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LEVERETT — Concepts for how the historic Field Building in town center might be put to use, whether for municipal or private purposes, will soon be accepted by the Select Board. With residents at annual Town Meeting recently giving town officials more time to come up with a plan for what could happen at the […]

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AMHERST — In the first years of the North Congregational Church, Black members were prohibited from sitting in the pews on the sanctuary’s main level, instead being required to stay in the balcony. Only four years after its 1826 opening, though, this restriction was dropped, and by 1843 church members became active in abolitionist efforts, […]

In a last-ditch effort to raise Northampton Public Schools' fiscal year 2027 budget, the School Committee voted 7-1 to recommend that City Council adopt a state law allowing the council to vote to alter school budget appropriations in the annual budget. The decision came after a chaotic 30-minute special meeting held virtually Wednesday evening, in which a debate over procedure led to a heated exchange between Vice Chair Alena Bartoli, who was acting as chair, and member Michael Stein.If approve

NORTHAMPTON — City councilors questioned police, fire and emergency management leaders about staffing and response times as they reviewed Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra’s proposed $152.5 million fiscal year 2027 budget during the second of two public hearings on Tuesday. The city’s proposed budget for next fiscal year, which begins July 1, would raise city spending by […]

A Holyoke high school student’s hard work in the classroom earned him more than a diploma - a brand new car.

East Longmeadow’s Fourth of July will look different again this year. 

Juneteenth celebrations are growing across the Pioneer Valley, with Northampton hosting its first citywide festival this Saturday alongside longstanding events in Amherst and Holyoke taking place later in the month. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, and informed enslaved people they were free, more than two years after President […]

Hull Street Energy has announced the acquisition of FirstLight Hydro Generating Co.'s US properties, which includes 1,400 megawatts of clean energy in the Northeast, but environmental advocates and tribal representatives are concerned about the potential impact of private equity ownership on the future of operations.

EASTHAMPTON — Nine city unions have banded together representing nearly 400 Easthampton employees, along with the Easthampton Tenants Union, to support the proposed $6.9 million Proposition 2½ override. Since the city announced in April it would be proposing the override, residents have had to grapple with the two potential outcomes of the June 9 vote — an […]

EASTHAMPTON — Sign holders stood on one side of the street next to the Municipal Building on a recent afternoon, urging people to vote “yes” on a proposed $6.9 million Proposition 2½ override. It was a different story on the other side of the street, where people stood holding “no” signs. After Mayor Salem Derby announced […]