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By LISA SPEAR

It’s a Monday night and Em Peyton, 59, of Putney, Vermont is in a room full of strangers in the basement of Forbes Library in Northampton where everyone is acting silly and laughing hard.Peyton curls her fingers into claws and bares her teeth as she...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A permanent bandstand for musical acts, theater and other pastimes is being proposed for the eastern edge of the Town Common, near the Lord Jeffery Inn, by the Amherst Business Improvement District.“The time is right with all the talk about...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

LEVERETT — Following a divorce in which her husband kept the family’s dwelling, Jennifer Thornton spent more than a year living in apartments while searching for a new home where she and her two children could live.Thornton said she wasn’t sure she...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A restaurant that boasted dishes the owners described as fresh and adventurous and encouraged musicians to come and entertain its patrons has closed after six years.The Lumber Yard Restaurant, 383 Main St. in the Dickinson Historic District,...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — Western Mass is the new brand being unveiled in a joint marketing campaign by the Greater Springfield Visitors and Convention Bureau and the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts to promote the region to tourists and draw...

By STEVE PFARRER

What’s the connection between tribal art, illustrations of animals and natural settings like forests, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? If you answered “none,” you haven’t met the Derby family of Northampton. Charles Derby, a onetime art teacher...

By LISA SPEAR

Story, an enormous St. Bernard, lies down on Dennis Ashworth’s feet, as the 90-year old relaxes in his easy chair in his apartment in Amherst. The dog is panting hard, his long pink tongue hanging below his jaw.“He is going to drool on you and leave a...

By The Associated Press and SCOTT MERZBACH

By The Associated Pressand SCOTT MERZBACHStaff WriterSPRINGFIELD — A judge has dismissed several drug cases connected to a former state chemist who authorities say was high almost every day she went to work at a Massachusetts drug lab for eight...

By LISA SPEAR

Masseuse Nanci Newton of Hadley places a folded towel under Sue Monahan’s shoulder as she prepares her client for a massage.“Are you comfortable? ...Say uncle if you need to,” she says as she begins to work her hands across Monahan’s back. Newton uses...

By STEVE PFARRER

Octopuses sprawled in armchairs, reading books; tiny mermaids riding on squids. Frogs that skim above the ground on mobile lily pads like flying carpets. And a boy who makes friends with a small cloud at the Empire State building and rides around on...

By LISA SPEAR

Doug Adler opens his mouth as wide as he can and out booms his voice, “Ahhhhhhhhhh,” smooth and low like an a cappella baritone.He is a slender man, 68, with perfect pitch, but he isn’t in a recital hall, he is a Parkinson’s patient strengthening his...

By  LISA SPEAR

After a difficult pregnancy three years ago, Thalia Ghazey-Bates of Northampton gave birth to her twins two months early. When the babies were finally able to come home, she and her husband had to be on high alert: Sometimes they would stop breathing....

By SCOTT MERZBACH

Jim Brassord has competed in a number of marathons and Ironman competitions, but it’s been the near daily rowing of his boat northward along the eastern seaboard that he describes as the most grueling activity he’s ever undertaken.More than a month...

By STEVE PFARRER

Her basic storyline is well known: successful poet and novelist before she turned 30, one half of a literary couple who had a famously stormy relationship, and — sadly — a suicide in 1963, just as her work was beginning to achieve wider notice.But...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — While a downtown church is not promising physical sanctuary for immigrants who may be questioned by authorities and are at risk of being deported, its members are doing everything they can to ensure their neighbors are welcomed and protected...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — For one group of sixth graders at Fort River School, many plastic bottles are being thrown into the trash because there is no incentive to recycle items that can't be redeemed for a cash deposit.On Friday morning, a visit from State Rep....

By SCOTT MERZBACH

With a driver’s permit in hand and a desire to work, Amherst teenager Cady Bestor is confident that for part of the summer she’ll have a job, getting both experience in the workplace and money for spending or saving.But with the school year ending in...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Grace Episcopal Church is concluding its year-long sesquicentennial events with a “salute to founders” procession, a world music performance and a visit by Bishop Doug Fisher on Sunday.The marking of the 150th anniversary of the founding of...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — An Amherst Police response to the Town Common for a fight, allegedly involving one person wielding a large knife, led to two arrests Tuesday evening, according to police.Detective Lt. William Menard said officers went to the Town Common at...

 By SCOTT MERZBACH

Owners of two local businesses have created unique chairs that are part of an auction that will raise money for Boston-based charities.Karen Dzendolet, principal and owner of KDZ Designs in Pelham, and John Geraghty, founder of Grain of Thought...