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By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — With various appointments by President Donald Trump still not made and continued reversals and flip flops in the administration’s objectives, a sense of chaos and drama exists in the nation’s capital that Massachusetts congressmen...

President Donald Trump’s decision to retaliate against Syria for a chemical weapons attack on its own citizens and to condemn Russia’s support for the repressive regime of Bashar al-Assad has left heads spinning and people trying to decide among at...

By JACK SUNTRUP

HADLEY — Incumbent Molly Keegan will retain her spot on the Select Board for another three years after fending off a challenge by former board member John Mieczkowski Sr. in Tuesday’s annual town election.According to preliminary tallies, Keegan took...

By JACK SUNTRUP

HADLEY — Voters will decide one contested race Tuesday when they head to the polls for the annual town election.Select Board Chairwoman Molly Keegan faces former Selectman John Mieczkowski Sr. in Tuesday’s contest. Polls will be open from 9 a.m. to 8...

There’s a faint glimmer of hope this spring for people who feel alienated from our national government by the influence of millions of dollars in political donations from corporations and billionaires, and from gerrymandering that has helped polarize...

By STEPHANIE MURRAY

HADLEY — In western Massachusetts, much of the labor that keeps local farms afloat is done by immigrant workers. But many who make up that labor force are living in fear of U.S. immigration policy, farm owners say, especially after the election of...

By JOE GANNON

Captain Chaos and Bomb Chucker Bannon continue to offer such a dizzyingly daily cornucopia of new outrages and foot-in-mouth gaffes that you could be forgiven for not being able to look away from your screen.But I found myself recently trying to look...

By ERICA WERNER

 WASHINGTON —  The Senate confirmed Neil Gorsuch to become the newest associate justice on the Supreme Court Friday, elevating Donald Trump's nominee following a corrosive partisan confrontation that could have lasting impacts for the Senate and the...

By JEFF NAPOLITANO

Jay Fleitman’s column in the April 4 Daily Hampshire Gazette (“Sanctuary city advocates protect criminals”) is as close to journalistic negligence as I imagine one can get.Let’s start with his ubiquitous use of the term “illegal immigrant,” which the...

Who would have predicted that America would spend much of President Trump’s first 100 days, the traditional honeymoon phase of a presidency, wondering just what his tax returns and government probes of Russia’s interference in our elections might say...

By JACK SUNTRUP

HATFIELD — Candidate filing for the May 16 election at Town Meeting is closed, and while there are several uncontested races, there will be competition for some of the town’s highest-profile positions.Selectman Marcus Boyle resigned from his post on...

By CHERYL ZOLL

Congressional lawmakers in Washington may have backed off their drive to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but they are certain to consider other harmful policy changes and funding cuts that could limit women’s access to reproductive health care and the...

By JAY FLEITMAN

Synonyms of sanctuary: refuge, haven, retreat, safe place, protection, asylum, shelter, hiding place, immunity from pursuers.San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, New York, and our own Northampton and Amherst, liberal communities all, have...

By Mina Corpuz

BOSTON — Conflicting proposals from state lawmakers to implement the recreational marijuana law voters passed last fall has left Massachusetts cities and towns struggling to cope with confusion, and calls into question whether the regulated industry...

By BILL NEWMAN

The Preamble begins, “We the People.” The evening of March 26, a large group gathered at the Haymarket Café in Northampton to read the United States Constitution and its amendments. The thought was, we talk about the Constitution a lot but we actually...

As Donald Trump wraps up his first 10 weeks in the White House, it is clear that the braggadocio he employed as “the closer” in negotiating real estate deals does not play well as president.The other two branches of government dealt Trump humiliating...

By GLORIA  DIFULVIO

In Aesop’s fable, “The Boy who Cried Wolf,” a shepherd boy repeatedly tricks villagers into believing a wolf is attacking their sheep. Alarmed, villagers run to the boy’s aid only to find he had made up the story.Everyone wants to believe the boy...

Two-thirds of the way through President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office, the news just keeps getting weirder and — for those who cherish the rule of law and reason — more disturbing.FBI Director James B. Comey told congressional...

By KEVIN FREKING and MARK SHERMAN

WASHINGTON — The top Senate Democrat said Thursday he will oppose President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee and lead a filibuster of the choice, setting up a politically charged showdown with Republicans with far-reaching implications for future...

By DON ROBINSON

There have been two great presidents in American history: Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. We can learn a lot from studying how they became great presidents.First, they were preceded by a parade of nonentities, men who staggered blindly...