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By GENE STAMELL

I should have known they’d get it all wrong. Oh, I’ve heard the woke socialists moaning and whining: “He doesn’t listen to people around him.” Listen? I listen. I’m the best listener who ever lived; my hearing is off the charts. But nobody listens to me! I never said I wanted a big beautiful bill, in the singularity tense. I said bills, in the plurality tense.

Yesterday we celebrated National Blueberry Day, but unfortunately the joy of blueberry picking from the cherished Gordon King Estate, donated to the town of Leverett, was lost again this year. Access to this beloved Estate has been barred due to the closure of the easement from Shutesbury Road, a situation that not only deprives us of a treasured tradition but also impacts the maintenance and upkeep of the land as the town committee struggles to mow the grass and manage the estate effectively.

By MADISON SCHOFIELD

Different people, different perspectives, united in ink.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

LEVERETT — Mediation in mid-July could resolve an ongoing Land Court lawsuit, filed nearly a year ago by the owners of a Shutesbury Road property against the town and its Conservation Commission, that has prevented the public from using the easiest access to 65 acres of town conservation land in East Leverett.

It is hot and people look for relief and it is difficult to find a refuge. Puffer’s Pond is neglected by the town of Amherst. The “no swimming” signs from last year were still on their posts. There are no trash cans close to the beach area and the littering has begun. Dogs are a constant issue, they defecate and pee where people will put their blankets. Dogs also get into dog fights, like last evening. Loud music is played whenever.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A union representing teachers, paraprofessionals and clerical staff in the Amherst-Pelham public schools is renewing a call for action, first delivered to the Amherst Regional School Committee more than a year ago, that includes a 10-point plan for addressing racism against Black employees.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

By SCOTT MERZBACH

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A provision for possible full-time remote work for the Amherst, Pelham and Amherst-Pelham Regional schools’ finance director, part of a proposed three-year employment contract that includes a $137,700 base salary beginning July 1, is among concerns elected members of the committees are raising with the deal.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Juan A. Rodriguez, Amherst Regional Middle School’s interim principal, will become the school’s permanent principal starting July 1.

By NANCY E. GROSSMAN

In the end, the dispute came down to about 15 tents and a fence loosely constructed of wooden pallets that had collectively been up for less than a day. But this small encampment was enough to trigger an ill-considered decision by first-year UMass Amherst Chancellor Javier Reyes that cost taxpayers more than half a million dollars and drove a likely permanent wedge between the administration and some of the UMass community.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — MCAS English language arts assessments showing seven in 10 Amherst Regional High School 10th graders are meeting or exceeding expectations and a more than 50% drop in behavioral referrals at Pelham Elementary School are among signs of progress being made under the district’s state-mandated Student Opportunity Act Plan.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Falling ceiling tiles, locked bathrooms with broken stalls and a class schedule that regularly drops a guided academic study and advisory period are among concerns Amherst Regional Middle School student leaders are bringing to the Regional School Committee.

By GENE STAMELL

I don’t know about you, but I love a well-placed semicolon; it evokes a sense of drama, an air of anticipation of things to come. Yes, the human race could survive without this punctuation mark, but at what cost? Let us pause briefly (a bit of semicolon humor) and consider the situation.

By AALIANNA MARIETTA

LEVERETT — Roughly 100 residents voted to approve Leverett’s share of the Amherst-Pelham Regional School District budget, accept a 146.3-acre property gift and appropriate funds for a series of community preservation projects during Saturday’s annual Town Meeting.

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 — 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.

In 1975-76, I was a Fulbright scholar in Germany, teaching for a year at a German university. It was close enough in time to the Holocaust to stir feelings of fear (some professors still dressed up in SS uniforms on weekends).

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — The Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee is putting forward a $37.08 million fiscal year 2026 budget that would limit some anticipated staffing cuts at the middle and high schools, a proposal that would significantly increase assessments for the four member towns.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Mold and mildew that may be developing at the Amherst Regional Middle School, possibly related to the poor condition of the roof that could be fixed as part of the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s accelerated repair program, will be examined by school district officials.

We have descended down the deep hole of fascism. The guardrails have been stripped away and we are in grave danger of becoming an authoritarian state. Democracy will die down this hole. I am perplexed as to what 77 million Americans were expecting when they voted for this man. To make matters worse, he has brought in his sidekick, Elon Musk, an ununelected man with a chain saw to obliterate our government and our democracy. And this man with his chain saw has fired thousands of government workers, men and women who daily keep the system going.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A full team of five teachers at Amherst Regional Middle School, who provide instruction in English language arts, mathematics, science, social studies and special education to seventh and eighth graders, would be eliminated as part of at least 18 staff cuts, saving around $1.39 million, at the regional schools if a proposal under consideration is adopted for next fiscal year.