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By STEVE PFARRER

NORTHAMPTON — It’s been another good year for Valley writers.Twelve area authors (and author/illustrators) have had new work long-listed for the 2024 Massachusetts Book Awards, presented annually by the Massachusetts Center for the Book (MCB) in five...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — A bylaw to allow stand-alone battery storage facilities in town, though prohibit them in the aquifer protection district, and spending that includes a $21.7 million fiscal year 2025 municipal operating budget were easily approved at annual...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A foundational skills reading program, known as Magnetic Foundations, is being piloted by eight teachers in the four Amherst and Pelham elementary schools as the focus of an elementary literacy curriculum review this school year.Mary Kiely,...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

AMHERST – The UMass men’s lacrosse team never fell behind by more than three goals, but never took the lead and fell 11-9 to No. 1 St. Joseph’s in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament at Garber Field on Thursday.In their regular season meeting...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

HADLEY – The red shed off to the side of the Hopkins Academy softball field has seen some use. For decades, Golden Hawks baseball and softball pitchers used it as a backstop in pregame warmups. But now, with construction on a new athletic field...

By GARRETT COTE

WESTHAMPTON — During Wednesday’s batting practice session, Hampshire Regional sluggers Drew and Mikey Thompson didn’t bring their best swings, according to Raiders head coach Mark Baldwin.After their time was up, they insisted Baldwin let them get...

By STEVE PFARRER

The Holyoke Civic Symphony has titled its 2023-2024 season “The Brass Menagerie,” not to be cute but to highlight a series of concerts dedicated to celebrating the family of brass instruments: the horn, the tuba, the trumpet, and the trombone.On May...

By STEVE PFARRER

On the morning of May 16, 1874, the dam on the Williamsburg Reservoir, up in the hills along the East Branch of the Mill River, suddenly collapsed, sending 600 million gallons of water roaring downhill.The flood, which soon became a 30-foot-high brown...

By STEVE PFARRER

Call it an encore performance.“The Spiderwick Chronicles,” the bestselling series of fantasy books by Amherst writers Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, has just been turned into a streaming series on The Roku Channel.That comes 16 years after a feature...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Construction of a three-unit, 10-bedroom home behind an existing home at 98 Fearing St., in the North Prospect-Lincoln-Sunset Local Historic District is inappropriate for the neighborhood, according to a panel that reviews projects and...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

BELCHERTOWN — Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School boys tennis coach Mike Locher has a Star Wars character assigned to each player on his team.After every match, he sends his players a game recap, along with a YouTube video of their Star...

By GARRETT COTE

SOUTH HADLEY — Fighting toe-to-toe with Veritas Prep in the fourth set of its first varsity boys volleyball game in program history, South Hadley was on the brink of history.The Tigers did just enough to pull away and claim a 25-23 win in the frame,...

By JAMES PENTLAND

SPRINGFIELD — A former superintendent of Chicopee schools was sentenced this week to a year of probation for lying to FBI agents who were investigating scores of threats sent via text to a candidate for the city’s police chief.Lynn Clark, 53, who was...

By JAMES PENTLAND

NORTHAMPTON — In the wake of the Justice Department’s proposal to reclassify cannabis as a less dangerous drug, dispensary owners say the change would help their business, especially on taxes.“The immediate impact would be for the government to treat...

By GARRETT COTE

BELCHERTOWN — He didn’t think it would ever happen outside of a regular season dual meet, but Luke Giguere had just done something swimmers only dream of.The Belchertown senior put forth a heroic 46.62-second anchor leg in the 400-yard freestyle relay...

By EMILEE KELIN

BELCHERTOWN — The president of the Granby Bow and Gun Club insists that stray bullets that hit two homes and a shed in the Turkey Hill area of town did not originate from the club’s long range.Club President Ryan Downing read a statement at the...

By JAMES PENTLAND

HOLYOKE — After almost two years of reconstruction and remodeling, the Waterfront, Holyoke’s new event venue, is ready for its public unveiling.Owners Carlos and Evelyn Colón and family will host a grand opening Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with...

By GARRETT COTE

GRANBY —  A pair of Mylin Laliberte goals dug the Granby girls lacrosse team out of an early 2-0 hole in the first quarter and tied things up with Amherst about midway through the frame.Just one day removed from a tough 18-5 defeat at the hands of the...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

SOUTH HADLEY – Ella Schaeffer had already tossed nine innings of shutout ball, but when the South Hadley pitcher stepped to the plate against Easthampton in the bottom of the ninth inning with a runner on second base and one out, she still had some...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

Ursula von Goeler likes making calculations.Her favorite subject is physics. She’s decided to major in it next year at Bowdoin College.But that love of matter and its behavior through space and time isn’t just limited to the classroom. It stretches...