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By SAMUEL GELINAS

CHESTER — When the retail cannabis industry was paving its way in 2019, advocates for the drug steered away from the stereotype of a reclining, Cheetos-eating stoner and instead promoted the idea that cannabis is a cure-all for a variety of ailments. “It’s natural” was a common mantra.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

SPRINGFIELD — Bishop William Byrne not only introduced the Diocese of Springfield’s new executive director for its Catholic Charities Agency this week but also laid out the evolution that the agency will see now that protection of immigrants is no longer part of its agenda in the wake of federal cuts.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

NORTHAMPTON — Who is the area’s person of the year?

By SAMUEL GELINAS

SPRINGFIELD — As she stood among more than 100 people gathered outside the offices of U.S. Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren in downtown Springfield on Thursday, Kathy Laprade said she’s got her “fingers crossed” that the Trump administration won’t gut Social Security.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

REGION — Pent-up frustration boiled over in Hampshire County on Saturday, where some 5,000 people in as many as six communities eschewed a bitter rain to send a message to President Donald Trump and Elon Musk: stop pursuing cruel policies that attack American rights and freedoms.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

Fatherhood in jail is limited to letters, phone calls, and inch-thick plexiglass that bars intimacy. But that plexiglass was shattered, and the concrete mass that is the Hampshire County House of Corrections became a home for a few hours Wednesday night.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Accusing his Republican colleagues in Congress of being “too scared to stand up to their leadership,” namely, President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern is co-sponsoring a new bill designed to block “backdoor” cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP.)

By SAMUEL GELINAS

BOSTON — For a condition that affects 11%, or approximately one in 10 of reproductive age-women, endometriosis is on hardly anyone’s radar, including medical professionals.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

NORTHAMPTON — Car buyers who have been prolonging the need for a car suddenly have a very good reason to act — cold hard cash.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

NORTHAMPTON — Believe it or not, something good for all ages can come out of a liquor store — and one of those things has arrived on the Gazette’s comics page.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

NORTHAMPTON — The Florence Community Band has put on many concerts in its nearly quarter-century of existence, but the longtime group of volunteer musicians is about to embark on a first as it prepares for this spring’s annual concert.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

GOSHEN — Winds of 20 mph fanned a brush fire that spread across 4 acres Friday that was ignited after illegal burning by the property’s owners.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

WILLIAMSBURG — The snooze button has been repeatedly pressed on repairs to the town’s offices over the years — but the building is finally waking up.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

WILLIAMSBURG — Town employees should expect to pay about $38 more a month for health insurance beginning July 1, as the town contends with an expected increase in premiums in fiscal year 2026.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

NORTHAMPTON — Homelessness and substance abuse are often two sides of the same coin — and a grant distribution of $150,000, matched by three municipalities, signals a focused effort to combat both in 14 Hampshire County communities.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

HADLEY — Irate farmers, waving signs and pitchforks, gathered in front Town Hall on Sunday afternoon as tractors rolled in and the Expandable Brass Band played at the start of a “Attack on Small Farms” protest.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

AMHERST — U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern continues to tour the state, holding town halls across his district, and will again appear in Hadley on Sunday to rally farmers facing losses of federal aid as grants are put on hold or canceled by by the Trump administration. But his stop Friday brought him to the Applewood Retirement Living community in Amherst, where residents were especially concerned about President Donald Trump’s and Elon Musk’s unpredictable, potentially disastrous tinkering with Social Security.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

GOSHEN – Retired nurse Marie Calderone has spent her life witnessing falls and seeing the impacts – events that for those over 55 can be fatal. But this phase of her life is about balance.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

HOLYOKE — The city’s population this weekend is expected to go from 50,000 to half a million, as the Irish, and those who are Irish for the weekend, get ready to run, march, and drink in honor of Ireland’s patron saint.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

HOLYOKE — Some 16% of the city’s properties are exempt from paying property taxes — a potential source of revenue Mayor Joshua Garcia is looking to tap into next fiscal year via a new payment in lieu of taxes policy.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

NORTHAMPTON — The first signs of green this spring were seen Monday at the Hotel Northampton for the annual Northampton St. Patrick’s Association’s Breakfast, where green sweaters, scarves, and shamrocks dominated ahead of next weekend’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade festivities in Holyoke.