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By STEVE PFARRER

 Carol Neubert took piano lessons for several years when she was growing up, learned to read music and figured out how to play the instrument — to a degree.“My right hand can play the piano well, and my left hand plays well, but they do not play well...

By LISA SPEAR

Millions of bacteria line the inside of our guts. We have more bacteria in our bodies than cells, and these little critters are working to help us break down and digest the food we eat —  without them we wouldn’t be able to survive — so it would seem...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — Around 300 service workers employed at Cooley Dickinson Hospital will join a labor union following the results of a secret ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board Thursday.But ballot challenges and a narrow margin...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — For the sixth year, Iraqi students spending part of their summer at the University of Massachusetts will share stories about their country and its many cultures during a fundraising event for the Amherst Senior Center.The students in the...

By LISA SPEAR

The Pioneer Valley has one of the highest instances of breast cancer in the state, so it is especially important for women here to get screened, ideally in a comfortable environment. That is one major reason Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton is...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Adjusting parking regulations in downtown Amherst to encourage regular turnover of spaces and to make it easier for visitors to find parking will not be enacted until later this summer.A divided Select Board Monday postponed decisions on a...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — An aspiring composer, University of Massachusetts senior Christopher Fonte sees public relations skills and knowledge of social media as vital to pursuing a career in music.“Whenever I have free time, I make music for video games,” says...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — After 16 months and 60 meetings, the Charter Commission recommended Thursday that a 13-member town council and professional town manager replace Town Meeting and the Select Board.The commission, established by voters in March 2016 to examine...

By STEVE PFARRER

A hundred years ago, there was one relatively efficient way of crossing the country: by rail. To do it by road required using a patchwork of mostly unimproved surfaces — dirt, gravel, and sometimes just sand — on motorized vehicles that were still in...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A 19th-century farmhouse in North Amherst that has been used as a college-student rental in recent years could be demolished, along with an adjacent barn, to make way for another phase of the Mill District development.The Historical...

By LISA SPEAR

It’s a Monday night and Em Peyton, 59, of Putney, Vermont is in a room full of strangers in the basement of Forbes Library in Northampton where everyone is acting silly and laughing hard.Peyton curls her fingers into claws and bares her teeth as she...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A permanent bandstand for musical acts, theater and other pastimes is being proposed for the eastern edge of the Town Common, near the Lord Jeffery Inn, by the Amherst Business Improvement District.“The time is right with all the talk about...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

LEVERETT — Following a divorce in which her husband kept the family’s dwelling, Jennifer Thornton spent more than a year living in apartments while searching for a new home where she and her two children could live.Thornton said she wasn’t sure she...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A restaurant that boasted dishes the owners described as fresh and adventurous and encouraged musicians to come and entertain its patrons has closed after six years.The Lumber Yard Restaurant, 383 Main St. in the Dickinson Historic District,...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — Western Mass is the new brand being unveiled in a joint marketing campaign by the Greater Springfield Visitors and Convention Bureau and the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts to promote the region to tourists and draw...

By STEVE PFARRER

What’s the connection between tribal art, illustrations of animals and natural settings like forests, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? If you answered “none,” you haven’t met the Derby family of Northampton. Charles Derby, a onetime art teacher...

By LISA SPEAR

Story, an enormous St. Bernard, lies down on Dennis Ashworth’s feet, as the 90-year old relaxes in his easy chair in his apartment in Amherst. The dog is panting hard, his long pink tongue hanging below his jaw.“He is going to drool on you and leave a...

By The Associated Press and SCOTT MERZBACH

By The Associated Pressand SCOTT MERZBACHStaff WriterSPRINGFIELD — A judge has dismissed several drug cases connected to a former state chemist who authorities say was high almost every day she went to work at a Massachusetts drug lab for eight...

By LISA SPEAR

Masseuse Nanci Newton of Hadley places a folded towel under Sue Monahan’s shoulder as she prepares her client for a massage.“Are you comfortable? ...Say uncle if you need to,” she says as she begins to work her hands across Monahan’s back. Newton uses...

By STEVE PFARRER

Octopuses sprawled in armchairs, reading books; tiny mermaids riding on squids. Frogs that skim above the ground on mobile lily pads like flying carpets. And a boy who makes friends with a small cloud at the Empire State building and rides around on...