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By JIM LESCAULT

 In my 17 years as executive director of Amherst Media, I committed and honored the promotion of free speech for all. This ensured community access to equipment and training in communication technologies; the documentation and conservation of...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Municipal building inspectors and town police officers will soon have a mechanism for ensuring problem properties that affect the quality of life in Amherst neighborhoods, such as residences holding frequent loud parties with underage...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

LEVERETT — The Pioneer Valley Transit Authority will go fare-free beginning Nov. 1, part of a statewide “Try Transit” initiative that provides funding to allow transit authorities to waive fees for riders.PVTA said that no fares or passes will be...

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

AMHERST — Town officials are exploring development of the former VFW site on Main Street into a new 40-bed homeless shelter with associated services and a four-story, 30-unit single-room occupancy apartment complex.At a recent presentation to update...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — The Annual Trivia Bee, a long-running fundraiser for the Amherst Education Foundation that has typically been staged in school auditoriums, is moving to a downtown location in its 30th year.Scheduled for Oct. 28 at 6:30 p.m., the event that...

Yom Kippur greetings to our Jewish friends and neighbors.***Monday, Oct. 14 is a holiday. Public offices, schools, libraries and banks will be closed. The stores will be open with the color orange dominating with pumpkin and Halloween items.I was in...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Hundreds of people gathered in the back yard at a North Pleasant Street fraternity house, where loud music was playing and some underage guests were found urinating on a neighboring property, led to enforcement actions by Amherst Police late...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — In recognition of what elected trustees say is her exemplary work overseeing the Jones Library system, and the planned expansion and renovation project at the main branch, Director Sharon Sharry is earning a significant salary boost.Trustees...

By CHRIS LARABEE

DEERFIELD — With $3.8 million in Community Preservation Act money approved, the 1888 Building rehabilitation project can move forward.While the big-ticket project was approved with no discussion, it was a housekeeping article regarding the St. James...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — The Planning Board will not make a recommendation to special Town Meeting this fall about a proposal to significantly expand the senior housing overlay district, to include a 30-acre property near the corner of Rocky Hill Road and North Maple...

By GARRETT COTE

Throughout the 125 year history of Amherst Golf Club, a member of the Twohig family has been the head golf professional for 65% of the time.After Ed Twohig Sr., who began his tenure in 1944, stepped down following 35 years, Dave Twohig took over and...

By GARRETT COTE

Amherst resident Sydne Didier became the first person ever to circumnavigate the island of Little Cayman — one of three islands that make up the Cayman Islands — by swimming around it last month. Didier accomplished the feat on Sept. 11, swimming a...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — School officials are considering the installation of a high-tech tool to possibly identify anyone carrying a firearm into Hopkins Academy, though School Committee members are wary of moving forward with the idea without more information.The...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Better understanding of how certain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, often simply called PFAS and known as “forever chemicals,” negatively affect public health and cause assorted maladies, is leading to state and federal laws and...

 Why this obsession with Hamas? I must admit I was confused by the column “Victory for Hamas, tragedy for the Palestinians” that appeared in the Sept. 23 Gazette. Although the increasingly popular elected authority Hamas, through its military wing the...

By RICHARD S. BOGARTZ

 There are right-wing conservatives whose dog-eat-dog view of society is so repugnant that I’d never want to discuss politics with them, and yet whom I respect for their rejection of Donald Trump. Dick Cheney is an example. It isn’t that long since my...

The United States is within, what? — 20,000 or 40,000 votes of electing an utterly unfit man to be president. Millions of us despise him, but no matter what happens, win or lose, we will have to make compromises along the way, no matter how righteous...

Ballot Question 1 — to allow the state auditor to audit the Legislature — sounded simple and reasonable enough at first. Then I read the Majority Report in the red “Information for Voters” booklet — a real eye-opener. While the current state auditor...

By EMILEE KLEIN

SOUTH HADLEY — While lounging under a tree at Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter School, middle school student Addison Gosselin felt the tickle of a critter crawling on her leg.Gosselin ushered the little bug onto her hand, and immediately...

By CAROLYN BROWN

Cartoonist Hilary Price, who lives in Florence, won the 2023 Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year, the highest honor awarded by the National Cartoonists Society, in August of this year.Price draws the comic “Rhymes with Orange,” which is syndicated...