Editor’s note: Many media outlets write about the year’s top national and international news stories and newsmakers. As a community newspaper, the Greenfield Recorder chose to focus on local news. This is the first installment of the 10 Top News Stories of 2025, which are presented in no particular order.
Cleary Jewelers moves from Wilson’s location
After just shy of 98 years of business at 248 Main St., Cleary Jewelers celebrated its last day there on Wednesday, Dec. 24. It is now in the process of relocating to the standalone building at the Home Depot plaza on the Mohawk Trail.
Owner Kerry Semaski’s decision to move the business from the storefront it occupied for nearly a century came after settling a legal dispute involving MassDevelopment, the Franklin Community Co-op and The Community Builders in October.
The parties settled after a years-long conflict between the jewelry store and its landlord. MassDevelopment, which filed a complaint in court to evict Cleary Jewelers in August, acquired the former Wilson’s Department Store in 2022 with plans to expand and relocate Green Fields Market into the building’s first floor, turning the upper floors into 65 mixed-income rental apartments.
Amid snowy weather on the business’ final week open on Main Street, Semaski greeted customers by name as they made their way inside, exchanging stories and asking about their lives. Although the store will live on in its new location at the Home Depot plaza, Semaski said she feels as sentimental about closing out a chapter as she is excited to open a new one.
Bridge of Flowers reopening
In August, the Shelburne Falls Area Women’s Club reopened the Bridge of Flowers, which had been closed for a year while undergoing an approximately $3.2 million repair project.
The bridge was first built in 1908 to carry trolley cars across the Deerfield River. After the boom in the popularity of automobiles, trolleys fell out of fashion. Left with an empty bridge, members of the Shelburne Falls Area Women’s Club decided to turn the space into a unique garden, and the Bridge of Flowers was born.
It was closed in 2024 to address cracks and stabilize the north spandrel wall, replace rebar and preserve the bridge’s structural integrity. The bridge, in addition to being a driver of tourism in the village, also carries the water main that supplies water to the Buckland side of Shelburne Falls.
The bridge quietly reopened earlier in the summer, and in mid-August, the club gathered with community members and state officials to celebrate the reopening.
Interim Secretary of the Executive Office of Economic Development Ashley Stolba cuts the ribbon celebrating the reopening of the Bridge of Flowers in August. Credit: MADISON SCHOFIELD / Staff File Photo 
Visitors explore the Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls in August. Credit: MADISON SCHOFIELD / Staff File Photo 
Local officials and state legislators celebrated the Bridge of Flowers with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in August. Credit: MADISON SCHOFIELD / Staff File Photo
Clare Higgins retires
After 14 years as executive director of Community Action Pioneer Valley, Clare Higgins retired this past summer at the age of 70.
Higgins, who previously served as the mayor of Northampton, said it was a privilege to serve as executive director and end her career in the place where it began. In the 1990s, Higgins worked as a preschool teacher for Community Action.
During Higgins’ tenure, Community Action Pioneer Valley grew to manage nearly 40 programs across Franklin and Hampshire counties, reaching as many as 28,000 people who need assistance with food access, housing, energy and more. Higgins said she is proud of the growth of Community Action’s programs, including the early education program, the energy assistance program and the Family Center.
A send-off celebration was held for Higgins in September, and a community fund to support Community Action’s various programs was created in her honor.
To replace Higgins, Community Action hired Lev BenEzra as the new executive director. BenEzra previously worked as executive director of the Amherst Survival Center and started at Community Action on Oct. 27.
Mohawk Trail-Hawlemont regionalization
Regionalization has been a major topic of discussion in western Franklin County as the Mohawk Trail and Hawlemont regional school districts worked on a sustainability study exploring how they could provide the best quality education for students while battling rising costs and stagnant state aid. In April, the Two Districts, Eight Towns (2D8T) Steering Committee recommended that the two districts pursue an aspirational goal of bringing all preK-12 students to a single campus at the current Mohawk Trail Regional School site.
According to a report from Berkshire Educational Resources K12 (BERK12), creating a single-campus district could provide between $3.4 million and $5.3 million in savings. Of community members surveyed by BERK12, 55% said the single-campus model showed the most promise for ensuring fiscal sustainability, and 50% said it showed the most promise for maintaining and improving educational quality.
Since then, the districts have continued work to explore more specifically what a single-campus district could look like, and in December, were accepted into the Massachusetts School Building Authority eligibility phase to look at potentially renovating the existing building or constructing a new school building.
While working with the MSBA, the Mohawk Trail and Hawlemont school committees plan to propose changes to the regional agreement to present a new version outlining the single-campus district to voters, potentially as early as this fall.
Man dies in sand-filled silo at Greenfield worksite
In a tragic accident, Matthew Nedorostek, a 65-year-old man from Westfield, died on Feb. 7 after falling into a sand silo at a Chicopee Concrete Service worksite off Cleveland Street in Greenfield. The accident triggered a nearly eight-hour rescue and recovery effort with more than 50 police and firefighters from across the county.
In response to the incident, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is fining Chicopee Concrete Service Inc. $57,925 for seven violations related to Nedorostek’s death, five of which were labeled “serious” and carry penalties of $11,585 each. The company has contested all seven of the violations.
Ben Goody, a Franklin County Sheriff’s Office lieutenant, was named a Deputy Sheriff of the Year at the 2025 Law Enforcement & Corrections Awards Ceremony at the State House on Nov. 13 for his actions on the day of Nedorostek’s death.
On Feb. 8, family members, friends and coworkers of Nedorostek spoke of the man’s kindness, empathy and calm demeanor at his celebration of life.
According to his obituary, Nedorostek worked for Chicopee Concrete Service for 34 years. Southwick resident Glenn Fuller, 73, joined the company in 2007 and stayed until 2019. He remembered his boss as a “gentle giant.”
“He wouldn’t have you do anything he wouldn’t do,” Fuller said of Nedorostek. Eyes on the crowd around him at the country club, he added, “Everybody liked him, our customers liked him. … He was a leader.”