Page 31 - Don Treeger News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Railroad underpass work to improve safety, access to Springfield’s Riverfront Park Updated Feb 18, 2021; Posted Feb 18, 2021 The railroad underpass leading to Springfield's Riverfront park will get an upgrade under the recently passed state transportation bond bill. (Don Treeger/ The Republican) Facebook Share SPRINGFIELD — The state’s $16 billion transportation bond bill includes $1.5 million to upgrade a railroad underpass to make it easier and safer to walk from the city’s downtown to Riverfront Park and the banks of the Connecticut River. The money would upgrade the underpass an...

Takeout helps sustain Massachusetts restaurants during ‘bleak’ times Updated Feb 18, 2021; Posted Feb 18, 2021 Chef Adan Mendoza cooks in the kitchen at Three Figs restaurant in Suffield, Connecticut. (Hoang 'Leon' Nguyen / The Republican) Facebook Share One of the top restaurant trends for 2020 reported by the National Restaurant Association was delivery-friendly menu items. That was even before the coronavirus pandemic changed everything for restaurants, many of which last year turned to an off-premises model to survive during the national shutdown – or close their restaurants compl...

Beyond COVID: Expect a ‘click and mortar’ approach as colleges emerge from the pandemic Posted Feb 16, 2021 Westfield State University professor Tarin Weiss teaches a geology class from her Westhampton home in December. (Don Treeger / The Republican file photo) Facebook Share When the coronavirus pandemic closed college campuses in March of 2020, administrators initially hoped that some normalcy would return by the fall semester. That did not happen. Some schools that reopened dormitories had to shut them down again. Others did not reopen their campuses at all, continuing classes online....

Technical high schools adapt to COVID’s immense challenge Updated Feb 16, 2021; Posted Feb 16, 2021 1/21/2921 -Westfield- Students at work in Westfield Technical Academy's auto repair shop. (Don Treeger / The Republican) Facebook Share The vocational director at Roger L. Putnam Vocational Technical Academy says the last 11 months have been difficult, but could have been worse. “Some districts were caught (unprepared for the coronavirus pandemic). They planned for hybrid last summer and then had to go back to full remote,” said Joao Alves, who supervises the training of 1,300 vocationa...

COVID marks new chapter for independent bookstores Updated Feb 16, 2021; Posted Feb 16, 2021 Zelmon "Zee" Johnson adjusts the shelves in her Olive Tree Books-n-Voices, a community bookstore on Hancock Street in Springfield. (Don Treeger / The Republican) Facebook Share SOUTH HADLEY — For Joan Grenier, owner of the Odyssey Bookshop across from Mount Holyoke College, 2020 was a year of constant reinvention — and gratitude. With business interrupted by the coronovirus pandemic, Grenier said she was faced with the possibility of closing. The crisis prompted her to set up a GoFundMe online f...