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By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Some students let their instruments do the talking at a marathon Amherst School Committee hearing Tuesday at which dozens of people pleaded against a plan to eliminate an instrumental music teacher for the town’s three elementary...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Chicken cordon bleu pizza and slices topped with tortellini are among the food offerings J. Mascis, an Amherst native and founder of the rock band Dinosaur Jr., says he can get when dining in town, likely a reference to what is available at...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — On his first day at Shutesbury Town Hall, a week before officially being sworn in as the Police Department’s first K-9 officer, Charlie provided a calming distraction for a stressed and flustered resident who had come to the town...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Books associated with Amherst College’s 2021 bicentennial are earning the college the Amherst Historical Society’s annual Arthur F. Kinney Conch Shell Award.The historical society will present the award during its annual meeting, which...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A new five-story apartment project that would rise behind and be connected to the back of the former A.J. Hastings building is receiving a favorable recommendation from an Amherst town committee.Before site plans for the development at 45-55...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — In a region where most businesses are small, with 20 or fewer employees, having an organization to advocate on their behalf, help market them and assist them through unforeseen challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic is critical, says Amherst...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — The frequent closure of Puffer’s Pond last summer due to high levels of E. coli bacteria, coupled with ongoing concerns that sediment is filling the pond, is prompting town officials to focus on developing a plan for improvements.At the...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — A customer who left the Target store at Hampshire Mall without paying for more than $700 worth of Lego sets on Saturday afternoon, before driving erratically from the Route 9 location, has been identified, Hadley police said.Police Lt....

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Arriving at the North Amherst Library from their home a short distance away Monday afternoon, Zahir Kazazi, 5, and Elsia Kazazi, 7, parked their scooters at the base of a new staircase and chairlift, excitedly looking up from the $1.7...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — The owner of Mountain Farms Mall, which borders the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School, is prohibiting students, staff and visitors to the school from using its parking lot, and has stationed a tow truck at the site on weekday...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

LEVERETT — Restoration of a 1.4-mile section of the mostly gravel Dudleyville Road from Moore’s Corner to the Shutesbury town line could cost at least $2 million, and possibly as much as $4 million, according to a draft evaluation recently completed...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — To stave off a portion of what could be nearly $1.9 million in reductions and efficiencies to balance next year’s Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools budget, Amherst representatives to the Regional School Committee intend to seek more financial...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — As keys for the former Hastings shop at 45 South Pleasant St. are turned over to Amherst College so that it can open a store this spring to sell apparel, collectibles and other Mammoths-related merchandise, the owners of the third-generation...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — After a series of amendments and nearly three hours of discussion and debate, a new wetlands protection bylaw is in place in Shutesbury, adopted without a sentence that some interpreted as giving developers veto power over certain...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — In 1988, Joyce Chunglo began a 15-year tenure on the Hadley School Committee that ended in 2003, when she was elected to the Select Board, a board she has remained on for the past 21 years.With nomination forms for the May 21 town election...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A 20-member search committee, whose members represent a range of backgrounds and identities, hometowns and work experience, will be responsible for identifying the candidates to become the next superintendent for the Amherst, Pelham and...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — North Amherst Library, closed since the spring of 2022 for a $1.7 million project to make the 1893 building fully accessible and provide public bathrooms for the first time, reopens Monday. The expansion of the 1,080-square-foot, town-owned...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A soldier’s letter from 1865, written on an original government flyer announcing the Emancipation Proclamation to cities and plantations across Texas, is being unveiled as part of an expanded Ancestral Bridges exhibit opening at Amherst...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A former Amherst finance director is returning to town for the next few months to assist officials in getting through the budget season.Sanford “Sandy” Pooler, who was Amherst’s finance director from 2011 to early 2016, will be coming back...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Reorienting and expanding the high school track and rebuilding its interior playing field is in some question after the Amherst Regional School Committee this week narrowly rescinded a $1.5 million borrowing authorization. Committee members...