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By MARIETTA PRITCHARD

When he’s not coaching basketball for a community league, our grandson is waiting to hear from the law schools he’s applied to. He is ambitious, with hopes for a top school and plenty of grant money. He thinks about a clerkship and then possibly a job in academia. For more than a year he studied for, took and retook the LSAT exam until he got the grade he expected from himself. His family looked on amazed at his gritty persistence.

By MICHAEL SEWARD

Amherst College blithely contributed to the housing shortage in Amherst. That was the takeaway of a recent Gazette article about the liberal arts college’s request to demolish two historic properties, which, according to the article, was purchased to prevent a housing development by outbidding private housing developers with $4.3 million in 2003. It’s an astonishing case of wealth and privilege preventing the construction of much needed housing, regardless of the detriment to others, while irresponsibly allowing two historic homes to fall into a state of disrepair.

Amherst is blessed with outstanding EMTs! I know because I have needed their services several times over the past year. The EMTs come promptly, listen carefully to one’s health issues, do a thorough exam including an EKG, are always kind, courteous and completely respectful. All of this care is critical when one is upset, afraid and in pain. Many thanks to our excellent, professional EMT department!

Most of us will become disabled at some point in our lives. Whether through accident, illness, or simply old age, we will all join the largest minority in the U.S. For decades, institutionalization was standard for people with disabilities. Conditions were commonly squalid, overcrowded, and abusive.When the deinstitutionalization movement gained momentum in the 1960s and 70s, we developed support systems to help people with disabilities live on their own.

Throughout the world people are honoring the life of Pope Francis who was both a spiritual and political leader. He called on all of us to make it a priority to protect the environment, provide justice for all, especially the poor and marginalized, and to work for peace. In our country flags flew at half-mast in his honor. But to truly honor Pope Francis, it is not enough to lower our flags, light candles, and bow our heads. May we all reflect on and be guided in our actions by the Pope’s words and deeds.

By EMILEE KLEIN

AMHERST — In 2013, Canadian police estimated that there were 1,181 unresolved cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada. The number today is closer to 4,000.

By MICKEY RATHBUN

In the Orchard Arboretum, a little-known public garden in South Amherst, a living work of art is making its debut this spring. “I call it a daffodil ribbon,” explained Richard Waldman, a retired landscape architect from New York City who conceived of the project two years ago and has finally brought it to fruition.

By CAROLYN BROWN

The shows “Broad City” and “Hacks” take place largely in New York City and Las Vegas, respectively, but they have a local connection: each show’s executive production team includes Lucia Aniello, a producer, writer, director, and showrunner who grew up in Hadley.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

Smithland Pet & Garden Center is closing all 13 of its locations, including stores in Northampton and Hadley.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

AMHERST — Ten years ago, Angelo Mercado began the lengthy and difficult process of becoming an American citizen. On Tuesday inside the Bowker Auditorium at Stockbridge Hall at the University of Massachusetts, that arduous journey finally came to an end.

By CHRIS LARABEE

SUNDERLAND — There were no surprises in Sunderland’s May 3 town election as there were no contested races and just 97 voters went to the polls at the Sunderland Public Library.

By CHRIS LARABEE

DEERFIELD — Select Board Chair Tim Hilchey was reelected to his seat on May 8, fending off a challenge from former Select Board member David Wolfram, 814-558.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — After the conclusion of business hours on Wednesday, the main branch of the Jones Library at 43 Amity St. is closed to patrons for the next 18 or so months, beginning the process for renovating and expanding the building for the first time since the early 1990s.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — As heavy machinery moves about a 9-acre site off Montague Road, marking the preliminary work on 15 duplex condominiums to be constructed over the next year and that will offer first-time homeownership opportunities to 30 families, North Amherst residents are already preparing to welcome their new neighbors.

Garden Report: flora and fauna — the iris have bloomed, there are buds on the peonies, the snake has returned and now there are two bunnies who come to eat the grass. The cucumbers, basil and potatoes have been planted. I have been harvesting lettuce leaves.

Garden report: the lilacs have bloomed.

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 ANTHONY FYDEN

What will Hadley look like in five years, or 10? What kind of town will we leave our families and the next generation? I believe that Hadley is at a crossroads, and I’m running for Planning Board to help chart a path forward. Like other western Massachusetts towns, Hadley is facing immense pressure — much of it generated from Boston — to reshape our communities, to conform to a vision driven largely by state politicians. We’re being forced to bear the brunt of economic, housing, and energy crises that we did not create and that we’re not in a position to fix. I believe that the residents of Hadley should drive decisions about our future, not state politicians who rarely, if ever, set foot in town. 

By PETER DEMLING

The world is in a difficult place today, to say the least.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — Banners recognizing the town’s past and present military veterans, as well as those continuing to actively serve in the armed forces, lined Hadley streets for the first time in 2024.

By CHRIS LARABEE

There’s no need to don your corset or three-piece suit for Historic Deerfield’s opening exhibition this season.