Saturday, November 7, 2009
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.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
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.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
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.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
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.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
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.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
NORTHAMPTON - Despite objections from two members, the City Council named Teri Anderson as director of the city's new Community and Economic Development Office.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
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.