Editorial: Western Massachusetts ready to make business connections - Union-News & Sunday Republican

Westward ho!

That’s the slogan on the minds of state economic development officials this week as they touted Western Massachusetts as the new land of business opportunity to technology leaders in Boston.

We applaud the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, an independent state agency, for showcasing what the west has to offer during Monday’s conference aimed at Boston-area business leaders. It’s not often such an event is dedicated solely to business opportunities west of Interstate-495.

Over the last decade, the region’s economy has languished while Greater Boston has prospered from the high-tech boom – a fact that has led to great frustration in economic development circles here. But, the landscape is changing and Western Massachusetts can no longer be counted out.

A series of recent infrastructure investments make this particularly auspicious time for the western counties to become the state’s next frontier for new high-tech niches. Developments include: Construction of a $168 million high-performance computing center in Holyoke; a $110 million state data center near downtown Springfield; and installation of a 1,100-mile fiber optic cable for high-speed Internet to rural parts of Western Massachusetts. Springfield and other cities in the region already have high-speed Internet.

U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, who championed the region at the conference, noted that public investments help create jobs. Just as the $15 billion spent on Boston’s new central artery helped spark the Boston-area economy, he said, the investment in Western Massachusetts’ high-speed infrastructure will do the same. Neal said the lower cost of labor, housing and office rental make Western Massachusetts a bargain.

We believe there are compelling reasons for businesses to consider locating to Western Massachusetts.

So, we have this advice: Go West, young startup.

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Massachusetts Senate plans to unveil bill to aid veterans

Veterans and their families would have greater access to education, small business opportunities and housing options under legislation to be unveiled by the Senate on Tuesday.

Dubbed the “VALOR Act,” the bill would give increased opportunities to military families, according to a spokesman for Senate President Therese Murray, who confirmed the Senate’s work on the bill and said more details would be disclosed at a press conference on Tuesday.

The Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs, chaired by Sen. Michael Rush (D-West Roxbury) and Rep. James Vallee (D-Franklin), released a veterans’ rights bill earlier this month and word began circulating around the capitol Monday that the bill could be on the move in the Senate.

The latest version of the bill is coming from the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The Senate could consider the bill as quickly as Thursday during a planned formal session.

“It is legislation to increase access to a range of services for veterans, active military and their families,” David Falcone, a spokesman for Murray, told the News Service Monday.

Rush could not be reached for comment, and several aides declined to discuss the legislation.

Lawmakers are believed to be basing the veterans’ rights bill off of the valor act (S 2193) dealing with access, livelihood, opportunity and resource issues facing veterans. The bill was released from the Veterans Affairs Committee on April 2 and referred to Senate Ways and Means Committee.

Returning service men and women face a host of problems, including high rates of unemployment and difficulty finding affordable housing, veterans’ advocates say. With more than 385,000 veterans living in Massachusetts, including 37,000 men and women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan since Sept. 11, 2011, the state has been taking steps to prepare for an influx of new, younger veterans.

"This war has been different in that there has been an unprecedented reliance on the guard and reserve, and men and women in our guard are doing five, six, seven deployments," Murray said in January. "We need to make sure employers, family members, neighbors are there to support in a variety of different ways. Our schools, in particular, for kids who have had parents doing multiple deployments worrying whether mom and dad are going to come home."

Murray plans to hold a 2 p.m. press conference in the Senate Reading Room Tuesday.

Veterans and their families would have greater access to education, small business opportunities and housing options under legislation to be unveiled by the Senate on Tuesday.

Dubbed the “VALOR Act,” the bill would give increased opportunities to military families, according to a spokesman for Senate President Therese Murray, who confirmed the Senate’s work on the bill and said more details would be disclosed at a press conference on Tuesday.

The Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs, chaired by Sen. Michael Rush (D-West Roxbury) and Rep. James Vallee (D-Franklin), released a veterans’ rights bill earlier this month and word began circulating around the capitol Monday that the bill could be on the move in the Senate.

The latest version of the bill is coming from the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The Senate could consider the bill as quickly as Thursday during a planned formal session.

“It is legislation to increase access to a range of services for veterans, active military and their families,” David Falcone, a spokesman for Murray, told the News Service Monday.

Rush could not be reached for comment, and several aides declined to discuss the legislation.

Lawmakers are believed to be basing the veterans’ rights bill off of the valor act (S 2193) dealing with access, livelihood, opportunity and resource issues facing veterans. The bill was released from the Veterans Affairs Committee on April 2 and referred to Senate Ways and Means Committee.

Returning service men and women face a host of problems, including high rates of unemployment and difficulty finding affordable housing, veterans’ advocates say. With more than 385,000 veterans living in Massachusetts, including 37,000 men and women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan since Sept. 11, 2011, the state has been taking steps to prepare for an influx of new, younger veterans.

"This war has been different in that there has been an unprecedented reliance on the guard and reserve, and men and women in our guard are doing five, six, seven deployments," Murray said in January. "We need to make sure employers, family members, neighbors are there to support in a variety of different ways. Our schools, in particular, for kids who have had parents doing multiple deployments worrying whether mom and dad are going to come home."

Murray plans to hold a 2 p.m. press conference in the Senate Reading Room Tuesday.

View the original article here