As a prelude to the upcoming Episode 33, we thought we'd re-air an interview we featured a few months back to set the stage for that future episode. Twenty million Americans struggle with alcohol. For Melissa, it was a triple threat - alcohol, drugs, and anger. From the very young age of 11 till her 37th birthday, Melissa led the worst side of hustling to keep her addictions and adrenaline fed. In her own words, she describes the constant ‘skid bid’ as she calls it, how the tribe she surrounded herself with was literally loving her to death. and how she finally found a way out.

9/1/23: MTA leaders Max Page & Maria Hegbloom on Cherish; Springfield mayoral candidate, Councilor Jesse Lederman; Donnabelle Casis with Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth Carter; Clare Higgins on Gov. Healey’s cuts to Head Start; Cancer Connection ED Chelsea Kline on the Bed-in; Berkshire Brewing CEO Gary Bogoff on his company’s commitment to community.

8/31/23: A Fishwrap; then, Rev. Michael McSherry & Rev. Andrea Ayvazian on the death penalty; recently resigned. Chair of the Amherst School Committee, Allison McDonald, on the swirling controversy; Healing Across the Divides (of Israel & Palestine) with Exec. Dir. Dr. Norbert Goldfield.

Is the Past Past?

8/30/23: Larry Hott on two great films: “It Ain’t Over,” the Yogi Berra story, and “The Invention of the Other,” the Amazon’s isolated indigenous people; Amherst School Committee member Peter Demling on why he resigned; tomorrow’s news today with the Old Famer’s Almanac Associate Editor Tim Goodwin – the 2024 edition launched yesterday.

Woketopia?

8/29/23: Prof Amilcar Shabazz with Amherst Town Councilor Michele Miller on reparations; GCC’s Linda Desjardin on MassReconnect, the new free community college program; Amherst School Committee Chair Ben Herrington on why he resigned; National Director of Stop Predatory Gambling, Les Bernal, on predatory gambling on MGM Springfield’s 5th anniversary.

Financial Fitness on 8.26 PART 2 by WHMP Radio

Financial Fitness 8.26 PART 1 by WHMP Radio

Panorama Episode 71 Exe Director of the Educational Collaborative Todd Gazda by WHMP Radio

8/28/23: Greenfield Mayor Roxann Wedegartner on human remains, the police, and her re-election campaign; Hampshire College President Ed Wingenbach on students escaping Ron DeSantis — transfers from New College; Red Gate Educational Farm’s Sydney Treuer & CISA’s Jacob Nelson on kids, nature, & learning; Megan Zinn with J. Vanessa Lyon, author of “Lush Lives.”

Back at Episode 26, Ed Hayes and Levin Schwartz of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office in Western Massachusetts stopped by to share some snippets of their work behind the wall, their travels and education of best practices to states and counties that are not as forward moving as Franklin County, and the factual research behind the high levels of incarceration. With much left on the table, Ed and Levin return to continue the conversation and discuss the upcoming Federal Medicaid that will be available to incarcerated individuals in 14 states starting in 2025.