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By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — In 2003, members of Donald Palmisano’s high school psychology class buried a time capsule to be opened by their future selves. Twenty years later, nine of those students returned on Monday to dig it back up.The project had been done sort...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — The Smith College School of Social Work will no longer use “field” in reference to any aspect of its program, a word the school says may have negative connotations with racism and slavery.In an email last week, School of Social Work...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

EASTHAMPTON — In front of a packed audience at Easthampton Congregational Church, Wright Dickinson shared a story about a weekend getaway to the Carolinas he took years ago with several friends, including Michael Gross.During the trip, the men took...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — It’s springtime in Northampton again, and that can only mean one thing — the bears are back.A crowd of onlookers gathered around the Hampshire County Courthouse Sunday to catch a glimpse of a black bear that made its way up one of the...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — When Pam Ledoux walks into Ted’s Boot Shop, she already has an idea of how the experience is going to go.“Every time I come in and see a shoe I like, they tell me it won’t fit,” said Ledoux, who lives in Amherst and has been shopping at...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Several city councilors this week responded to criticism the city has taken in recent weeks for opting to spend $20,000 to decorate manhole covers on downtown streets that feature the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.The famous franchise...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Ever since his childhood days growing up on Long Island, Rabbi Justin David always felt drawn toward his family’s faith as a door to community action.“Before going to college, I just had a kind of personal makeup that made me seek out a...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — The city’s municipal election is still months away, but a significant makeover is already in the works for the City Council as three councilors won’t seek reelection and a ward representative will run for an at-large position.At-large...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — The School Committee has taken its first steps toward addressing its backlog of minutes, following a ruling by the state attorney general’s office that the committee violated the state’s Open Meeting Law.The AG’s office and its Division...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — The city paid former Northampton High School Principal Lori Vaillancourt $80,000 as part of a settlement last fall, some seven months after she was placed on paid leave following protests by students.Vaillancourt officially resigned on...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — The School Committee passed its proposed budget for the upcoming 2024 fiscal year, managing to stave off the worst of originally proposed budget cuts thanks to $1.2 million in emergency funding from the city.“It was a tough decision for...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — The City Council unanimously approved significant water and sewer rate increases for the coming fiscal year, although not without first questioning why the increases had to happen in the first place.Property owners can expect to pay 210%...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Now this is the way to spend a school day.As she prepared to climb a tree in Look Park Thursday morning as part of an arbor skills competition, Violet Geoffrion donned a positioning saddle and protective helmet and clipped herself to a...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

BELCHERTOWN — School officials at Jabish Brook Middle School have opened an investigation into alleged antisemitic incidents at the school, including the use of the Nazi salute, by a large number of students. The investigation was announced by Brian...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — The city will use some of its emergency funds to provide relief to the Northampton Public School district’s $2.3 million budget deficit, avoiding many of the proposed cuts the district had planned for the coming fiscal year.Mayor...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — The average homeowner in the city is expected to pay 210% more in base water rates next fiscal year — as well as a new base sewer rate — as the city seeks to make up for expected lost revenue when the Coca-Cola bottling plant closes...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Xavier Greenberg and Christian Patenaude sit at a desk in front of a green screen in the technology room of JFK Middle School, reading morning announcements off sheets of paper to a camera placed in front of them.On a recent Tuesday, the...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — A soft rainfall and chilly air weren’t going to extinguish the hundreds of candles lit on Friday night in memory of Jesse Johansmeyer, a Florence teenager who died tragically last week.At the vigil, held at Childs Park, more than 100...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Rabbi Justin David journeyed from Northampton to Israel at the beginning of March for a 3½- week sabbatical, aiming to hike the Israel National Trail that stretches across the country.But he nearly didn’t make it back.“I left hours...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — The law firm representing the family of a Florence teenager who died late Friday night in Hatfield has sought to clarify the circumstances of his death, shedding some more light on details of the case.Jesse Johansmeyer, 19, of Burts Pit...