Reading relay: 10,000 books from Valley project on way to Navajo Nation readers

AMHERST - Thousands of books from local library sales made their way across the country this week, headed for Navajo readers 2,300 miles away. Reader to Reader, an Amherst organization that has collected and given away 2.5 million books in the past eight years, received a visit this week from Irving Nelson of the Navajo Nation Library in Window Rock, Ariz. On Tuesday, he and an associate rented a 26-foot truck and loaded 10,000 books, along with 10 computers donated by Amherst College, into it.

Soldiers' Home pinched: Outpatient care lost to state cuts

HOLYOKE - Recent budget cuts announced by Gov. Deval Patrick will mean that the 2,200 area veterans who depend on the Holyoke Soldiers' Home's outpatient services will no longer have that option - and the move will likely translate to increased traffic at local clinics.

Illnesses ease in schools: CDH temporarily bans young visitors

Absenteeism in area schools due to the flu or other illnesses fell this week, officials reported Friday, but watchfulness has ramped up at Cooley Dickinson Hospital. Beginning Monday, children under 18 will not be allowed to visit patients.

The policy is a temporary shift aimed at protecting patients and the wider community, a hospital spokeswoman said Friday.

Levasseur's talk on roots of terrorism might find new venue

AMHERST - Proponents of a planned talk by a former member of a radical group that was canceled by University of Massachusetts officials this week decry the cancellation as an affront to free speech. Meanwhile, there is a move afoot to find another venue for the talk by Raymond Luc Levasseur, a convicted domestic terrorist.

DA's office foiled on use of dual DUI test results

GREENFIELD - The Northwestern district attorney's office has been stymied by a Supreme Judicial Court ruling in its attempt to change how Breathalyzer tests are introduced in drunken driving cases.

Amid testy exchange, Anderson gets Northampton post

NORTHAMPTON - Despite objections from two members, the City Council named Teri Anderson as director of the city's new Community and Economic Development Office.

Event Sunday marks rail trail's reopening

EASTHAMPTON - More than a year after heavy rains opened an enormous sinkhole on the northern portion of the Manhan Rail Trail, cyclists and joggers are back in business.