Investigation of armed home invasion in Amherst continues

By EMILY CUTTS and SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — No new arrests were made Tuesday in connection with a violent home invasion that injured at least three men on South East Street early Sunday, according to the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office.And while 25-year-old Patrick M. Bemben,...

UMass student pleads not guilty to assault charges

By EMILY CUTTS

BELCHERTOWN — A University of Massachusetts Amherst student pleaded not guilty Oct. 21 in Eastern Hampshire District Court to numerous assault charges.Dan Idhenga, 19, was charged with indecent assault and battery on a person over 14, three charges of...

Chamber to spotlight South Hadley businesses at showcase

By EMILY CUTTS

SOUTH HADLEY — Area businesses will be on display Thursday for the first Spotlight on South Hadley Businesses, a new event designed to showcase new and established companies in town.The event, hosted by Know Your Town and the South Hadley & Granby...

Canning supports lower taxes, aims to improve schools, public safety

By RICHIE DAVIS

Republican state Senate candidate Christine Canning has described herself as “a pit bull with lipstick” and the political byproduct of “a father who’s a left-wing Democrat and a mother who’s a right-wing Republican.” The Lanesborough educational...

Adam Hinds opposes legalizing marijuana; supports A.G. on copycat assault weapons ban

By RICHIE DAVIS

After beating back two challengers in the Democratic primary in September, Adam Hinds of Pittsfield is involved in a two-party race for a state Senate seat.The 40-year-old Buckland native and Mohawk Trail Regional High School graduate has repeatedly...

Gannett gives up on Tronc

NEW YORK (AP) — USA Today publisher Gannett walked away Tuesday from its attempted takeover of Tronc, the owner of the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and other major dailies.Gannett’s target was elusive from the beginning, with a publicly...

US companies see grim outlook in Cuba despite Obama opening

By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN

HAVANA — For a while Saul Berenthal and Horace Clemmons were the seventy-something poster boys of U.S.-Cuba detente.The retired software entrepreneurs made worldwide headlines by winning Obama administration permission to build the first U.S. factory...

Cosby lawyers press judge to exclude deposition from trial

By MARYCLAIRE DALE

NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Bill Cosby’s lawyers pressed a judge Tuesday to keep the comedian’s damaging deposition in a decade-old lawsuit out of his sexual assault trial, saying Cosby agreed to answer questions under oath after being assured he wouldn’t be...

Judge hears DiMasi request for compassionate release

By DENISE LAVOIE

BOSTON — A federal judge on Tuesday questioned lawyers for Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi on the severity of DiMasi’s health problems as the once-powerful Democrat seeks an early end to his eight-year prison sentence on public corruption...

Six killed in 2-bus Baltimore crash

By BRIAN WITTE

BALTIMORE — A school bus was blocks away from its first stop Tuesday morning when it hit a cemetery wall, rear-ended a car and then ricocheted off a roadside pillar into an oncoming commuter bus. The pre-dawn accident killed six people and injured 10,...

Drummer in Donald Trump mask brings joy to downtown Northampton, WITH VIDEO

By STEPHANIE MURRAY

NORTHAMPTON — Joel Turcotte of Holyoke has played the drums in the downtown area before, but Saturday was a first. He wore a mask of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.But don’t call Turcotte a Trump fan. At his feet was a sign that revealed...

Former Deerfield Academy teacher facing fourth sexual abuse charge

By ANDY CASTILLO

DEERFIELD — A fourth alleged sexual abuse victim has filed civil charges against former Deerfield Academy teacher Peter Hindle.According to court records, the lawsuit was filed by “John Doe” in Bristol Superior Court on Sep. 8 against 82-year-old...

Cara Rintala sentenced to life in prison without parole

By MICHAEL MAJCHROWICZ

NORTHAMPTON — Moments before she was sentenced Wednesday to spend the rest of her life in prison for murdering her wife, Cara Rintala trudged to a seat beside her attorneys.The shackles around her ankles clanked and dragged along the wooden floor as...

Rare items from Pearl Harbor go on display

By PHILIP MARCELO

NATICK — President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared it a “date which will live in infamy” — and three-quarters of a century later, relics from that audacious attack still conjure strong emotions.A new exhibition commemorating the 75th anniversary of the...

Cara Rintala guilty of first-degree murder

By MICHAEL MAJCHROWICZ

NORTHAMPTON — A cacophony of gasps and sharp exhales from both sides of the courtroom broke the silence Friday afternoon when the jury announced its guilty verdict in the third murder trial of Cara Rintala.The Hampshire Superior Court jury of five...

Volunteers clean graffiti off Mount Tom

By SARAH CROSBY

EASTHAMPTON — Decades of graffiti trickled down Mount Tom on Sunday, dissolving under the force of a pressure washer. The rock underneath remained, seemingly untouched.The charge was led by Naima Workman, a yoga studio owner with a passion for outdoor...

Former Swift River Academy reopening as drug treatment center

By AMANDA DRANE

CUMMINGTON — By the middle of next month, the property that housed Swift River Academy will once again help people find their way.The former school for troubled youths, whose acreage extends into Plainfield, was bought and renovated by a Tennessee...

Massachusetts law exempts restaurants from paying workers overtime for long weeks

By Amanda Drane

In many Chinese restaurants, workers are expected to work well beyond the standard 40-hour week. Can those employees then expect time-and-a-half overtime pay? No. But, then again, yes. Restaurants are among the businesses that have won an exemption...

Sick fox roaming Amherst more a danger to wildlife than people

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST – A fox suffering from an illness that has caused it to lose much of its fur, and which may pose dangers to other wildlife, is continuing to roam neighborhoods in North Amherst. But Carol Hepburn, the town’s animal welfare officer, said the...

Annual Transperformance celebrates music, benefits schools WITH VIDEO

By SARAH CROSBY

NORTHAMPTON — As golden sunlight splashed through trees, some 1,500 people gathered at Look Park on Tuesday for what has become a longstanding celebration of local music.Transperformance 26 – the annual music benefit for arts enrichment in the...