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By DOMENIC POLI

ORANGE — Change is brewing at Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee Co., which is set to become a worker-owned cooperative on July 1.Dean Cycon founded the business in 1993 and, having recently turned 70, is ready to hand the reins to his 16 employees.“Who...

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 EMILY THURLOW

EASTHAMPTON — Mayor Nicole LaChapelle is proposing a “very prudent” $52.2 million budget for next fiscal year that calls for the addition of staff positions and an increase in expenses in every city department.The budget proposal for fiscal 2024...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — A day after announcing the creation of a new state Youth Climate Council during a visit to Mass Audubon’s Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Easthampton on Sunday, the state’s new climate czar held court with activists from across...

By Liesel Nygard

GREENFIELD — After a three-year hiatus during COVID, Extravaganja returns Saturday for its 29th event to take place at the Franklin County Fairgrounds, facilitated by the University of Massachusetts Amherst Cannabis Education Coalition. Tickets for...

By KYLE GRABOWSKI

The tears flowed in Assumption’s locker room after the Greyounds fell against Minnesota Duluth in the Division 2 Elite 8.Northampton graduate Amanda Mieczkowski, a junior and captain, embraced the team’s two departing players senior Monica Spain and...

By JULIAN MENDOZA

GREENFIELD — Despite being among the youngest in the room, a group of teenage environmentalists were turned to for guidance during a climate action panel at the Episcopal Church of Saints James and Andrew. Their generation, after all, will be most...

By EMILY THURLOW

HADLEY — When her classmates were all frolicking and laughing in the schoolyard, Carmen Lee thought everyone was pretending, so she decided to do the same.She pretended straight through her teens and into her 20s, and graduated from the University of...

By STEVE PFARRER

Who says you can’t merge a Ph.D. and rock and roll?    As Florence Dore explains, she spent a long time traveling on seemingly disparate tracks. On one hand she was the professor who’d devoted years to studying American literature and teaching...

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 KYLE GRABOWSKI

NORTHAMPTON – The chants began with more than a minute left.“Final Four! Final Four! Final Four!” The reality hit the Smith College student section long before the basketball team allowed itself to believe. Smith forward Katelyn Pickunka spread her...

By HANNAH BEVIS 

NORTHAMPTON – Ally Yamada squared herself up with the basket, coolly executing a three-point shot that she’d taken thousands of times before. Down in the post, forward Morgan Morrison felt herself relax, if only slightly. It’s hard to be certain of...

By EMILY THURLOW

SOUTHAMPTON — The town’s Council on Aging does its best to offer various programs and activities to Southampton seniors. Some mornings, the day begins with Spanish lessons or a coffee hour, others it may start off with a tai chi or yoga class. But one...

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 EMILY THURLOW

EASTHAMPTON — With utility rates skyrocketing well past where they were last year, and the increased costs of food, medicine and housing, the burden can quickly become too much for those living on a fixed income.Cynthia Tarail, director of the...

By STEVE PFARRER

February has its national landmarks: Presidents Day, the Super Bowl, Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day.In the Valley, February also means it’s time for Amherst College’s LitFest.Now in its eighth year, the college’s literary festival brings acclaimed and...

By JULIAN MENDOZA

CONWAY — Even those who are driven to help others sometimes need help. Just ask raptor rehabilitator Tom Ricardi, whose bird enclosures were recently ravaged by a fallen pine tree. According to Ricardi, the tree tore through one of the property’s...

BY EMILY THURLOW

EASTHAMPTON — Home and business owners can expect to pay significantly more for water and sewer service over the next three fiscal years as the city moves to raise enough money to offset millions of dollars in upgrades to those systems. With little...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — The city has taken a major step toward its ambitious goal of making city operations carbon neutral in seven years with the creation of a new climate action department that will include a soon-to-be hired climate chief to lead the effort....