhere between 4.2 percent to 5.7 percent in the next fiscal year. At the hearing, budget analysts questioned whether that would be enough to offset projected spending increases. “It’s alarming that even with employment gains and a healthier economic climate, the state faces a monumental budget shortfall in fiscal 2015 and substantial See Budget Woes, Page 3