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By JIM CAHILLANEIn 1993, I accepted an invitation to write an opinion column for my local paper. At age 60, it was a new challenge. Working full time in the 1980s, yet wanting to complete a college degree, I meandered through University Without Walls...

It’s been decades since we had a governor who knew Massachusetts extended beyond Framingham! Maura Healey’s care and concern was so evident at her recent site visit to Williamsburg. Thank you Gov. Healey. Mary Jane MillerWilliamsburg 

By JIM CAHILLANE

I was 13 when a local plane crash was news. World War II was over. America’s youth, destined to save democracy, headed home following years of boredom, hell, and travel.Poetry makes for easy summer reading. Pithy passages don’t tire the mind. Like...

By BEN TOBIN

The world of education is rife with feel-good messages and jargon: growth mindset, whole child, inquiry-based, social-emotional learning.The learning will be rigorous and catered to the individual while also still meeting the requirements of state...

As we know from some of the Beacon Hill Roll Call columns, our state Legislature is not very open to letting us, the public, know what is going on with legislation being proposed and discussed. We don’t know who is making decisions or who voted what...

By JIM CAHILLANE

Disturbing news stories reveal that white nationalist and other supremacist groups are active in New England. Also, that such activity in liberal Massachusetts ranks second only to Texas. Below the radar, Patriot Front and Oath Keepers are slyly...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

An infusion of another $320,000 from the state’s MassTrails Grant Program will bring the design and engineering phase for a new 3½-mile rail trail in Southampton another step closer to completion.Meanwhile, a $60,000 grant will improve the Robert...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — On July 23, 1944, William Adams, a U.S. Army private from Northampton, was killed by a German artillery shell as his unit pushed against German forces south of Sainteny, France. Adams left behind his wife, daughter Pearl, three brothers...

Two recent news stories got my attention. The first was about the creation of “Maternity Deserts.” These large areas in America totally lack maternity care and they have become more common because financial entities are closing maternity services in...

By JIM CAHILLANE

Dear President Biden,Please excuse this overdue response to your vice presidential thank you letter of February, 8, 2012. Congressman Richie Neal gave you a copy of my new book, “On History’s Front Steps,” (2011), covering Northampton’s first 350...

By BEN TOBIN

Fifty-seven years locked in a cage. It’s hard to fathom being trapped in a small space that isn’t even large enough to stand upright.Such was the fate of Josiah Spaulding Jr. in the late 1800s. By all accounts Josiah was a kind-hearted young man and,...

‘Florida parents upset by Michelangelo’s ‘David’ force out principal,” Washington Post, March 24: Firing a Florida charter school principal for forgetting to notify parents of sixth grade students of Renaissance classical art seems a bit of a...

My one foible is to read bad news and not keep it to myself. It’s as simple as too much time on my hands. To boot, winter snows are deep and COVID’s still out there. Laughter’s harder to find. Our children aren’t kids anymore. They have contrasting...

It is important when reporting on Gov. Maura Healey’s planned logging moratorium, to include the importance of keeping our forests wild for the benefit of the people, who should be the ones to benefit from our public lands. While it is true that some...

I’m a big fan of memoirs, even in shorter versions called obituaries. Many a successful writer earned their spurs in the morgue; the highs and lows of famous lives. Politicians, actors, writers, comedians, athletes, worry: “the first line of my obit...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A Williamsburg woman whose horse fell ill while being kept at a University of Massachusetts stable in spring 2019, and had to be put down, is seeking unspecified damages against the university in a lawsuit alleging negligence in the animal’s...

By BERA DUNAU

WILLIAMSBURG — The kiln building at Lashway Lumber was destroyed in a fire early Sunday.The building contained wood intended for guitar manufacturer C.F. Martin & Co., as well as wooden slabs for tables and baseball bat billets, the pieces of wood...

By BERA DUNAU

WILLIAMSBURG — Town residents will be able to get an update on the Mill River Greenway project and provide feedback on it and adjacent projects at a community forum on Sunday at the Town Offices in Haydenville.The event will take place from 2 to 4...

By BERA DUNAU

Policing is changing in the hilltowns, and more change is on the horizon.Both Worthington and Plainfield moved to having full-time chiefs this year. Chesterfield and Goshen are considering regionalizing their police departments after the chiefs in...

By BERA DUNAU

WILLIAMSBURG — A new taproom is set to open in the building that once held The Brewmaster’s Tavern, which promises to feature food, music, games and beers produced next door by Brewmasters Brewing Services.“There’s not much up here so people are...