HADLEY – As part of its spring membership drive, Speakeasy Toastmasters invites beginners and accomplished speakers to work on their public speaking skills Wednesday and June 1 at the Elaine Center, 20 North Maple St., Hadley. Sign-in begins at 7 p.m. and meetings start at 7:15 sharp.
Toastmasters offers a supportive, positive, and fun meeting environment, providing members the opportunity to improve their communication and leadership skills, develop greater self-confidence, and experience personal growth.
Meetings are held on the first and third Wednesdays of every month. For more information, visit www.toastofnorthampton.org.
NORTHAMPTON – Jones Group Realtors has relocated its Northampton office to 238 Bridge St., with convenient parking.
The firm has been in business in the Pioneer Valley for over 58 years and has offices in Northampton, Amherst and Belchertown. You can reach the Northampton office at 585-0400.
NORTHAMPTON – Attorney Nicole Bercume has joined the firm of Green Miles Lipton LLP, of 77 Pleasant St. in Northampton, as an associate.
She most recently was in private practice in Hadley. After graduating from Florida Atlantic University with a bachelor’s degree in marketing and management, received her law degree at Ave Maria School of Law, where she was a senior editor on Law Review while working in various positions for Collier County.
Nicole is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts and Florida. Her areas of practice are land use, zoning and planning, landlord/tenant, real estate, business formation, estate planning, consumer protection and personal injury.
NORTHAMPTON – Steven Silverman, owner of Valley Home Improvement, has been selected by Remodeling magazine to join the Remodeling Big50.
The 2016 Big50 winners are featured in the May issue of Remodeling, a national trade publication, with longer profiles of the winners posted on the magazine’s website, remodelingmag.com.
The Big50 award recognizes owners of remodeling companies that have set high standards for professionalism and integrity through exemplary business practices, craftsmanship, and impact in their community or the industry at large.
AMHERST – Joseph S. Larson, professor emeritus of environmental conservation, has been reappointed by Gov. Charlie Baker to a five-year term as a member of the Massachusetts Fisheries and Wildlife Board.
Larson serves with specific responsibilities for the Division’s Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program and as a member of the state’s Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Scientific Advisory Committee.
Larson received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Massachusetts, and earned his doctorate from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1966. He returned to UMass in 1967 after holding positions in conservation organizations in Massachusetts and Maryland and as a research faculty member at the University of Maryland.
On the Amherst campus, he served as a faculty member and chairman of the department of forestry and wildlife, as director of the Environmental Institute in the graduate school, and as secretary of the Faculty Senate.
He retired in 2000, lives in Pelham and has since spent much of his time working with alumni, faculty and staff members on promoting preservation of the significant historic assets of the Amherst campus.
HATFIELD – Manny’s TV & Appliances donated $10,000 to The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts last month. The contribution will provide 30,000 meals to people in need throughout our region.
Manny’s made a donation to The Food Bank for every appliance sold in March.
The Food Bank distributes food to more than 200 member agencies in Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden and Hampshire counties, including independent pantries, meal sites and shelters.
SPRINGFIELD – New England Public Radio’s newsroom was awarded two 2016 regional Edward R. Murrow Awards.
Reporter Karen Brown won best feature for her story “Freed After 27 Years, Man Claiming Wrongful Conviction Gets Little Help From System,” which profiled Mark Schand of Windsor, Connecticut, who spent nearly three decades in prison for a murder he says he did not commit.
Reporter Jill Kaufman was honored in the sports reporting category for “Deflategate Swag Is Sweet Revenge For Colts Entrepreneur,” her piece about how an epic sports rivalry and a little ingenuity sparked a new business – one that deals in football-shaped foam hats, and riles New England Patriots fans.
The awards recognize the best electronic journalism produced by radio, television and online news organizations around the world. Regional winners automatically advance to the national competition, which will be judged in May.
Brown has been a full-time reporter for NEPR since 1998. She takes special interest in health care, mental health, and social welfare issues.
Her features have appeared on National Public Radio, American RadioWorks, Marketplace, and other national radio outlets. She has also produced several award-winning radio documentaries on health topics. She was a 2012-13 Knight Fellow in Science Journalism at MIT.
Kaufman has been at NEPR since 2005. Before that, she was an editor at PRI’s The World, and for 10 years worked at WBUR in Boston, much of that time as a producer at The Connection with Christopher Lydon.
Her features have appeared on NPR programs and PRI’s The World. Recently she has been covering the opiate epidemic, education issues and the arts.