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By BILL NEWMAN

Last Saturday, “No Kings Day,” saw large demonstrations in Northampton, Easthampton, Greenfield, Springfield, Sunderland, Cummington, Shelburne Falls, Pittsfield, Amherst, Granby, Williamsburg, Ashfield, Orange and Boston. They were among the more than 100 protests in Massachusetts and over 2,100 across the country in cities and towns, big and small. The common denominator? Devotion to resistance and the fervent hope, if not always the firm belief, that we can mitigate, if not totally prevent, the fascist takeover of the United States now in progress.

By GRACE CHAI

NORTHAMPTON — A majority of one of the largest remaining unprotected farms in the city is now conserved for agriculture and wildlife habitat, thanks to a unique conservation effort that taps into federal funding.

I am writing concerning the above-the-fold article titled “Panel not ready on assisted suicide proposal” (Gazette, June 5). The article references the current Massachusetts Bill H.2505, which is entitled An Act Relative To End Of Life Options. A close reading of this bill reveals that it supports medical aid in dying to terminally ill individuals, allowing them to enlist the help of medical professionals in order to end their suffering. Surely, journalists understand the power of words, and the emotional valence of the term assisted suicide brings to mind assisting a despondent, otherwise healthy individual take their own life. In contrast to this, medical aid in dying entails providing compassionate assistance to a terminally ill individual, allowing them to choose to end their suffering, in a well-informed and dignified manner. As the Gazette continues to cover this issue, I would encourage the editors to avoid coined terms and to refer to the proposed legislation as the end of life options bill.

Don’t go to Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark, and Norway) unless you want to be shocked by how advanced and better off they are than us, especially now. We just returned from a trip there. While I know there are big differences between our countries, and that they also have challenges too, we could still learn so much from them. Stockholm — no trash or dog poop anywhere to be seen. A person on our tour got sick and two hours later a doctor came to our hotel and wrote her an antibiotic prescription so she could rejoin the tour a couple days later.

By JOHN BERKOWITZ

I think it’s urgent that the current negotiations end the war in Ukraine soon, even if Ukraine has to make some territorial concessions and stay out of NATO. If we keep helping Ukraine escalate — such as its recent drone attacks on Russian bases housing nuclear-armed strategic bombers, and last year’s attack on Russia’s early-warning radars that damaged three out of a total of 10 — it will only bring even more suffering and devastation to Ukraine, while risking an unimaginably worse WWIII/nuclear war with Russia.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Less than week before the City Council is expected to vote on the city’s fiscal 2026 budget, Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra has secured an additional $217,000 for the school district, with funds planned to be used to restore two high school teacher positions as well as an elementary school gardening program.

By LILY REAVIS

Thousands of western Massachusetts residents rallied in the streets on Saturday to protest President Donald Trump and his administration’s policies, joining the nationwide “No Kings” movement against actions they called authoritarian. Many in attendance pointed to the administration’s recent immigration raids and Trump’s federalization of the military against protesters as key drivers for their attendance.

By GARRETT COTE

NORTHAMPTON — It had been quite some time since the Belchertown Post 239 Senior American Legion baseball team suffered its last regular season loss after going undefeated en route to the District 3 championship a summer ago, but Post 239 experienced that feeling on Friday evening at Arcanum Field.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

The number of calls to Northampton Fire Rescue has nearly doubled over the last decade, leading the city to expand department staffing in next year’s fiscal budget, which begins July 1.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — The city on Thursday closed a portion of the sidewalk in its central downtown after engineering consultants found that the section posed “an immediate risk of collapse.”

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Ever since moving to Florence 18 years ago, JoJo Howlett has had only one choice for where she fills her car with gas — the Citgo gas station in the village’s center, owned by Bob Gougeon and his family.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra has called for a public debate between her and the other two mayoral candidates in this year’s municipal election, proposing multiple public forums to be held before preliminary elections in September.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

HOLYOKE — Artist Michael Karmody knows a hard truth about concrete — that it is often associated with sidewalks and jails, not attractive things.

By OLIN ROSE-BARDAWIL

Two weeks ago marked 600 days since the war in Gaza began. Six hundred days and nearly 100,000 casualties later, many have woken up to the clear immorality of Israel’s assault on Gaza. However, there are still many Americans who cling to a few talking points that allow them to justify the brutality — talking points which, over 600 days in, seem just as tired and trite as the war itself.

The street fair Cultural Chaos, one of Easthampton’s biggest annual events, will return this year on Saturday, June 14, from 12 to 5 p.m. on Cottage Street in Easthampton.

Testimony I submitted to the Massachusetts Joint Committee on the Judiciary, June 3, 2025 in support of H.2052/S.1178: An Act to Reduce Mass Incarceration. Twenty-five years ago, when I began the Real Cost of Prisons Project, I naively thought if people understood the real costs of mass incarceration to people imprisoned, their loved ones and their communities and the hundreds of millions of dollars we pay yearly to keep people caged, they would see that this state-run, outrageously costly system harms, not helps, everyone involved.

Maceo Nteta and Dylan Lawrence-Riddell led the way for a potent Northampton offense on Monday evening at Legion Field in a 14U baseball matchup with Palmer, as the duo combined for six hits and seven RBI. That strong one-two punch helped Northampton defeat Palmer 20-4 in decisive fashion.

By GARRETT COTE

It was about as ideal a start as the Belchertown Post 239 senior legion baseball team could have asked for on Monday evening on the road against West Springfield Post 207, as Belchertown earned a 4-1 win to start the 2025 season fresh off its second consecutive District 3 title.

NORTHAMPTON — A No Kings rally is being held on the steps of Northampton City Hall Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Count the city among those advocating for universal health care in the state of Massachusetts.