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By LISA SPEAR

Jenny Marshall of Leverett leans back in what looks like a fancy lawn chair while a woman kneeling in front of her is cradling Marshall’s feet in her hands, buffing away at her toenails, rubbing away the cracks in her heels and scrubbing her calluses....

By M.J. TIDWELL

Editor’s note: This is Part 2 of a four-part series on the role of sedatives known as benzodiazepines in the nation’s opioid crisis. Dr. Christy Huff, a Texas cardiologist, was prescribed Xanax after a dry-eye syndrome caused her eyes to “feel like...

By LISA SPEAR

When Catherine Ames, 47, of Northampton steps out of the infrared sauna, the skin on her face is glowing and clear, much different, she says, than it looked a month ago.Before she started her 30-minute sessions each week at Thelo Home & Modern...

By LISA SPEAR

When Dusty Miller of Belchertown would pick up her cat Mary Clare, the kitty would wrap its little legs around her shoulders in a kind of hug. When Miller was sad, Bardsley, her other cat, would cuddle up to her.But two summers ago, both pets...

By Barbara Quinn

In these glorious tomato growing months from June to September, the best tasting tomatoes are those grown close to home. Some of the best tomatoes to grace my taste buds were “volunteers” that popped up in a pile of dirt behind my house a few years...

By LISA SPEAR

Despite the prevalence of tick-borne Lyme disease warnings in our area, avid outdoorsman Joe Larson, 74, of Pelham never worried. Ticks crawled on his arms and legs almost every day on walks in the woods behind his home – but when they bit him, he...

By SARAH GARDNER

NORTHAMPTON — When she started planning a health care reform march two months ago, Debby Pastrich-Klemer thought she would be giving a speech in anger.But then, the day before the march, the “skinny repeal” bill, a scaled-down version of plans to...

By Phil Galewitz

After the Senate fell short in their effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the Trump administration is poised to use its regulatory powers to accomplish what lawmakers could not: shrink Medicaid.President Donald Trump’s top health officials could...

By ERICA WERNER and ALAN FRAM

WASHINGTON — After seven years of emphatic campaign promises, Senate Republicans demonstrated they didn’t have the stomach to repeal “Obamacare” on Wednesday when it actually counted. The Senate voted 55-45 to reject legislation to throw out major...

By LISA SPEAR

Millions of bacteria line the inside of our guts. We have more bacteria in our bodies than cells, and these little critters are working to help us break down and digest the food we eat —  without them we wouldn’t be able to survive — so it would seem...

By ALAN FRAM and ERICA WERNER

WASHINGTON  — President Donald Trump blasted congressional Democrats and “a few Republicans” Tuesday over the failure of the GOP effort to rewrite the Obama health care law, and warned, “we will return.”Trump’s early morning tweet unleashed a barrage...

By ERICA WERNER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Saturday he will delay consideration of health care legislation in the Senate, after Sen. John McCain’s announced absence following surgery left Republicans short of votes on their marquee...

By DUSTY CHRISTENSEN

NORTHAMPTON — Health care, Donald Trump and war were some of the topics of conversation when U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Worcester, visited 19 residents of Rockridge Retirement Community for an intimate conversation on Friday.Earlier in the day,...

By CAITLIN ASHWORTH

EASTHAMPTON — The city may follow some 150 municipalities, including Northampton, that have adopted measures to prohibit the sale of tobacco to people under 21. The proposed regulation also limits the sale of flavored tobacco products to adult-only...

By LISA SPEAR

It’s a Monday night and Em Peyton, 59, of Putney, Vermont is in a room full of strangers in the basement of Forbes Library in Northampton where everyone is acting silly and laughing hard.Peyton curls her fingers into claws and bares her teeth as she...

By LISA SPEAR

Story, an enormous St. Bernard, lies down on Dennis Ashworth’s feet, as the 90-year old relaxes in his easy chair in his apartment in Amherst. The dog is panting hard, his long pink tongue hanging below his jaw.“He is going to drool on you and leave a...

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR

WASHINGTON — Somewhere along the way, the Republican crusade to repeal “Obamacare” also turned into an effort to limit the future growth of Medicaid. That bit of mission creep is complicating prospects for the GOP, and could lead to deadlock.The...

By LISA SPEAR

Masseuse Nanci Newton of Hadley places a folded towel under Sue Monahan’s shoulder as she prepares her client for a massage.“Are you comfortable? ...Say uncle if you need to,” she says as she begins to work her hands across Monahan’s back. Newton uses...

By AMANDA DRANE

Ah, farts. Can’t live with ’em and can’t live without ’em. When I started this column nearly two years ago, I knew that at some point I would have to broach the issue of passing gas in yoga class. It’s an endless point of fascination for folks who...

By JOSHUA SOLOMON

GREENFIELD — In response to the one-day strike by nurses planned for Monday, Baystate Franklin Medical Center has decided to lock out nurses from the hospital starting Sunday evening and lasting until Wednesday evening, according to a letter sent by...