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By CLAIRE MORENON, MARGARET CHRISTIE and PHIL KORMAN

On July 10, heavy rains led to widespread flooding alongside small rivers and creeks throughout our region. The next day, the Connecticut River overflowed its banks to levels not seen since Hurricane Irene in 2011.This flooding event was fast in some...

By ARLENE AVAKIAN

On July 3, I went to a public reading of Frederick Douglass’ speech, “Meaning of the Fourth of July for the Negro” hosted by the Northampton Historical Society. About 200 people attended and some of us read parts of the speech, which had been divided...

By DAN WINSLOW

The good news is that Massachusetts state law prioritizes the development of solar energy facilities by zoning protections that limit undue interference by local governments. The better news is that Massachusetts has more than enough potential solar...

By ANDY MORRIS-FRIEDMAN

This Fourth of July really got off with a bang. Most importantly it’s the anniversary (OK, maybe not most importantly) of my own marriage to my long-suffering wife. Each year I give her flowers with a sympathy card saying, “Stuck with me for another...

By VALLE DWIGHT and BRIAN MELANSON

Gov. Maura Healey’s proposed update to the state’s sex education curriculum covers a range of important topics to ensure that students are getting comprehensive and medically accurate information about their bodies and their health.“All of our...

By MARIEL E. ADDIS

Now, I could write about the upsetting judgment by the Supreme Court indicating that free speech and religious rights supersede the civil rights of individuals, namely those in the LGBTQ+ community, but I won’t. I could talk about how Moms for Liberty...

By PENNY SCHULTZ

Kudos to the Gazette for the invaluable civic work of covering State Auditor Diana Dizoglio’s forum in Williamsburg. Western Massachusetts doesn’t get a whole lot of attention from the state, so this visit by our new, feisty, change-making state...

By IAN RHODEWALT 

In my household of two, together we hold $132,829.70 in student debt. On a bitter cold day in early March on the week the Supreme Court was hearing oral arguments, at a student debt cancellation rally, 25 of us stood on the steps of the federal court...

By JACK CZAJKOWSKI

School is out for summer. Over the next eight weeks, students, teachers, and administrators in Massachusetts public schools get a chance to reset and recharge before the next school year begins.As someone who attended public schools in Massachusetts...

By MATT L. BARRON

One of the major fights in the upcoming reauthorization of the 2023 Farm Bill will be over the commodity checkoff system. Checkoffs are mandatory Department of Agriculture fees assessed on a per-unit basis that many U.S. farmers and ranchers pay every...

By WILLIAM LAMBERS

Major League Baseball has produced many classic, inspiring moments over the years, including the World Series. But one of its most noble efforts is not well known.It was during the Second World War, when Major League Baseball launched a plan to raise...

By JONATHAN KAHANE

By calling in several favors and surreptitiously maneuvering behind the scenes, I undertook a highly perilous operation in which I endeavored to investigate a serious threat to human life as we know it today.By doing so, and by publicizing my...

By JIM PALERMO

It was shocking to learn when doing research for this column that it was not Voltaire who said something like, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to death your right to say it.” (Bartlett be damned.) It appears the adage may have been...

By KERRY DUMBAUGH

Having just passed the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision to restrict abortion access, it is worth considering Anthony Comstock’s terrible legacy of doing more to restrict American women’s reproductive rights than anyone...

By MARIETTA PRITCHARD

What did you do during the pandemic? Maybe the question is too optimistic. Is the pandemic over? I’ll leave the answer to the experts, but it definitely feels less ominous all around. Still, I think we can all recall those months of isolation and...

By MARTY KLEIN

By MARTY KLEINThe Easthampton Deserves Better coalition (EDB) is a grassroots effort created in March 2023 by people who have concerns about the proposed Sierra Vista Commons development at the former Tasty Top site on Route 10. We are experts in our...

By LAWRENCE PARELES

I am writing to offer a new and innovative solution to address the housing crisis, particularly in college towns and cities: encouraging and assisting colleges and universities with building more dormitories to accommodate their students. With the...

By MICHAEL PILL

The Ancestral Bridges Foundation’s Juneteenth event in Amherst included Civil War reenactors in the uniform of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment. Of more than 1,000 men, both free born and former slaves, who came from all over the country to muster into...

By DAVID SLOVITER

The continuing effort by Town Councilors Mandi Jo Hanneke and Pat DeAngelis to push through their unnecessary, damaging, and misguided zoning changes is perplexing. The guest column n the June 17 Gazette [“Restoring the missing middle in Amherst...

By ROB OKUN

Women’s activism, including mothers in leadership roles, is legendary. Moms have long employed their moral authority as parents to advance the social good.Where are the fathers and grandfathers? We care about our children and grandchildren, too. As...