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By SCOTT MERZBACH

LEVERETT — Restoration of a 1.4-mile section of the mostly gravel Dudleyville Road from Moore’s Corner to the Shutesbury town line could cost at least $2 million, and possibly as much as $4 million, according to a draft evaluation recently completed...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — On his first day at Shutesbury Town Hall, a week before officially being sworn in as the Police Department’s first K-9 officer, Charlie provided a calming distraction for a stressed and flustered resident who had come to the town...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — An historic guideboard on the town common since 1837, helping travelers to navigate to Massachusetts communities both near and far, is temporarily absent from the green as a restoration project begins.Last Tuesday morning, the wooden...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — Prohibiting PFAS from consumer products sold in Massachusetts remains an objective for Sen. Jo Comerford, who sees a recently advanced legislative bill to protect soil and farms from such contamination as an important first step to...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — After a series of amendments and nearly three hours of discussion and debate, a new wetlands protection bylaw is in place in Shutesbury, adopted without a sentence that some interpreted as giving developers veto power over certain...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

BOSTON — On her 26th birthday on Nov. 30, 2018, Eliza Harper died from an accidental opioid overdose on the living room couch in her South Deerfield home, despite being in recovery for 10 months.Her then 14-year-old brother, Jackson, was the first to...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

The slight uptick of influenza B cases countering a decrease in influenza A infections across Baystate Health’s facilities, including at Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield, is no cause for alarm, according to the health system’s chief of...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

ERVING — Gateway Regional School District’s curriculum director, the principal at Athol Community Elementary School, and the director of assessment and accountability for the Westfield Public School District are the finalists to become the next...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — A Special Town Meeting that includes a revised wetlands protection bylaw to replace one adopted in 1987 is being postponed to next week due to Tuesday’s snowstorm.The seven-article warrant, which also has various spending items, will be...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — The chair of the 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 came just days before the Jan. 16...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HATFIELD — Yankee Candle is occupying a nearly 360,000-square-foot building at 142 Elm St., formerly used by C&S Wholesale Grocers as its Hatfield South site, according to the property owner.FoxRock Properties, a commercial real estate company based...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — An Oct. 25 protest calling for University of Massachusetts administrators to cut ties with the defense industry and condemn Israel’s military actions in Gaza concluded with 56 students and one employee remaining in the Whitmore...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — A treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons and ban anything associated with their development and manufacture has been ratified by 69 countries, with an additional 28 countries in the process of ratification, since the international agreement...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — The state attorney general’s office has rejected a revised town bylaw governing solar arrays adopted at a Special Town Meeting in January.The bylaw changes sets limits on where solar arrays can be located, requires special permits for...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

LEVERETT — Leverett voters are being asked to accept a series of road layouts and pursue permanent easements to accommodate a $2.71 million state project to rebuild a bridge over the Roaring Brook at a special Town Meeting on Tuesday.The session,...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — After an hourlong meeting Thursday between senior leaders at the University of Massachusetts, including Chancellor Javier Reyes, UMass Dissenters, one of several groups that organized the 12-hour demonstration that ended with UMass Police...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

LEVERETT — During the pandemic, numerous cars parked daily along Rattlesnake Gutter Road up to the gates that have for more than 20 years kept a more than mile-long section of the narrow gravel road closed to through traffic, indicating that people...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — After being given multiple oral warnings to leave the Whitmore Administration Building on Wednesday evening, 56 University of Massachusetts students and one UMass employee were arrested on charges of trespassing, according to a university...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

Weeks of research into a change they would like to see in the world prompted students at Fort River School in Amherst to champion the idea of Indigenous Peoples Day becoming a state holiday. This week, three sixth graders brought their expertise on...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — A new superintendent to oversee the town’s public works, just the third person to be in charge of the Highway Department since 1979, has been appointed by the Selectboard.Based on a unanimous recommendation from the Highway Superintendent...