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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 — A 500-acre section of forested land connected to Mount Toby in Sunderland, west of Route 63, is being returned to the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band as a gift from W.D. Cowls Inc.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Nearly half of residents completing a survey focused on ways Amherst can produce more housing, especially for low- and moderate-income families and individuals, say they intend to leave town over the next five years, with a majority citing the high cost of buying or renting residential properties.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — The town is accepting proposals for $850,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding available to support the mission of social service agencies and complete capital projects benefiting low- and moderate-income families and neighborhoods.

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 SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A possible reconstruction of the War Memorial Pool bathhouse, a centerpiece of a larger overhaul of downtown’s Community Field, is in line to get an additional $500,000 from the town’s Community Preservation Act account.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

BOSTON — Pro-immigrant nonprofits, organizers, and politicians from across the state are bracing for a second Trump presidency as they seek to protect the state’s undocumented population — and a letter recently addressed to Gov. Maura Healey may give glimpses into the reality of challenges ahead, which may include lawsuits and jail time for those disregarding federal immigration laws.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A final 2025-2026 school calendar that likely will see public schools open before Labor Day could be brought before the Amherst, Pelham and Amherst-Pelham Regional school committees later this winter.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Water damage caused by frozen pipes at a fraternity and sorority at the University of Massachusetts left both homes temporarily uninhabitable, with the possibility that those living at the fraternity house may not be able to move in before classes resume for the spring semester, according to the Amherst Fire Department.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Work crews with CTA Construction Managers LLC of Waltham will begin constructing Amherst’s $97.5 million elementary school on South East Street during the week of Jan. 13, with occupancy of the building for students and staff remaining on track for the fall of 2026.

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

AMHERST — Friends of the Jones Libraries are making a $500,000 donation to the expansion and renovation of the 43 Amity St. building, drawing the money from what is known as the Woodbury Fund.

Before entering the Mos Eisley spaceport seeking an interplanetary Uber to Alderaan, Obi-Wan Kenobi cautioned Luke Skywalker, “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.” Evidently, Mr. Kenobi had never been to Washington, D.C., and certainly not during a Trump administration. Donald Trump is a con man. Always has been and always will be. He is also a hollow man honeycombed with self-doubt, horror-struck at the thought of self-awareness, and using remorseless mockery of others as a psychological contrivance counterbalancing his moral and ethical impotence.

By NANCY E. GROSSMAN

By RAZVAN SIBII

The anti-immigration people won the elections. They campaigned successfully on the “mass deportation” of undocumented immigrants and they have every intention of fulfilling that threat. And, if the first Trump administration is any indication, they will also drastically shrink and slow down legal immigration in every way they can think of.

By CAROLYN BROWN

Finding love is all about finding someone on your wavelength. A radio show at the University of Massachusetts Amherst wants to help the local queer community make romantic connections, one guest DJ at a time.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — An illustrated strip of her life story shows her cats, the cello she practices, and an imaginative dragon, but commences with a depiction of woods.

By CAROLYN BROWN

Most people don’t see local bars as venues for classical music, but a concert series at The Drake in Amherst is helping redefine and expand where classical music belongs.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Before the Jones Library’s expansion and renovation gets underway, the Massachusetts Historical Commission is requesting that library officials reconsider use of synthetic shingles in replacing the existing slate roof, and to not cut into the front of the 1928 building for installing a book drop.

By EVELINE MACDOUGALL

A rollicking group of women who bonded through a class at Franklin County’s YMCA in Greenfield have produced a calendar for 2025 that celebrates beautiful humans in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. Let’s meet some water nymphs who could grace your wall if you get your hands on one of these fabulous calendars.