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Keyword search: shutesbury MA

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — A serious accident involving two boats that injured one person on Lake Wyola in June is prompting town officials to begin forming a committee to examine overhauling a bylaw that governs use of the 128-acre site.But with the Select Board...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — Moments before a Danvers resident appeared ready to end his own life on the morning of Jan. 1, a Shutesbury police sergeant located the man’s vehicle parked off Route 202 and engaged in a conversation that convinced him to remain alive, and then be brought to a hospital for needed physical and mental help.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A New Hampshire timber company has closed on a massive land buy of nearly 2,400 acres in seven communities in Hampshire and Franklin counties, acquiring five parcels for more than $20 million from Amherst-based W.D. Cowls Inc.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Embracing change through an equity lens, putting new protocols in place that don’t rely only on past practices, and improving communication while also speaking hard truths are at the heart of Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman’s approach to improving education for students in the Amherst, Pelham and Amherst-Pelham Regional schools.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — Residents, town officials and the legislative delegation are raising concerns about a proposed forest management plan for land at the edge of the Quabbin Reservoir that could involve removing many tall white pines using large equipment...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — Residents who pushed to get a new wetlands protection bylaw into place in Shutesbury are asking the Conservation Commission to adopt an updated associated set of regulations to ensure the bylaw can be enforced.“No regulations means we are...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — Kestrel Land Trust is permanently protecting a forest featuring more than 200 acres of white pine and mixed hardwoods on Montague Road, where a centuries-old dam was removed over the summer.A $327,000 grant from the Executive Office of...

A Dec. 9 letter writer (“From UFC to NFL, everybody’s happy again”) bizarrely proposes that “people seem to be happy again” simply because she has seen some professional athletes dancing like Trump. No doubt some millionaires are dancing at the...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — A general town bylaw creating a licensing process for large-scale battery storage in Shutesbury has been struck down by the state attorney general’s office, for both unreasonably regulating renewable energy and improperly regulating...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Douglas Slaughter, who served as temporary superintendent for the Amherst, Pelham and Amherst-Pelham Regional schools for the 2023-2024 academic year, is joining the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District as its assistant...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — Appealing to the state Legislature to allow noncitizens who live in Shutesbury the right vote in local elections, making the town pollinator friendly, and providing some money for the rebuilding of the Amherst Regional High School track,...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Anti-bias training throughout the Amherst, Pelham and Amherst-Pelham Regional schools, under the Welcoming Schools Seal of Excellence Track, will soon be getting underway, continuing an effort to create a safe, positive and more inclusive...

By MATTEO PANGALLO

 It is difficult to imagine a more condescending and erroneous take on Question 2 than the one Ed Lambert of the Boston-based pro-business group Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education attempts to articulate in his Oct. 5 letter [“Weakening...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — The idea of moving seventh and eighth graders to Amherst Regional High School, potentially turning the Amherst Regional Middle School building into an innovation center, is being greeted with cautious optimism by members of the Regional...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A referendum question on the state’s November election ballot seeking to eliminate the requirement that public high school students pass the MCAS test to graduate is being endorsed by the Amherst Regional School Committee.The committee voted...

By CHRIS LARABEE

SUNDERLAND — After four consecutive interviews with finalists for the vacant town administrator position, the Select Board has settled on Shutesbury Town Administrator Rebecca Torres.In a unanimous vote, the Sunderland Select Board voted to put...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A new bullying reporting system is on the websites for the Amherst, Pelham and Amherst-Pelham Regional Public Schools, providing an improved process for notifying school officials about possible incidents and ensuring prompt investigations....

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — An open-air gazebo is being proposed to protect the town common’s historic guideboard, an artifact that dates to 1837 and continues to be refurbished and restored at the Williamstown Art Conservation Center.While the Historical Commission...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A significant deficit anticipated in the fiscal year 2026 budget for the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools, amid continued enrollment declines in grades 7-12, is prompting Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman to propose consolidating all secondary...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — State education officials have recognized Shutesbury Elementary School’s success in reducing chronic absenteeism by students with the presentation of a signed, gold-colored basketball from the 18-time NBA champion Boston Celtics at a...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A federal lawsuit brought against the Amherst-Pelham Regional school district, as well as several current and former staff members, by a former middle school counselor contends that she and other counselors were targeted by colleagues and...