News
Mega Millions ticket sold in Belchertown wins $31 million jackpot
Staff Report
BELCHERTOWN — A Mega Millions ticket sold at the Stop & Shop located at 40 George Hannum St. in Belchertown is the sole winner of a $31 million jackpot in the multistate game’s Jan. 24 drawing. The cash option on the prize is $16.3 million.The winning...
Frontier School Committee OKs $1.2M in capital projects
By CHRIS LARABEE
SOUTH DEERFIELD — With the School Committee’s approval last month, Frontier Regional School will undertake more than $1.2 million in capital projects over the next two years.The School Committee unanimously approved the appropriation of $850,000 to...
Around Amherst: Cultural Council grants going out to wide variety of events, projects
By SCOTT MERZBACH
AMHERST — A self-guided walking tour of stained glass in Amherst center, the return of the annual Odenong Powwow and a poetry vending machine are among projects being supported by the Amherst Cultural Council.Matt Holloway and Julianne Applegate, who...
UMass hits pause on pavilion project for workers after outcry from neighbors
By SCOTT MERZBACH
AMHERST — The University of Massachusetts is pausing a plan to build a pavilion as a tribute to its workers on the outskirts of campus on the Arthur F. Kinney Center for Renaissance Studies property, responding to outcries from residents who cherish...
Part of the family: Some 250 rescued animals now live at Cloa’s Ark Animal Sanctuary, which has nally found a permanent home after 8 moves in 9 years
By SCOTT MERZBACH
Bringing a van filled with hay to feed some of the more than 250 animals living in the sanctuary, Patrick Veistroffer is joined by Mini, a Jacob sheep, who hops inside.As Veistroffer exits the vehicle to disperse the hay, and make sure other food is...
Bill seeking ban on PFAS could affect regional high school track turf decision
By SCOTT MERZBACH
AMHERST — Two bills focused on eliminating contamination from so-called forever chemicals, including legislation related to per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances in sludge and fertilizer filed by Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, could soon be making...
Cuts push projected Amherst elementary school cost below $100M
By SCOTT MERZBACH
AMHERST — A series of cost-saving measures, along with lower anticipated expenses for contingencies and furnishings, are bringing the latest cost estimates for a new elementary school to below $100 million.Projections for the total cost of building...
Yankee Candle closing corporate offices in South Deerfield
By CHRIS LARABEE
SOUTH DEERFIELD — Newell Brands, the parent company of Yankee Candle, announced the closure of the South Deerfield corporate offices on Monday, citing a need to adjust to “the reality of the economic environment.”In a letter from Newell Brands CEO...
Fights down, vaping continues in Amherst Regional High’s bathrooms
By SCOTT MERZBACH
AMHERST — As the number of fights between students in the bathrooms at Amherst Regional High School appears to be declining, school administrators report that vape detectors continue to show that the number of students vaping in the lavatories is not...
Frontier, Union 38 to undergo equity audit
By CHRIS LARABEE
SOUTH DEERFIELD — As the Frontier Regional and Union 38 school districts continue the diversity, equity and inclusion work that started three years ago, they are prepared to undergo an “equity audit” to examine how it can provide an equitable...
Pedestrian crossing where Hopkins student hit by van will stay
By SCOTT MERZBACH
HADLEY — A Route 9 crosswalk where a Hopkins Academy student was seriously injured by a hit-and-run vehicle last fall will continue to be improved by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, but there is little likelihood the pedestrian...
Fate of Hadley’s Russell building headed for vote in May
By SCOTT MERZBACH
HADLEY — More than two-thirds of people surveyed on the future of the deteriorating Russell School in Hadley center want the 1894 building preserved.With results of this input presented to the Select Board by the Russell School Building Committee, the...
Hadley planners may tweak affordable housing bylaw in effort to get developers to contribute
By SCOTT MERZBACH
HADLEY — Ever since the Windfield Estates affordable housing opened in 2002, becoming the first apartment complex in a town where zoning prohibits more than one dwelling unit on a lot, preventing similar projects has been an objective for Hadley...
Labor board to hold hearing over Amherst teachers union allegations of school board retaliation against 2 members
By SCOTT MERZBACH
AMHERST — Complaints brought by the teachers union alleging that the Amherst School Committee unlawfully retaliated against two school employees for protected union activity will be subject to a hearing after a state Department of Labor Relations...
Ad hoc group appointed to mold Deerfield Human Rights Committee
By CHRIS LARABEE
SOUTH DEERFIELD — After several months of discussion, the town has appointed an eight-person ad hoc group that will be charged with outlining the role and responsibilities of a full Human Rights Committee.The ad hoc committee will be tasked with...
Sunderland Elementary students learn skills while ‘building community through baking’
By CHRIS LARABEE
What better way to build community than to break bread? Or, in this case, bake it.The fourth, fifth and sixth grade classes at Sunderland Elementary School came together last week for one of the school’s first assemblies since the pandemic, during...
‘Always about the kids’: Well-loved educator Barrett recalled for lives she touched
By CHRIS LARABEE
SOUTH DEERFIELD — Each year, the graduating senior girls of Frontier Regional School would walk across the street to join Principal Martha “Marti” Barrett for a traditional tea time at her home.“She used to invite the graduating girls to her house for...
UMass awards Ellsberg honorary degree
By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL
AMHERST — Daniel Ellsberg, the whistleblower who leaked classified information pertaining to the Vietnam War known as the “Pentagon Papers,” was awarded an honorary degree from University of Massachusetts Amherst in a ceremony held in San Francisco...
‘The smallest tip may break this case open’: DA’s office pleas for help as tips dwindle in hit-run of Hadley boy
By SCOTT MERZBACH
NORTHAMPTON — At a standstill more than three months after a Hadley teen was struck and seriously injured in a Route 9 crosswalk, authorities took a rare step last Friday morning of holding a press conference in the hope that someone, somewhere will...
Around Amherst: Lunar New Year brings food, Winterfest fun this weekend
By SCOTT MERZBACH
AMHERST — Amherst will celebrate the Lunar New Year and Spring Festival with an event Sunday at the Amherst Regional Middle School auditorium.The Human Rights Commission is sponsoring the celebration, running from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m, that will include a...
