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By SCOTT MERZBACH

LEVERETT — A proposed donation of a 147-acre working forest in North Leverett, which would continue to be actively managed under town ownership and open for hunting, will be decided by voters at annual Town Meeting May 3.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A draft housing production plan with a series of strategies to ensure there are sufficient housing options in Amherst for people with a range of income levels is suggesting Amherst produce 265 to 715 new housing units by 2030.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Amherst officials are extending by an additional 15 days the public comment period for the Environmental Review Record associated with the Jones Library expansion and renovation project.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A section of North Pleasant Street north of the University of Massachusetts campus, incorporating the Puffton Village, Presidential, Townehouse and Brandywine apartment complexes, will be examined by Planning Department staff as an appropriate area to significantly increase housing density.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

Those attending a recent ribbon-cutting for the new UMass Downtown retail store and event space in Amherst center were invited to an afterparty at the Uptown Tap & Grille, which despite having a seemingly different geographical designation, is a neighboring business in the same building.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

Amherst Global Village Festival, an event to celebrate cultural diversity and promote inclusivity in the community, will be held for the first time at the Amherst Regional Middle School, 170 Chestnut St., on Saturday.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — A decision by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to terminate a $3.4 million allocation to Massachusetts for purchase of 121,830 cases of food items, including eggs, chicken, milk, fruit, pasta, beans and salmon for food banks across the state is being criticized by representatives of food security organizations and the Healey-Driscoll administration.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — Concerns about the possible impact to property taxes for homeowners of even a smaller Department of Public Works headquarters is giving town officials pause about bringing the full project to voters at annual Town Meeting on May 1.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Money targeted for both strategic investments and deferred maintenance on the University of Massachusetts campus is being temporarily diverted to a new account that will ensure research continues uninterrupted, should federal grants and contracts be paused or ended.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

At Ella Wang’s former middle school, a device would take regular readings of wind speed, precipitation, temperature and humidity — all information that would be useful to her and her teammates before Amherst Regional High School’s girls cross country meets.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Entirely knit with black yarn surrounding a foam interior, an enderman, the tall, thin blob seen in the Minecraft video game, is being turned into a three-dimensional form inside a classroom at Amherst Regional High School.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A proposal to develop three four-story, mixed-use buildings on Hampshire College land near Atkins Corner is receiving mostly praise from members of the Planning Board, even as some residents who live nearby worry about the height of the buildings and the possibility that the apartments will be occupied by college students, rather than families.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — “Rough road” signs along West Bay Road, at the edge of the Hampshire College campus near the Eric Carle Museum, warn drivers about the worsening condition of the travel lanes, which feature broken pavement, ruts and cracks, and an endless series of potholes that have been patched, repatched and patched again.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Some Fort River School families and staff are faulting district leadership for failing to address a physical and verbal assault of a parent in the school’s lobby on Feb. 10, along with other incidents of bullying and harassment by parents, that have occurred over the course of the school year.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — Even as some members of the Hadley Fire Department are training to become paramedics and others are preparing for a transition to a fully town-run Advanced Life Support ambulance service, those serving on the Select Board and Finance Committee are cautioning that this effort may not be realistic.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — It’s back to the drawing board for the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools’ proposed budget for next year, after the Town Council on Monday rejected changing the way assessments are determined for each of the district’s four member towns.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Three sedimentation basins directly upstream from the reservoir at Atkins Reservoir, located in Shutesbury, will be dredged in the fall of 2026.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Visitors from Lexington and Marblehead were among those who came to see “Generic Male,” the off-Broadway physical theater performed at Northampton’s Academy of Music in early March.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Site work related to construction of a five-story mixed-use building at the corner of Amity Street and University Drive is expected to begin before summer, following final approvals from the Planning Board.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — At least 1,000 students, staff and faculty, many from the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools, descended on the Campus Center at the University of Massachusetts Monday morning, rallying to preserve 18 positions at the middle and high schools that could be lost due to budget cuts.