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By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Amherst will celebrate the Lunar New Year and Spring Festival with an event Sunday at the Amherst Regional Middle School auditorium.The Human Rights Commission is sponsoring the celebration, running from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m, that will include a...

lehrer

How many Americans does it take to change a light bulb? To change one bulb now should only take one of us. However, to change all our bulbs in the coming years will require millions of us — and the best way to initiate that action is through the...

Every human life is precious. And that is why it is so very tragic that so many people subsist in unbearable conditions. Just yesterday, I listened to a story on public radio about Nigeria, where it seems most everyone is trying to leave the country....

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A $4.74 million project to rebuild and reorient the track at the Amherst Regional High School, installing a synthetic turf playing field in its interior, can move forward, even though community fundraising is short of the amount needed to...

By EMILY THURLOW

AMHERST — After an eight-year hiatus, a former annual fundraising event by the University of Massachusetts Hillel that helped support local, national and international service projects, will be making its return.Through a partnership with UMass...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — The Connecticut man accused of shooting a Hadley farmer on Mill Valley Road on the afternoon of Dec. 31 allegedly is in a relationship with the farmer’s ex-girlfriend, and was previously involved in a confrontation with the farmer at the same...

HADLEY — Nomination forms to run for various elected positions in town, including the Select Board, School Committee and Planning Board, are available at the town clerk’s office.Town Clerk Jessica Spanknebel announced this week that papers for the May...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Area families depending on the Amherst Survival Center for staples like milk, eggs and bread will be among those benefiting from a new delivery van recently bought by the agency.Using $76,500 collected from 117 community members during a...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Despite significant planning over the past two years to relocate sixth graders from the town’s elementary schools to the Amherst Regional Middle School this fall, district leaders are broaching the idea of delaying the move, possibly for...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A resident seeking a variety of communications from town officials over the past several months is providing the town the money to begin the process of getting text messages, rather than appealing to the state’s supervisor of public records...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Whatever model Amherst creates for offering reparations to Black and African heritage residents could set an example for other cities and towns, states and the federal government, according to U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern.Taking part in the...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A continued spike in the anticipated costs of building a new elementary school, pushing the total project to well in excess of $100 million, is prompting the Elementary School Building Committee and its design team to begin considering a...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A second round of new business and technical assistance grants, using federal American Rescue Plan Act money that came to Amherst, is being initiated this winter.Amherst Business Improvement District Executive Director Gabrielle Gould...

By EMILY THURLOW

AMHERST — The light from the torch for social justice burned bright as the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. was celebrated at the University of Massachusetts on Tuesday morning.The inaugural “Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Racial Healing Community...

By RICHARD MCCARTHY

This past fall, I was bicycling in Hadley and I came up on a dead squirrel in the road. I got off my bike and used the instep of my foot to move the remains to the edge of a field on the side of the road. Two other cyclists approached me as I was...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A $1 million donation from the co-founder of Stonyfield Organic is pushing the Hampshire College capital campaign to nearly two-thirds of the $60 million goal set for June 2024.The college recently announced that alumnus Gary Hirshberg and...

By MICKEY RATHBUN

A few years ago I was having coffee with my two sisters-in-law at a family gathering in North Carolina. Both of them had recently built new houses and were quizzing me about how to create gardens in the bare dirt surrounding their homes. The question...

By ROBIN GOLDSTEIN

With a new year of dining ahead, it’s time to boil down all of my last year’s recommendations into a cheat sheet that you can clip or print and stick on your fridge: the best of Best Bites. I’ve picked 40 amazing places to eat and drink in the area...

By STEVE PFARRER

Time was when Rachel Portesi did much of her photography using Polaroid film. She loved the immediacy of the image, the way each photo was different and often didn’t quite match what her eye had seen, and what she calls “the feeling of Christmas when...