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By SCOTT MERZBACH

LEVERETT — A steep increase in what Leverett will pay into the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools’ fiscal year 2026 budget is being supported by the Select Board, even with concerns from board members about the process used to arrive at the town’s assessment.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Professional mold remediation in the music and instrument storage rooms during April vacation, along with recent roof repairs and replacement of HVAC air filters, are among steps being taken to improve air quality at the Amherst Regional Middle School.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Near annual challenges in putting together budgets for the Amherst and Amherst-Pelham Regional schools that meet the financial guidelines set by the Amherst Town Council is leading to the concept of forming a joint town and school task force, which would be responsible for examining educational needs over a five- to 10-year period.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Responding to an online petition that collected nearly 250 signatures, officials at Amherst Regional High School have reversed a recent decision to close nearly all of the school’s bathrooms for students during lunch periods out of concern with a rising level of vaping indicated by vaping detection alarms frequently going off.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

LEVERETT — Several local Democratic Town Committees in Hampshire and Franklin counties, and Holyoke, are making an appeal to the Massachusetts congressional delegation to take stronger steps in confronting the Republican Party, the Trump administration and special government employee and billionaire Elon Musk.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

LEVERETT — A proposed donation of a 147-acre working forest in North Leverett, which would continue to be actively managed under town ownership and open for hunting, will be decided by voters at annual Town Meeting May 3.

By CAROLYN BROWN

Leverett artist Rhoda Juels died recently, leaving behind a substantial collection of her works. Now, her daughter Dara is inviting members of the public to take the art – entirely free.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — State education officials were crystal clear with the Amherst Regional School Committee on Monday night, warning members that they are not to vary from an agreement that determines how much each of the district’s four member towns must pay each year.

By SARENA NEYMAN

By SCOTT MERZBACH

LEVERETT — Town officials are trying to find ways to reduce proposed spending on school and town services before bringing a total municipal budget of around $7.9 million to residents at annual Town Meeting on May 3.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — It’s back to the drawing board for the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools’ proposed budget for next year, after the Town Council on Monday rejected changing the way assessments are determined for each of the district’s four member towns.

In 1975-76, I was a Fulbright scholar in Germany, teaching for a year at a German university. It was close enough in time to the Holocaust to stir feelings of fear (some professors still dressed up in SS uniforms on weekends).

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Mold and mildew that may be developing at the Amherst Regional Middle School, possibly related to the poor condition of the roof that could be fixed as part of the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s accelerated repair program, will be examined by school district officials.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — The Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee is putting forward a $37.08 million fiscal year 2026 budget that would limit some anticipated staffing cuts at the middle and high schools, a proposal that would significantly increase assessments for the four member towns.

By Staff Report

LEVERETT — An outdoor maple syrup boil is being blamed for causing a brush fire that consumed about 3 acres of land near the intersection of North Leverett and Richardson roads on Friday afternoon, according to the Leverett Fire Department’s Facebook page.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — In advance of a final fiscal year 2026 budget proposal for the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools being brought forward for an anticipated School Committee vote Friday, a three-member subcommittee is recommending preserving almost all student-facing positions at the high school and middle school by restoring $696,000 in possible cuts.

We have descended down the deep hole of fascism. The guardrails have been stripped away and we are in grave danger of becoming an authoritarian state. Democracy will die down this hole. I am perplexed as to what 77 million Americans were expecting when they voted for this man. To make matters worse, he has brought in his sidekick, Elon Musk, an ununelected man with a chain saw to obliterate our government and our democracy. And this man with his chain saw has fired thousands of government workers, men and women who daily keep the system going.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A full team of five teachers at Amherst Regional Middle School, who provide instruction in English language arts, mathematics, science, social studies and special education to seventh and eighth graders, would be eliminated as part of at least 18 staff cuts, saving around $1.39 million, at the regional schools if a proposal under consideration is adopted for next fiscal year.

By GENE STAMELL

By SCOTT MERZBACH

LEVERETT — An archaeological survey and mapping of the historic Graves’ Ironworks site, located downstream from the 1774 Slarrow Sawmill, will be supported with a small donation from the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s small-dollar grant program.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — An investigation has cleared Amherst Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman of allegations of threatening harm to a district employee, creating a hostile work environment for an employee and retaliating against employees who are part of a protected class.