Martha Terry: Community forum on the rezoning of Routes 202/33 in South Hadley

I am writing to alert the citizens of South Hadley to a very important community forum on Jan. 16 at 6 p.m. in the Community Room of the South Hadley Main Public Library.

Michael John Kowalchuk: Let Cuba Live!

Among the outrages of the Biden presidency, which include using presidential authority to pardon a family member and providing Israel with unlimited weapons to commit genocide, Biden broke campaign promises to reverse Donald Trump’s aggressive policies against Cuba, contributing to an economic crisis that has led to the emigration of over 10% of the population.

Sally Fairfield: Keep discussion going on gender care

Thank you for publishing Erica Avery’s Dec. 26 letter to the editor, ”Column on gender care for children opens discussion.”

Columnist Bill Newman: Trump’s kakistocracy cabinet

By BILL NEWMAN

Words matter. Some I wish I didn’t need to know.

Guest columnist Barbara A. Rouillard: When the buzzer sounded

By BARBARA A. ROUILLARD

Columnist Olin Rose-Bardawil: The case for debate in our polarized times

By OLIN ROSE-BARDAWIL

In my column last month, I chose to discuss a subject, Trump’s appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary, that I knew would be controversial.

Johanna Halbeisen: Alarmed at risk of nuclear war over Ukraine

Like the writer of the Jan. 2 opinion column “Negotiate Ukraine peace now, not risk nuclear war with Russia,” and the two letter writers on Jan. 7, I too am alarmed at the growing possibility that we could get into a war with Russia if the U.S. and NATO decide to send in troops to bail out Ukraine’s exhausted and manpower-short army which keeps losing more and more territory; and if we keep letting Ukraine fire our long-range missiles into Russia, which is crossing a big red line for them. Such a “conventional” war could easily turn into full-scale nuclear war.

Linda Hillenbrand: Veterans health

As I read about the note that was left by the Green Beret involved in the Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas, I am disgusted to read that “Pentagon officials have declined to say he may have been suffering from mental health issues.”

Columnist Tolley M. Jones: Too Much

By TOLLEY M. JONES

I have been told that I am “too much” throughout my life. I suppose I agree with this assessment, because I conversely have always looked around me and felt deeply that the people around me were “not enough.”

John Page: Keep Amherst thriving — Invest in local creativity, commerce, and community in town center

On the precipice of a new quarter-century, where do we stand? Amherst remains both a quintessential New England college town and a vibrant global village. Downtown boasts 45-plus eateries serving flavors from around the world, unique boutiques, and top-notch museums and cultural institutions including Amherst Cinema, The Drake, and the Jones Library.

Russell Cook: Climate in the full court of impartial public opinion

Guest columnist Joe Silverman [“Climate in the court of public opinion,” Jan. 3] called for a public messaging campaign that “educates the misinformed, engages the disengaged,” as though that hasn’t already happened for the last two decades in the legacy news media.

John Ciavarella: Our ‘grave moral crisis’ in Northampton

There is a grave moral crisis underway in Northampton: namely, the economic injustice being perpetrated on working- and middle-class people in our community by city government. Understandably, the focus of news coverage has been on the inexcusable actions of the city toward the schools and what I believe is an undisguised effort to destroy the long-accepted notion in Northampton that a public education is a right — and this is happening with a shrug and an “Oh, well” by many people in town, especially the mayor’s most ardent supporters.

Liz Pottle: Honoring Jimmy Carter and the truth about hospice care

The passing of President Jimmy Carter marks the end of an admirable life dedicated to service, compassion and humanity. While we mourn his loss, we can also reflect on the impact he made, even in his final chapter, by helping to shift the conversation around hospice care.

Guest columnist Richard Brunswick: Democracy’s drowning in a sea of post-truth politics

By RICHARD BRUNSWICK

 Many have recently offered their opinions on why Donald Trump beat Kamala Harris in the November election. Inflation, the economy, and uncontrolled immigration are often named as causes. Those issues concerned many voters. As Democrats ponder what’s...

Columnist Karen Gardner: President Musk to the rescue

By KAREN GARDNER

President Musk, he’s our guy. I remember voting for him in the November election, don’t you?I know you thought it was Donald J. Trump you picked for president, but it sure is looking like the Musk guy is running the show. Funny how that can happen....

Mary Hall: The U.S., Russia, war and ice hockey

I am old enough to have had a father who fought in World War II. Because of graduate degrees he had, the Army put him in their chemical warfare battalion. These troops had to lug mustard gas shells around all over Europe, in case the Germans should...

Columnist Joanna Buoniconti: Growing pains

By JOANNA BUONICONTI

I felt tears pricking my eyes. “We’re just talking in circles now,” he said, as he got up from the sofa to leave.I’d been crying a lot the past week and a half after the first guy I had ever seriously dated got a job offer that he needed — a job offer...

Stan Pollack: Negotiations with Russia must resume

I was glad to start the new year off reading the Jan. 2 guest column by John Berkowitz [“Negotiate Ukraine peace now, not risk nuclear war with Russia”].I’m worried that the Ukraine war, if it escalates into a direct confrontation between the...

Carol Owen: Commendation for the foresight of the N.P.D.

After partying on King Street with friends and family this New Year’s Eve and anxiously waiting for the ball on Hotel Northampton to rise, signalling the start of the new year, my granddaughter asked why all the huge Department of Public Works trucks...

David Ball: Poor Russia — Putin only wants what’s his

Poor Russia! All it did was invade Ukraine with no pretext whatsoever (sorry, Vladimir Putin, that lover of democracy, wanted to ”denazify” it) and now, according to John Berkowitz’s Jan. 2 guest column [“Negotiate Ukraine peace now, not risk nuclear...