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By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Responding to an online petition that collected nearly 250 signatures, officials at Amherst Regional High School have reversed a recent decision to close nearly all of the school’s bathrooms for students during lunch periods out of concern with a rising level of vaping indicated by vaping detection alarms frequently going off.

By TOM WASKIEWICZ

Small family farms are more than businesses; they are a way of life, shaped by generations of experience, sacrifice, and resilience. Every field plowed, every seed planted, every harvest gathered carries with it the wisdom of those who came before. But there’s no handbook for passing down this knowledge. Instead, it happens in the quiet moments — side by side in the fields, in conversations at the kitchen table, in the habits formed over years of hard work.

As pro-democracy protests spread across Massachusetts and the nation, many still overlook a primary ailment of our broken democratic system: in today’s elections, the candidate with the most money almost always wins. Campaign finance reform seems impossible, especially since the 2010 Supreme Court decision, Citizens United, which ruled corporate spending limits unconstitutional. As a result of Citizens United, political power in America has shifted dramatically towards wealthy corporations and billionaires. Americans on all sides of the aisle have lost trust in our democratic process — a February poll found that 72% of Americans see money in politics as a “very big problem,” more than any other issue polled.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — After a contentious debate, the Town Council agreed last week to recommend the town spend nearly $422,000 more on schools next year than originally recommended.

By RYAN AMES

GRANBY – Kiko Bhowmik was the offensive catalyst for the Amherst girls lacrosse team, as the junior attacker scored five goals and added an assist to finish as Amherst’s top point producer in a 14-11 victory over Granby on a cold and raw afternoon Friday.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Three members of the Town Council have called for an emergency meeting on Monday at which councilors will decide whether to rescind all funding for the controversial Jones Library renovation and expansion project, which has been in the works for than a decade.

By STEVE PFARRER

Several years ago, Mattea Kramer, an Amherst writer and researcher who’s studied and written about the federal budget as well as drug policies at state and federal levels, spent time interviewing a number of women in the Greenfield jail who were part of a recovery program for substance use.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Both mixed-use and apartment-style developments will be allowed along a half-mile section of University Drive, under a new zoning overlay district.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — At the John P. Musante Health Center, where health services are provided to low-income and immigrant populations and others, exam rooms feature Immigrant Legal Resource Center posters explaining the constitutional rights for everyone living in the United States.

By RYAN AMES

The Amherst outdoor track and field teams are gearing up for another season on the oval and have loads of talented athletes across the boys and girls teams.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Using project-based learning in the classroom, building a supportive and welcoming place and treating all students fairly and equitably are how culture is built intentionally at Wildwood School.

By CHRIS LARABEE

SOUTH DEERFIELD — Over the last year, an energy storage solutions research and development company focusing on supercapacitors has been settling into its new facility off of Routes 5 and 10.

In today’s news is announced widespread elimination of an “alphabet soup” of divisions and programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Georgia. When government agencies and scientists are categorized as alphabet soup, I know ignorance is on parade. Eliminated has been the Division of Violence Prevention, part of the injury center at CDC. I know the people wielding power do not know, nor do they care, about the leadership of this division across all forms of violence from suicide to elder and child abuse, domestic abuse, sexual violence.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Federal authorities are revoking the visas and terminating the student statuses of four more international students at the University of Massachusetts, increasing to 10 the number of students at risk of not being able to continue their studies on the Amherst campus.

By ELLA ADAMS

BOSTON — Students warned lawmakers Tuesday of funding deficits and unpredictability, faculty layoffs and slashed electives at regional and rural schools, piling on to heightened calls to “crack open” the state’s Chapter 70 and rural aid funding formula.

By RYAN AMES

The Amherst girls lacrosse team had the most successful season of head coach Andrew MacDougall’s tenure in 2024. The Hurricanes went 19-3 and won their first ever Western Mass. tournament Class B title in an overtime victory against Belchertown.

HADLEY — Volunteers will be removing trash and debris from along town roads and other public spaces during the fifth annual Hadley Spring Clean Up Day Saturday, coordinated by the Hadley Climate Change Committee.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — All stores licensed to sell tobacco in Amherst will continue to be allowed to offer oral nicotine pouches to customers, but none of these products will able to contain more than 6 milligrams of nicotine, even those for sale at the town’s lone adult-only tobacco shop.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — University of Massachusetts officials are offering a series of rapid responses to help six international students continue their studies on the Amherst campus, even as their visas are revoked and their student statuses are terminated by the Trump administration.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Amherst officials are extending by an additional 15 days the public comment period for the Environmental Review Record associated with the Jones Library expansion and renovation project.