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Staff Report

NORTHAMPTON — State grants totaling $10 million for communities hit by last year’s flooding have been announced by the Healey-Driscoll administration. The neighboring Franklin County towns of Deerfield and Conway topped the money list, with awards of...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — The chairwoman of the town’s Conservation Commission has stepped down, a decision she said stems from alleged personal attacks and interference by elected and appointed officials at Town Hall.Miriam DeFant’s decision comes on the eve of a...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Two LGBTQ+-owned businesses are the first recipients of the city’s new vacant storefront tax credit program, an initiative established in autumn 2022 in an effort to fill empty spaces downtown.The two businesses are Many Graces Farm &...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Four new councilors will join nine holdovers when Amherst’s third Town Council convenes its first meeting Tuesday evening, with the only decisions on the agenda being a vote on who will serve as the council’s president and vice president...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — A revised club alcohol license for the Young Men’s Club that offers more flexibility for where members and their guests can be served and consume alcohol at the 138 East St. property, including on an outside deck, has been approved by the...

By MARTIN MILLER

The Amherst Town Council will be making a very important decision at an upcoming December meeting. I, along with a likely majority of voters (based on the results of the town vote in 2021), are asking that the council vote in favor of amending the...

By MADDIE FABIAN

NORTHAMPTON — This year was a tough run for Massachusetts farmers, with over $42 million and 13,000 acres of crop losses reported due to extreme weather events during the spring and summer.Despite the Feb. 4 freeze, May 18 frost and July 10 flooding...

By JEFF LEE

Next week the Amherst Town Council will be deciding whether to add $9,860,100 to the $35.3 million borrowing authorization it approved in 2021 to pay for a renovation and expansion of the Jones Library that has been years in planning. Given Amherst’s...

By CHRIS LARABEE

SOUTH DEERFIELD — With supporters describing it as a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity, voters at Monday’s special Town Meeting approved the acquisition of the old St. James Church at 85 North Main St. The purchase of the property for $420,000 with...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — Shutesbury’s Conservation Commission, bringing a series of new and revised wetlands regulations forward for public review, is continuing a hearing on the proposal Wednesday night, after being forced to delay taking input when the virtual...

By SOPHIE HAUCK

HOLYOKE — Three candidates for the open Holyoke Ward 7 City Council seat will compete in a preliminary election Tuesday to determine which two contenders advance to the November general election.Eileen Brady Leahy, Meagan Magrath-Smith and Steve N....

By SOPHIE HAUCK

HOLYOKE — The Holyoke School Committee voted unanimously to petition state Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley to release the city’s public schools from state receivership during a special meeting on Monday night.All eight committee members appeared...

By MADDIE FABIAN

AMHERST — It’s fitting that new University of Massachusetts Amherst Chancellor Javier Reyes, a “Star Wars” fan, invoked a quote from one of the iconic franchise’s main characters to conclude remarks at the end of his first Community Breakfast Tuesday...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Amherst Town Hall’s large granite steps, in place since the building opened at the corner of Main Street and Boltwood Avenue in 1889, have been dismantled and removed as part of an ongoing repair project.Since the project began June 19, the...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Earl Miller, Amherst’s director of the unarmed police alternative Community Responders for Equity, Safety and Service department, is on paid administrative leave until the completion of an independent investigation, according to town...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — All of the town’s more than 5,000 rental units would be inspected at least twice a decade for building and health code compliance rather than waiting for a complaint to prompt an inspector to investigate under a proposed revamp of rules...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — Hadley officials are interested in buying new budgeting software to assist various financial and personnel offices at Town Hall, though this will come at a potential cost of more than $25,000 annually.The Select Board last week unanimously...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Residents who live on a cul-de-sac in South Amherst and deal with regular flooding on the road, and the deterioration of pavement the standing water causes, are making a new appeal to the Town Council and town officials for a specific plan...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Regulating large-scale solar projects proposed for land that is actively being farmed or is significantly wooded remains a sticking point for an Amherst committee attempting to write a solar bylaw to be adopted by the Town Council.“It’s...

By JAMES PENTLAND

PLAINFIELD — A dispute between town officials and two residents over alleged health, building and wetlands violations at their property has devolved into a legal stand-off, with the residents flouting a court order to permit inspections.Town officials...