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By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Only two months removed from their invitation to the White House, Gina and Heidi Nortonsmith found themselves once again on a train to Washington, D.C. this week, this time to serve as guests for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union...

By COLIN A. YOUNG

The day before he resigned as chair of the Department of Public Utilities last week, Matthew Nelson responded to nearly 100 state lawmakers who had written him with concerns about winter energy bill increases to tell them that the gas bill reductions...

By EMILY THURLOW

EASTHAMPTON — The city’s downtown business district has shed one of its longtime vacant properties.The dilapidated building that previously housed the Hurry & Scurry printing and copying business at 118 Union St. was demolished early Thursday to make...

By EMILY THURLOW

EASTHAMPTON — Almost every morning, Robin Bialecki is up at 5 a.m. to make her rounds at grocery stores like Big Y and Stop & Shop, salvaging unsellable food items that can be distributed to those in need through the food pantry at the Easthampton...

By STEVE PFARRER

Dianne and Kevin Germain say they’ve long been avid readers, book lovers who enjoy discussing the ideas and themes advanced by a variety of writers from different fields.In 2019, the Germains decided to take their literary interests a little further:...

By GREG VINE

Speaking in response to news that U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will need to take “extraordinary measures” to prevent a default on the nation’s debt should lawmakers fail to increase or suspend the federal debt ceiling, U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern...

Compiled by STEVE PFARRER

Laughing for a good causeNORTHAMPTON — A number of regional comedians, joined by another who’s worked the national circuit, will host a fundraiser Jan. 21 at Northampton’s Academy of Music for The Literacy Project, the western Massachusetts group that...

By STEVE PFARRER

It’s been almost three years since Amherst Community Theater has presented its annual musical at Bowker Auditorium at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, given a little problem called COVID-19 that prevented the group from returning to UMass in...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL 

NORTHAMPTON — As Maura Healey takes over the governor’s office and prepares to lead Massachusetts into its next administration, many in Hampshire County are eyeing how she will fare with regard to her ambitious agenda for improving the state’s housing...

By KANA RUHALTER

Unhinged political rhetoric is at the forefront of much of the public’s mind, especially when attacks on the Capitol or U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband are plastered across headlines. Yet despite the countless times political pundits have...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Looking up in awe at the large maple, touching the bark on its trunk and remarking on how sturdy the tree seems, 7-year-old Xavi Veatch was among those saddened to be saying good-bye to the original Merry Maple.“I just have a lot of...

By DOMENIC POLI

BUCKLAND — A former U.S. Marine is apologizing to his fellow veterans and the community at large after it was discovered he has embellished his military service and received medals and money he had not earned.Investigations by the Upper Pioneer Valley...

By BERA DUNAU

HUNTINGTON — Human beings have many incentives in life that drive them to feats great and small, with food, love, religious faith and patriotism being some of the common ones.This year, Littleville Elementary School students were given the incentive...

By BRIAN STEELE

NORTHAMPTON — Every time that David Murphy faced a challenge to his tenure as Elector Under the Oliver Smith Will, his opponent received nine votes or less. That is, until Mary “Mimi” Odgers unseated Murphy in Tuesday’s city election with 3,278 votes...

By LUIS FIELDMAN

HOLYOKE — On a dark, rainy night on July 9, 1946, about two dozen servicemen aboard a B-17 “Flying Fortress” were returning home from war. They had served in World War II and were flying towards Westover Field from Greenland with their final...

By DUSTY CHRISTENSEN

SOUTH HADLEY — Ever since she was a child, Katie Callaway has been visiting Lithia Springs Reservoir.“This place means a lot to a lot of South Hadley people,” she said, remembering how she used to hike into the wooded area to hang out with friends as...

By BERA DUNAU

NORTHAMPTON — The theft of a Northampton activist’s lawn sign has stirred up a firestorm online centering on ethics, free speech and race.Billy Park noticed June 6 that a lawn sign he had displayed in his front yard on Crescent Street — depicting a...

By Steve Pfarrer There’s a grand old Victorian house on Crescent Street in Northampton that dates from the 1870s and is full of the kind of architectural details such homes were known for: a steeply-pitched roof, pointed arches and gables and...

By STEVE PFARRER

In a childhood that had its fair share of pain and confusion, Jarrett J. Krosoczka can recall a couple of incidents that really stood out.When he was three, his grandparents, Joe and Shirley Krosoczka, told him a few days before Christmas that he’d be...

By BERA DUNAU

The lessons we learn as children can echo throughout our lifetime, sometimes emerging in crucial, defining moments.This was certainly the case for Britt Slabinski, as he sat on the ramp of a helicopter in Afghanistan in 2002, contemplating ordering...