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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.

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — The School Committee is pushing back against a potential $2.1 million cut to its proposed $36 million level-services school budget that would result in the loss of more than 20 positions, a blow to the schools after the committee’s proposed budgets have been cut $4 million in the past five years.

By EMILEE KLEIN

NORTHAMPTON — Nothing could knock down Claudia Quintero on the day she received her green card and work permit at 17 years old — she was too elated to notice anything else.

By EMILEE KLEIN

AMHERST — The first two cases of bird flu on the University of Massachusetts campus were discovered over the weekend of Jan. 18-19 when two deceased Canadian geese tested positive for disease, the university announced.

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — A new project called Branding Belchertown aims to overhaul the visual identity of the commuter community in hopes of distinguishing Belchertown as a destination for tourism and business.

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Three artists will transform the Belchertown Transfer Station’s brown recycling containers into works of art that incorporate opinions from residents in the design and execution of the murals.

By EMILEE KLEIN

Pam Victor had exhausted every fundraising idea she could imagine to raise $115,000 for Happier Valley Comedy’s new theater, and after a year and a half of balancing this job with her other roles teaching, performing and running the improv comedy nonprofit, she was starting to wonder whether her dream theater would be a reality.

By EMILEE KLEIN

NORTHAMPTON — Sue Stubbs isn’t afraid of taking risks — in fact, she welcomes it.

By EMILEE KLEIN

GRANBY — The Select Board approved entertainment and common victualler licenses for neighborhood winery Wine Haus in a 2-1 vote, with the chair dissenting due to ongoing discussions around noise and zoning.Over the past month, residents have come...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — The Board of Health has approved regulations prohibiting the sale of nicotine products within the town’s limits to anyone born after Jan. 1, 2004, making Belchertown the first municipality in western Massachusetts and the 11th in the...