News

Hadley leaders replace $1.2M Russell School warrant article with $40K reuse study

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — Residents at annual Town Meeting next month will not get a chance to weigh in on investing more than $1 million into the aging Russell School building in town center, but instead will consider a significantly smaller expenditure for a...

Amherst union clarifies position on school override vote

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — The Amherst Pelham Education Association recently sought to clarify its position on the May 2 Proposition 2½ debt-exclusion override vote for a new elementary school, saying that when they urged people in March to hold off on voting until a...

Amherst regional schools losing 14 positions

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — An operating budget that will cause the elimination of more than 14 positions at the Amherst-Pelham Regional public schools is being recommended by the Amherst Finance Committee, even with worry from some town officials that revenues are...

Amherst officials: Be careful at Puffer’s Pond as weather warms up

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Unseasonably warm weather for mid-April brought hundreds of college-age people to Puffer’s Pond, creating a concern about individuals venturing into the still frigid water, as well as trespassing by climbing onto the nearby cliff and...

Scoops at the Silos wins Hadley entertainment license

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — Maple Valley Creamery will be able to have live performers throughout the season at the Scoops at the Silos ice cream stand, but uncertainty remains about whether a food truck will be allowed to return on a regular basis to the 100 Mill...

Historic Deerfield opens for 2023 season on Saturday

By CHRIS LARABEE

DEERFIELD — Just as the flowers bloom each spring, Historic Deerfield’s doors opened last weekend as the museum’s 2023 season kicks off with several special events and exhibitions planned for this spring and summer.The season began with a day of...

Major grants boost Jones Library humanities center, Five Colleges’ museum database

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Renovation and construction of a humanities center at the Jones Library and a project to improve the accessibility of thousands of paintings, sculptures, manuscripts and cultural artifacts held at the region’s higher education museums and...

NEPM’s Latino Advisory Board resigns in wake of station’s layoffs

By JAMES PENTLAND

SPRINGFIELD — New England Public Media’s Latino Advisory Board has resigned en masse over recent layoffs that its members say disproportionately affected people of color, despite NEPM management’s repeated assurances of its commitment to a...

TM to consider giving noncitizens the right to vote on local matters

By SCOTT MERZBACH

LEVERETT — A legislative petition seeking to allow permanent noncitizen residents in Leverett to help make local government decisions, a requirement that all future Town Meeting sessions begin with an acknowledgment of the community’s Indigenous...

Sustainable Engineering Labs at UMass expected to catapult campus to forefront of climate solutions

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — On Earth Day in 2022, University of Massachusetts Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy announced an ambitious goal to make the Amherst campus net-zero for carbon emissions, prioritizing sustainability throughout all of its operations.A year after...

‘Bit of a legend’: Longtime Hadley dispatcher is state’s Telecommunicator of Year

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — A lifelong Hadley resident who has been a civilian dispatcher since his high school graduation in the mid-1970s is the state’s Telecommunicator of the Year.Henry Baj, who has handled dispatching duties on almost every Saturday day shift since...

Around Amherst: Call goes out for BIPOC art installation for Kendrick Park

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — The cultural, social, economic and environmental impact on the community and the town’s story by individuals and families who are Black, Indigenous and people of color will be the focus of an art installation at Kendrick Park.The Amherst...

Holocaust Remembrance Day event in Belchertown draws 150, calls for education in wake of antisemitic incidents at middle school

By MADDIE FABIAN

BELCHERTOWN — Raised by two Holocaust refugees, both of whom lost grandparents, aunts, uncles and relatives to concentration camps, Deborah Roth-Howe grew up commemorating Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day. But this year, recent antisemitic...

Tree House Brewing in Deerfield OK’d to triple occupancy limit to 1,500

By CHRIS LARABEE

DEERFIELD — The Tree House Brewing Co. has won approval from the town to triple its occupancy for outdoor concerts and other special events to 1,500 people. The brewery, located off Routes 5 and 10, has 10 concerts tentatively scheduled for this...

The Lehrer Report: April 28, 2023

Reminder: Real estate taxes are due May 1, which is Monday.***Reminder: Tuesday, May 2 is an election day in Amherst. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. I will be working at the polls at the Amherst Regional High School this year. I will miss my...

Leverett Village Co-op on the brink?: Members seeking ideas to drum up business at the struggling store

By SCOTT MERZBACH

LEVERETT — A.J. Hastings stationery and newsstand helped to anchor downtown Amherst for 108 years before closing last year. Wilson’s department store was a centerpiece of Greenfield’s retail scene for 137 years until it shuttered in early 2020.While...

Amherst Reparation Assembly launches anonymous survey

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Amherst residents’ attitudes about race and reparations are being collected through an anonymous survey, the first time the African Heritage Reparation Assembly is aiming to get input from a large segment of the community in advance of...

Tuition on rise at UMass as state weighs reforms, financial aid levels

By SAM DRYSDALE and SOPHIE HAUCK

BOSTON — The University of Massachusetts has agreed to increase tuition, room and board next academic year, as leaders on Beacon Hill disagree over creating a “tuition lock” system and how much to invest in public higher education.The UMass board of...

Comment sought on Valley Community Development’s affordable home project in North Amherst

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Before Valley Community Development moves forward with bringing 30 affordable homes to a North Amherst site, town officials are soliciting input from residents about the suitability of the site and the community need for such a project.The...

‘I’m not ashamed anymore’: In hopes of helping others, Hadley woman shares her personal journey while working with regional suicide coalition

By EMILY THURLOW

When her classmates were all frolicking and laughing in the schoolyard, Carmen Lee thought everyone was pretending, so she decided to do the same.She pretended straight through her teens and into her 20s, and graduated from the University of...