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By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — The 90-degree weather heated the sea of camping chairs and umbrellas that covered Belchertown High School’s Stadium Field Thursday evening, and people were doing their best to keep cool.

By EMILEE KLEIN

HADLEY — One evening years ago at a Young Life Camp in the Adirondack Mountains, Dave Wintsch and the merry band of teenagers under his watch walked into a dining hall to big bowls of spaghetti and sauce, but not a single utensil.

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — When the high school’s television projected 941 votes in favor of the School Department’s $34.54 million fiscal year 2026 budget to 154 votes against, a majority of the nearly 1,100 in attendance at a packed Town Meeting on Saturday erupted into cheers.

By EMILEE KLEIN

AMHERST — UMass doctoral candidate Shannon Callaham had initially planned to spend last week analyzing interview data between Holyoke community members and energy industry professionals as part of a grant-funded project that centered around environmental justice in Holyoke’s transition to renewable energy.

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — In counting that came down to the wire, voters at town election on May 19 approved a $2.9 million Proposition 2½ override by a mere 21 votes, according to unofficial results compiled the next morning.

By EMILEE KLEIN

“Reset!”

By EMILEE KLEIN

AMHERST — In 2013, Canadian police estimated that there were 1,181 unresolved cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada. The number today is closer to 4,000.

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Lucky drivers on the Mass Pike may look out their windshield to see an industrial-sized recycling container with brightly-colored murals of people gardening in upcycled tire planters, critters playing on the Jabish Brook or even the beloved buildings of Belchertown rather than the typical blue, green and brown neutrals.

By EMILEE KLEIN

AMHERST — When UMass Permaculture organizes its weekly student farmers markets in spring and fall, vendors interested in selling their wares must act fast to scoop up the limited number of spots.

By EMILEE KLEIN

For the last two years, the Hitchcock Center for the Environment has aimed to help more than 1,000 third graders in Springfield Public Schools envision themselves as scientists and engineers.

By EMILEE KLEIN

NORTHAMPTON — When Kara McElhone, executive director of child welfare nonprofit Children’s Advocacy Center of Hampshire County, searched in vain for a satellite office in Belchertown, Police Chief Kevin Pacunas personally helped her locate a place to rent.

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Residents at a public listening session last Thursday voiced their disappointment over the Select Board’s decision to advance a request for a $3.3 million Proposition 2½ general override to annual Town Meeting this spring, claiming the figure is too high for voters to stomach and puts school funding in jeopardy.

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — When Town Manager Steve Williams goes on the road to advertise Belchertown as a viable, business-friendly community, business owners admit to him that they never considered the town as a potential home for their company.

By EMILEE KLEIN

HADLEY — U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service employee Jackie Stephens starts her day at the Cronin Aquatic Resource Center in Sunderland by checking her email to see if she’s been fired.

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — After a month of parent protest and debate among town leaders, the Select Board narrowly approved putting a Proposition 2½ general override question on the ballot to fund level-services budgets for both the schools and the town.

By EMILEE KLEIN

AMHERST — Peanut butter jars, takeout containers and soft plastic wrap often end up in the recycling bin, contaminating viable plastic, cardboard and paper for recycling and resulting in more garbage in landfills.

By EMILEE KLEIN

GRANBY — While volunteering at a tiny snack pantry for Granby Junior Senior High School students in 2017, Judy DeLong noticed a student wearing a sweatshirt with a wet, wrinkled and frayed collar.

By EMILEE KLEIN

For 15 minutes one morning last week, state Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler turned the Belchertown High School Auditorium into his history classroom, teaching the Belchertown student body about a series of individuals who shattered the glass ceilings for Black people in their respective industries.

By EMILEE KLEIN

HADLEY — The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Department Service’s Northeast regional headquarters in Hadley is proposed to close on Aug. 31 as part of the federal General Services Administration initiative to end leases for 164 federal office spaces nationwide, according to a list leaked by a government whistleblower.

By EMILEE KLEIN

Fifth grader Hattie Griffin rubs the soft, thin tree trunk with one piece of sandpaper before switching to a different piece with a softer grit, hoping to make her already-velvety broom handle even smoother.

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Coming off a year of regional and national honors in baton twirling, the Belchertown Twirlers started their competition season strong when two members earned first and second place in the Pre-teen Miss Majorette of Massachusetts Pageant.