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By BOB FLAHERTY

HOLYOKE — X-21. For 82 years, that’s what a Holyoke Navy man’s remains were known as. But on Saturday morning, thanks to the doggedness of a retired police chief from Texas and something about the sailor’s teeth, Merle Hillman, pharmacist’s mate 2nd...

By BOB FLAHERTY

AMHERST — “Left-Left-Left-Left-Right-Left!”Shaking off the rain that canceled Saturday’s Ancestral Bridges’ Juneteenth walking tour, the legendary all-Black Peter Grace 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment of Civil War fame began their march in the...

By BOB FLAHERTY

NORTHAMPTON — The unusually cool weather Sunday did wonders for the packed house inside John M. Greene Hall celebrating Northampton High School’s 157th graduation. On many occasions held this time of year, families would be fanning themselves up in...

By BOB FLAHERTY

EASTHAMPTON — Counting birds is no spring picnic. The feathery songsters don’t stay put for long — in the time it takes to write down “great crested flycatcher” you’ll likely miss two grackles and an oriole. It takes a team.Outside Mass Audubon’s...

By BOB FLAHERTY

AMHERST — It’s fitting that those who knew John Olver and worked with him and for him during his 40 years of public service would gather to honor the late congressman’s memory at a place named for him. The John W. Olver Design Center sits on the very...

By BOB FLAHERTY

NORTHAMPTON — The titanic century-old pipe organ in the sanctuary of First Churches seemed to have a pulse Wednesday night, as if it sought to be involved in the pounding rhythms of the Offbeat Womyn Drummers down below.Women danced in the aisles,...

By BOB FLAHERTY

NORTHAMPTON – Eight fahrenheit. The number on the thermometer Saturday morning read EIGHT. The wind chill read as something not fit for a family newspaper. But a call for revolution rang forth from the stone-cold steps of City Hall, and justice was...

By BOB FLAHERTY

Editor’s note: A longer version of this article originally appeared in the Valley Advocate Sept. 2.When it’s right in front of you, like the nine decaying cherry trees on Northampton’s Warfield Place that the city of Northampton recently removed in...