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By EMILY THURLOW

A woman dressed in pajamas walks into a Cottage Street bar and challenges a random stranger to an arm-wrestling match.The circumstances sound like the set-up of a joke. It’s not.The woman is Rose Lynch of Easthampton, and over the next few weeks...

By MADDIE FABIAN

Ask almost any conservationist about an Endangered Species Act (ESA) success story and they will tell you about the bald eagle.“Growing up, I would have never seen a bald eagle in western Massachusetts,” said Jeff Collins, senior director of...

By SHEL HOROWITZ

Remember when the previous administration tore babies and children from their families’ arms and locked them in little cages? Bad news: Republicans in Congress and far-right activists, including that former president, are heating up even worse...

By MADDIE FABIAN

For farms across western Massachusetts, the effects of climate change were tangible during the 2023 growing season.At Red Fire Farm in Granby, co-owner Sarah Voiland said that after the May frost event, the farm’s full harvest on multiple acres of...

By MADDIE FABIAN

EASTHAMPTON — Growing up, Luzed Guzman Romano was raised to believe that she could do and become anything she put her mind to.Her mother grew up in a modest home in Puerto Rico, came to New York at around 15 years old, and had Guzman Romano at 19...

By MADDIE FABIAN

NORTHAMPTON — Like many of their peers, 15-year-old Kai Imperial-Jewett experienced “some pretty dark times” during the quarantine and isolation days of the pandemic.Even with supportive parents, as an only child and middle-schooler without any...

By MADDIE FABIAN

In response to the youth mental health crisis, as many experts have called it, the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts has worked with over 25 organizations and many stakeholders on a regional roadmap designed to get youth the help they...

By DOMENIC POLI

GREENFIELD — Though gender inequities continue, many women and girls have reported improved outcomes over the past 10 years, according to the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts.The nonprofit that provides funding to agencies working to increase...

By MADDIE FABIAN

NORTHAMPTON — This year was a tough run for Massachusetts farmers, with over $42 million and 13,000 acres of crop losses reported due to extreme weather events during the spring and summer.Despite the Feb. 4 freeze, May 18 frost and July 10 flooding...

By IAN RHODEWALT

My first union job, and my first strike for cost of living increases, was as a teacher in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Several weeks ago, trade unions in Palestine put out an urgent call of solidarity to unions around the world on on Oct. 16 to...

By DOMENIC POLI

Don’t worry, radio personality Christopher “Monte” Belmonte will still push a shopping cart 43 miles from Springfield to Greenfield to raise money to combat food insecurity. The journey will simply have a different name.This year marks the first March...

By ROB OKUN

Another American first. We’re closing in on 600 mass shootings in 2023 and — good news, people — there’s still two months left in the year. Can we get to 650? 700? USA! USA! USA!Banks. Bars. Beauty Salons. Big box stores. Bowling alleys. Concerts....

‘Camping’ in the forestNORTHAMPTON — Valley Light Opera is returning to the Academy of Music with a new Gilbert & Sullivan production, though it’s one the community-based troupe has not tackled in many years: “Iolanthe.”Gilbert & Sullivan created a...

By MADDIE FABIAN

SOUTHAMPTON — When Ed and Mary Hamel first bought their 80-acre property — now home to Glendale Ridge Vineyard — more than 30 years ago, the two expected to develop the land, even acquiring an approval to construct a bank.But with expansive rolling...

By JENNIFER PEDERSON

A drinking water reservoir sparkles in glinted sunlight … while some in the community might not even be aware that this is where their drinking water comes from. Like almost every reservoir in the commonwealth this year, this one is full to the brim...

By IAN RHODEWALT

With October upon us, Halloween decorations have started going up everywhere — spooky skeletons, ghoulish ghosts, and villainous vampires. This year, however, the start of this month sees a new form of dread spreading in communities across...

By MADDIE FABIAN

Editor’s note: This is the third of four articles from the Western Massachusetts Solar Forum series taking place in September.AMHERST — At Joe Czajkowski Farm in Hadley, not only does the broccoli field produce fresh vegetables, but rows of solar...

By DOMENIC POLI

Experts say that if you encounter a bear it is important to immediately make yourself look big, talk very calmly and slowly back away.But after that, if you saw the carnivoran mammal in Massachusetts, you can go to bit.ly/3raabc8 to report the...

By MADDIE FABIAN

EASTHAMPTON — The City Council will look familiar to residents next term, as eight of the nine councilors up for reelection in November are running unopposed.The sole contested race will occur in Precinct 5, where two residents will square off to...

By MADDIE FABIAN

Editor’s note: This is the second of four articles from the Western Massachusetts Solar Forum series taking place in September.AMHERST — At the site of the old Mount Tom Station coal-fired power plant stands around 17,000 solar panels generating...