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By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — The tiny number of emergency dispatch calls directed to the Community Responders for Equity, Safety and Service since mid-December, when the department began taking 911 calls, is prompting worries by members of the Community Safety and...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A Quincy-based temporary shelter that includes transitional housing, along with a resource center for people to find jobs, medical care and permanent homes, is being eyed as a model for how Amherst might redevelop the former VFW site at 457...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Jake Hulseberg won’t let his children play on the swing set he built them in their backyard on Mountain View Drive because of bullets that shattered glass doors on two houses on the street.Instead, Hulseberg keeps his kids in the front...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — Community Preservation Act money for an initial phase of fixing up an early 19th-century farmhouse at the Porter Phelps Huntington Museum and hiring an architect to evaluate and prepare the 1840 Town Hall for renovations is being recommended...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — With the Conservation Commission and Board of Health registering objections to the proposed poured-in-place rubber surface of a playground at the town’s new elementary school, the design team is asking the Elementary School Building...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A former Amherst finance director is returning to town for the next few months to assist officials in getting through the budget season.Sanford “Sandy” Pooler, who was Amherst’s finance director from 2011 to early 2016, will be coming back...

Staff Report

NORTHAMPTON — Less than a week after Deerfield residents voted to authorize the Select Board to borrow up to $5 million to repair roads ravaged by June flooding, town officials learned the town had topped the list of town recipients of state grants...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — The chairwoman of the town’s Conservation Commission has stepped down, a decision she said stems from alleged personal attacks and interference by elected and appointed officials at Town Hall.Miriam DeFant’s decision came on the eve of a...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — A revised club alcohol license for the Young Men’s Club that offers more flexibility for where members and their guests can be served and consume alcohol at the 138 East St. property, including on an outside deck, has been approved by the...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Amherst Town Hall’s large granite steps, in place since the building opened at the corner of Main Street and Boltwood Avenue in 1889, have been dismantled and removed as part of an ongoing repair project.Since the project began June 19, the...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Earl Miller, Amherst’s director of the unarmed police alternative Community Responders for Equity, Safety and Service department, is on paid administrative leave until the completion of an independent investigation, according to town...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Regulating large-scale solar projects proposed for land that is actively being farmed or is significantly wooded remains a sticking point for an Amherst committee attempting to write a solar bylaw to be adopted by the Town Council.“It’s...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Residents who live on a cul-de-sac in South Amherst and deal with regular flooding on the road, and the deterioration of pavement the standing water causes, are making a new appeal to the Town Council and town officials for a specific plan...

By JAMES PENTLAND

GRANBY — Town and school budgets and other major expenditures will be presented to voters for approval when the second half of the annual Town Meeting gets underway Monday, June 5.What isn’t on the warrant this year but could be in the near future...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A $15 million low-interest loan will be provided to Amherst by the state’s Clean Water Trust so the town can move forward with rebuilding the Centennial water treatment plant in Pelham.Trustees for the Clean Water Trust last week announced...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — Voters at Town Meeting this spring will get their say on the future of the historic Russell School building in the town center.The Community Preservation Committee voted 5-1 on March 27 to recommend that the town spend $1.25 million from the...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — Many transfer stations around the region have become more than just places to bring household trash, recyclables and compost, becoming part of the fabric of the community with take-it-or-leave-it facilities and book sheds.Hadley’s transfer...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — An average Amherst homeowner could face a nearly $500 increase in their annual property tax bill should voters approve construction of a $98 million elementary school this spring.Finance Director Sean Mangano on Monday presented the Town...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Amherst’s dormant Veterans of Foreign Wars building at 457 Main St. is now owned by the town, which intends to demolish the 1960s-era structure and have the site redeveloped for both affordable housing and a permanent homeless shelter.The...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Amherst is asking the area’s legislative delegation in Boston to file special legislation that would allow the town to impose real estate transfer fees on residential transactions, with money generated from this supporting affordable...