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By SAM DORAN

Former House Speaker David Bartley, one of the youngest lawmakers ever to lead the House and a champion of education access, died Tuesday at the age of 88.Nearly half a century passed by since Bartley’s speakership, and he was still remembered this...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALLand DOMENIC POLI

Donald Trump’s appearance in a federal courthouse in Miami on Tuesday marked another monumental occasion in his turbulent political career, an event that drew wide-ranging comments from residents and legal scholars in western Massachusetts.The former...

By Maddie Fabian

BELCHERTOWN — Monday’s town election will feature a contested race for the School Committee, as well as seven other uncontested positions for various boards and committees in town. Voting takes place from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the Belchertown High...

By Bob Katzen

THE HOUSE AND SENATE: Beacon Hill Roll Call records local senators’ votes on roll calls from the week of March 6-10. There were no roll calls in the House last week.$368 MILLION SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET (S 23): Senate 40-0, approved a $368 million...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

AMHERST — Educational issues pertaining to schools across western Massachusetts, including transportation, rural inequities and a lack of sufficient state aid peppered the discussion of a Joint Ways and Means Committee hearing at the University of...

By Sydney Ko

Western Massachusetts will have ample representation on a new legislative committee focusing on agriculture.Sens. Ann Gobi, D-Spencer, and Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, were named Senate chair and co-chair of the new Agriculture Committee while Rep....

By GREG VINE

Speaking in response to news that U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will need to take “extraordinary measures” to prevent a default on the nation’s debt should lawmakers fail to increase or suspend the federal debt ceiling, U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL 

NORTHAMPTON — As Maura Healey takes over the governor’s office and prepares to lead Massachusetts into its next administration, many in Hampshire County are eyeing how she will fare with regard to her ambitious agenda for improving the state’s housing...

By KANA RUHALTER

Unhinged political rhetoric is at the forefront of much of the public’s mind, especially when attacks on the Capitol or U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband are plastered across headlines. Yet despite the countless times political pundits have...

By BRIAN STEELE

NORTHAMPTON — Every time that David Murphy faced a challenge to his tenure as Elector Under the Oliver Smith Will, his opponent received nine votes or less. That is, until Mary “Mimi” Odgers unseated Murphy in Tuesday’s city election with 3,278 votes...

By BERA DUNAU

NORTHAMPTON — The theft of a Northampton activist’s lawn sign has stirred up a firestorm online centering on ethics, free speech and race.Billy Park noticed June 6 that a lawn sign he had displayed in his front yard on Crescent Street — depicting a...

By SARAH GARDNER

NORTHAMPTON — When she started planning a health care reform march two months ago, Debby Pastrich-Klemer thought she would be giving a speech in anger.But then, the day before the march, the “skinny repeal” bill, a scaled-down version of plans to...

By SARAH GARDNER

NORTHAMPTON — No community in Hampshire or Franklin counties would be allowed to ban recreational marijuana facilities without an affirmative vote by referendum.A bill approved by the Legislature last week and awaiting Gov. Charlie Baker’s signature...

The Legislature reached a reasonable compromise on the law regulating recreational marijuana in Massachusetts, and we urge Gov. Charlie Baker to sign the measure.The compromise bill approved by the Legislature this week leaves intact much of Question...

Suggests Neal jumps on political bandwagonI read with extreme dismay that Congressman Richard Neal is co-sponsoring the “Israeli Anti-Boycott Act” in part drafted by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.However you feel about the...

 By LAUREL DEMKOVICH

NORTHAMPTON — Massachusetts needs a governor for the entire state, Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz said Tuesday, and Newton Mayor Setti Warren can be that person.“Don’t forget about western Massachusetts,” Narkewicz said. “One size doesn’t always...

We hope that the U.S. Supreme Court decision in an upcoming gerrymandering case comes down on the side of democracy.The Supreme Court this fall will take up the issue of political parties manipulating state voting maps to gain advantage in Congress...

By AMANDA DRANE

BOSTON — Approving changes that legislators say maintain the spirit of the voter-approved law, the Massachusetts Senate passed a bill Thursday proposing amendments to the state’s recreational marijuana legislation.Much of the pre-vote discussion...

By CATHERINE LUCEY

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump chose simple over swanky this Father’s Day weekend.Nearly five months into his presidency, Trump flew for the first time Saturday to Camp David, the government-owned retreat in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains. A...

By ERIC TUCKER and ERICA WERNER

WASHINGTON — Former FBI Director James Comey asserted Thursday that President Donald Trump fired him to interfere with his investigation of Russia’s role in the 2016 election and its ties to the Trump campaign.“It’s my judgment that I was fired...