Bill Dwight: Facts about school budget matter

Deb Henson’s Feb. 15 column [“Northampton mayor, council fail to heed our priority — Schools,” Feb. 14) made two significant assertions that are not supported by the facts.

Guest columnist Monica Moran: Help teens recognize abuse by partners

By MONICA MORAN

Janet Clark: A wake-up, indeed

Bravo to Darcy Dumont’s Feb. 10 guest column coherently describing connections in extreme weather events [”2024: A year of climate wake-up calls”].

Rick McNeil: A preference for natural ingredients (No AI)

I appreciate Richard McCarthy’s recent columns addressing articifial intelligence. AI is taking the country by storm and it’s wise to slow down and evaluate this technology. AI is concerning given its massive energy consumption, copyright infringement issues and capacity to spread misinformation. Additionally, Google recently broke its promise not to use AI for harmful purposes such as building weapons.

Carol Wrobleski: Booing fellow citizens during McGovern's coffee hour

While I appreciated U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern’s time and many thoughtful responses to questions from constituents at First Churches of Northampton on Saturday, I was disappointed that he did not call out the crowd members who booed the man who exercised his First Amendment right to free speech and spoke his mind about Obamacare and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Robert Meeropol: Why I support fully funding Northampton schools

I am writing to echo Deb Henson’s excellent Feb. 15 guest column in the Gazette [”Northampton mayor, council fail to heed our priority — schools”]. We are a progressive community that places a premium on education and believes a community’s quality can best be measured by how it treats its most vulnerable. I support Deb and Support Our Schools (SOS) because they are both advocating for some of Northampton’s most vulnerable members — its public school children.

Columnist Johanna Neumann: ‘Waste not, want not’: Keeping costly energy use low

By JOHANNA NEUMANN

Eggs are pricey these days. And eggs aren’t the only thing costing more. Those of us who heat our homes with gas are paying more than twice as much for the same amount of energy as we paid five years ago.

Guest columnist Richard S. Bogartz: Bang a pot, become us!

By RICHARD S. BOGARTZ

I’ve observed groups online discussing how to resist what is happening to our government. Mostly people are expressing their frustration at knowing something should be done but not knowing what, or how, and feeling so alone in their frustration.

Jack Tulloss: Horse sense

‘Beware of Greeks bearing gifts!” Thus spaketh the Trojan priest, Laocoön, upon observing an enormous wooden horse left at the gates of Troy as a peace offering by the city’s mortal enemies. Disregarding the soothsayer’s wariness and in a triumph of optimism over experience, the Trojan leaders ordered the gates opened and had the exotic gift wheeled into the city.

Barbara Sharp: Gazette columnist showed humanity

First of all, sincere wishes to Gazette columnist Bob Flaherty for a quick and full recovery from the very serious injury he incurred on the bike path, and kudos to the two walkers who came to his aid, and to the Hadley police, Acton EMS, and the staff at Baystate Hospital.

Teresa Amabile: Gutting USAID is disastrous

Actions by the current administration’s elected officials and unelected operatives to gut the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are disastrous on three levels: economic, diplomatic and spiritual. These actions, justified with a litany of falsehoods from both official administration sources and right-wing influencers, will result in economic pain for many Americans.

David Arbeitman: Not conservative, reactionary

Donald Trump is not a conservative but a reactionary and the press needs to make this important distinction. Whereas true conservatives are supportive of traditional values and democratic institutions, President Trump’s disregard for the U.S. Constitution, federal court orders, and his aggressive expansion of the executive branch at the expense of the Congress and the judiciary shows contempt for our democracy.

Guest columnist Martha Rullman: Rodenticides are killing wildlife up the food chain

By MARTHA RULLMAN

Guest columnist Andy Morris-Friedman: Sneak a peek at the Trump Museum

By ANDY MORRIS-FRIEDMAN

Stephen Armstrong: More than echoes of ‘Great Gatsby’

I promised the editor that I would not write another letter about Trump for four years, because he (Trump, not the editor) is just too depressing.

Annita Sawyer: Generous strangers

In 1993, while visiting our niece at Smith College, I noticed that strangers in town smiled at me as we passed. Cars stopped for pedestrians in the crosswalks! Dazzled and delighted, I fell in love with Northampton. Twenty-five years later, seeking a lively, welcoming community in which to grow old, Will and I moved to Northampton. We haven’t been disappointed.

Leah Gregg: Our city budget is a moral document

I am writing to express my pride as a resident of Ward 3 in having Quaverly Rothenberg as my City Council representative. There’s an often quoted phrase that appears in the classic movie “Inherit the Wind” — that the job of a journalist is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comforted. I would say it is also the job of a good politician. (We all know there are many politicians who do exactly the opposite.)

Guest columnist Marietta Pritchard: Are we getting stupider as our reading declines?

By MARIETTA PRITCHARD

Are we getting stupider? David Brooks writes in the New York Times that stupidity has come to define our politics. Even intelligent people can also be stupid, he argues. They can come to believe in conspiracist theories and make decisions against their own interests.

Columnist Sara Weinberger: Channeling Bishop Budde’ ‘grit and grace’

By SARA WEINBERGER

Dear Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde,

Guest columnist Leigh Graham: Take a closer look at Northampton, and school budget realities

By LEIGH GRAHAM