Briefs

Berkshire Trail loses heat briefly

CUMMINGTON - There was no heat for part of the day Wednesday at Berkshire Trail Elementary School because of a problem with the fuel tank, according to the school principal.

Around Pelham: Local wheat coming back to Valley tables

Ben Lester is trying to revive wheat production in the Pioneer Valley nearly a half century after it vanished from area fields. Tonight, Lester will be at the Pelham Library to talk about that experience at a meeting sponsored by the Pelham Carbon Watchers, a community group, and the library. The event is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

Family sues over gun death

SPRINGFIELD - The Micro Uzi machine gun that killed 8-year-old Christopher K. Bizilj at a Westfield gun fair last October reportedly jammed twice and was inspected by a 15-year-old boy before it slipped from Christopher's grasp and discharged, according to a $4 million wrongful death lawsuit filed Monday.

Project snag over 1822 map resolved in Pelham

pelham - Efforts to repair Amherst Road are taking a step forward, as the town issued "orders of taking" to landowners who had not acted to help realign the road's right of way.

Pelham Library to show work of Hadley painter

pelham - Visitors to the Pelham Library will get a glimpse of the post industrial age over the coming months.

The future of one small school: Pelham Elementary among many with larger choice levels

PELHAM - On a recent afternoon, Rena Moore sat in her office looking through her papers for the enrollment figures that told the story of her school. After a bit of shuffling, the Pelham Elementary School principal produced a graph that illustrated the predicament: in 1999 the elementary school had 143 students who lived in the town, while today it has only 76, with the number of school choice students growing every year. And Pelham Elementary is not alone: Schools across the state have seen their enrollment numbers drop over the past 10 years.

Push for school mergers 'fizzles'

Choose your own path to school regionalization, or we'll choose it for you.

That was the message from the state over the past couple of years, and it was enough to keep small Hampshire County schools scrambling.