Midday Magazine on WAMC

We listen to what you had to say over the course of the week, as we roll back highlights from this week's WAMC Listener Comment Line. 

William Faulkner, the great American writer who was born in New Albany, Mississippi, wrote screenplays to support his family, although he didn't really like the job, and referred to it as "mere scribbling."

Protest marches are scheduled to take place on Saturday in close to 50 countries and more than 200 locations here in the United States.  Called “ March Against Monsanto”, the events will highlight what organizers see as a threat to the world’s food chain. Monsanto is a leading producer of genetically modified plant organisms, or GMOs.   WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill spoke with a local organizer of tomorrow’s march, Michaelann Bewsee, director of Arise For Social Justice in Springfield Massachusetts.

Newschannel 13 meteorologist Paul Caiano paints the weekend weather picture in his Midday Weather Summary for Friday, May 24, 2013. 

Vermont Health Connect has awarded $2 million in grants to 18 organizations to provide in-person enrollment assistance for the state’s new healthcare exchange.

Newschannel 13 meteorologist Paul Caiano checks in with the Midday Weather Summary for Thursday, May 23, 2013.

Massachusetts Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Gabriel Gomez made campaign stops in the Berkshires yesterday where he stressed a bipartisan message. And according to local GOP officials, he’ll have to continue to work hard to win more support in a solidly Democratic part of the state.

Rarely in the history of this republic has hypocrisy been a public policy position. As Rochfoucaud noted hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays virtue. But suppose virtue has nothing to do with it. Suppose hypocrisy becomes a way to deceive and deflect criticism.

Newschannel 13 meteorologist Paul Caiano delivers the Midday Weather Summary for Wednesday, May 22, 2013. 

More than 95 percent of the school budgets that went before the voters in New York on Tuesday were approved but, those that exceeded the two percent property tax cap did not fare as well. Only about 30 percent of those spending plans were approved. 

The executive director of the New York State School Boards Association, Tim Kremer, tells WAMC's Brian Shields the initial results show 630 school districts budgets were approved with 30 rejected.