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By ANTHONY BUSCARINO

AMHERST — Whenever an emergency call is placed, the person facing a crisis places their confidence in that whoever arrives will be a trained professional — capable, skilled and courageous. The image of a firefighter — tough, strong, and always willing to put themselves on the line — is a common ideal in the public’s consciousness. In Amherst, these firefighters may even be local full-time college students.

By ALEXA LEWIS

AMHERST — Varshini Prakash no longer believes that we can “stop” climate change as she did when she was an undergraduate student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, when she was staging sit-ins and protests to pressure her school into divesting from fossil fuels.

By ALEXA LEWIS

School districts in Hampshire County, including Amherst-Pelham Regional and Hadley, and across the country are taking steps to secure their data after a security breach at the widely used, California-based software company PowerSchool meant unauthorized access to information stored in school systems was gained by a malevolent party, who held the information for ransom.

By ADA DENENFELD KELLY

AMHERST — It didn’t take long after Election Day for students to start visiting the offices at the UMass Stonewall Center seeking advice on how to prepare for another Donald Trump presidency. A significant number of these visitors were seeking...

By ALEXA LEWIS

While many families are gearing up for their holiday feasts, a large number of Massachusetts residents are struggling to put food on the table. Amid unusually high prices and the conclusion of many pandemic-era supports, local food banks and survival...

By ALEXA LEWIS

AMHERST — “Growing up poor, all I’ve ever wanted was financial freedom,” said Beatrice Rogers, a third-year psychology and holistic health major at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. But that freedom might be far away for Rogers, whose college...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Until taking the oath of U.S. citizenship Tuesday morning, Tashi Dhondup of Amherst had been without a country since 1959, when he left Tibet during the Tibetan uprising and took refuge in Nepal.Eleven years after coming to the United...

By EMILEE KLEIN

AMHERST — Emily Dickinson once said: “They say that ‘home is where the heart is.’ I think it is where the house is, and the adjacent buildings,” and soon her homestead will see one of those adjacent buildings revived.The Emily Dickinson Museum spent...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

Long in the planning stages, a new electricity service in Northampton, Amherst and Pelham is set to launch this fall in what officials promise will mean more affordable and renewable electricity for residents.The three communities inked a deal with...

By ALEXA LEWIS

AMHERST — Artificial intelligence could be key in leading us toward a greener future. At the University of Massachusetts Amherst, researchers were just awarded $12 million by the National Science foundation to develop a new field that aims to use...

By ALEXA LEWIS

BELCHERTOWN — Protesters who were arrested at the May 7 pro-Palestinian rally on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus filed out of the Eastern Hampshire District Courthouse on July 17 after pretrial proceedings to gather with supporters,...

By JAMES PENTLAND

AMHERST — Battered by storms, ice and snow for two centuries, it was only a matter of time before the South Congregational Church’s post-and-beam steeple needed more than cosmetic repairs. That time came this spring when Wilcox Builders of Hatfield...

By ALEXA LEWIS

AMHERST — Dozens of Amherst community members braved the heat to gather at Mill River Park on June 19 for the Black Business Association of Amherst Area’s 15th annual Juneteenth Jubilee, the town’s longest-running Juneteenth celebration. Friends and...

By Alexa Lewis

Three Pioneer Valley social justice organizations have been awarded funding to expand their missions that range from seeking the release of incarcerated people to helping individuals undergoing asylum cases.The Decarcerate Western Massachusetts...

By Alexa Lewis

School districts in Amherst and Holyoke are well on their way to transporting students to and from school in buses that run entirely on clean energy.The two districts were among 17 in Massachusetts to secure portions of $42 million in federal funding...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — As members of the 2024 class graduate from Amherst Regional High School, they will likely face adversity and be pushed to their limits in the years ahead. But Class President Neil Cunniffe, speaking during last Friday’s graduation ceremony,...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion across the country through its Roe v. Wade decision. That same year, Luna Paradis’ mother was born.Fifty-one years later, Luna Paradis, a seventh grader at Amherst Regional Middle School,...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — University of Massachusetts Chancellor Javier Reyes defended the arrests of 134 people at a campus pro-Palestinian encampment last week, telling a special session of the Faculty Senate on Tuesday afternoon that the decision to break up the...

By SCOTT MERZBACH 

AMHERST — Amherst Regional Public School leaders failed to adequately protect LGBTQ+ students from bullying and harassment by classmates and staff members, and allowed offensive conduct by at least one employee to continue despite multiple complaints,...