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By KEVIN WEIR

Our family is concerned about the recent events related to the amended bylaw passed by an overwhelming number of Shutesbury residents in a special Town Meeting last winter. We voted with our unanimous fellow townspeople for the amended bylaw regarding...

After reading Dan Winslow’s guest column [“Wrongly blocking solar in Shutesbury,” Gazette, July 21], I felt compelled to write a response. The writer tried to convince us that we need to sacrifice our forests to create solar energy. He conveniently...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — Designs for a new town library to replace the 121-year-old M.N. Spear Memorial Library continue to be prepared by a Boston architecture company, with the latest plans bringing the building size to under 5,000 square feet as a necessary...

This summer the Pioneer Valley has seen the impacts of climate change in the form of significant amounts of precipitation. Wet conditions have impacted infrastructure like roads, and culverts, and has overwhelmed stormwater systems causing flooding in...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Having already taken a no-confidence vote in Superintendent Michael Morris, the union representing the teachers, paraprofessionals and clerical staff in the Amherst-Pelham public schools is reiterating its appeal for the Regional School...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — A Land Court lawsuit contending that Shutesbury’s zoning bylaw is overly restrictive and may doom plans to develop five large solar projects on 190 acres of mostly wooded land remains active, though the town’s attorney is seeking to have...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — A significant drop in the level of Lake Wyola in mid-July, apparently caused by the intentional release of water through the dam, is prompting the Conservation Commission to issue the town a violation notice under the Massachusetts...

By JEFF LACY

Dan Winslow’s hard swipe at my town [“Wrongly blocking solar in Shutesbury”] was featured prominently as a guest column in both the Recorder (July 21) and the Gazette the next day. He accuses the town of being intolerant of large-scale, ground-mounted...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Superintendent Michael Morris is pledging to create a “safe, positive environment” for all children who are educated in the town and regional schools — and apologizing to those who haven’t had that experience.Additionally, Morris, back on...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Raising private money for the $4.74 million project to rebuild and reorient the Amherst Regional High School track and its interior playing field is continuing, with a matching grant announced last week by an Easthampton bank.Matthew Sosik,...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — Expansion of an attorney’s work on behalf of the town’s Conservation Commission, including on matters outside the original scope of her appointment, is prompting the Select Board to adopt a new policy aimed at bringing more control over...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — School Superintendent Michael Morris, who has been on an indefinite medical leave since May 12 on orders from his doctor, will be returning to the position he has held since the summer of 2016.In a message sent to families and staff Thursday...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Following at-times contentious negotiations and mediation over the past 18 months, a new three-year contract for the Amherst-Pelham Education Association, whose members include teachers, paraeducators and clerical staff, has been...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — The Amherst Regional School Committee sought to reassure the school community Tuesday that it intends to act on the results of ongoing investigations, including a Title IX complaint, into the alleged mistreatment of trans and nonbinary...

By MICHAEL PILL

The Ancestral Bridges Foundation’s Juneteenth event in Amherst included Civil War reenactors in the uniform of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment. Of more than 1,000 men, both free born and former slaves, who came from all over the country to muster into...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Criticisms and disparagement directed toward members of the Amherst-Pelham Education Association during a public meeting in mid-May is prompting an Open Meeting Law complaint from a representative of the Massachusetts Teachers Association.In...

By JILL BUCHANAN

Massachusetts is moving faster than just about anywhere in the country to implement a clean energy economy, with the intention of adding as many as 2.5 million solar panels across the state in the next 20 years. While we need to act promptly, the...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A possible agreement on a new three-year contract between the union representing teachers, paraeducators and clerical staff and the Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee awaits a vote in the coming days.In the meantime, the Amherst Pelham...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A tentative agreement on a new contract for teachers, paraprofessionals and clerical staff that calls for annual 3% cost-of-living adjustments has been reached, according to representatives from the Regional School Committee’s negotiating...

By SHELBY BROCK

SHUTESBURY — By a vote of 40-37, residents at Saturday’s annual Town Meeting narrowly shot down a bylaw that would ban public access to the Lake Wyola Dam and institute fines for trespassers.Other topics on the 33-article warrant that merited the most...