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By SAMUEL GELINAS

HOLYOKE — The city’s population this weekend is expected to go from 50,000 to half a million, as the Irish, and those who are Irish for the weekend, get ready to run, march, and drink in honor of Ireland’s patron saint.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Best-case scenarios for the Amherst elementary and Amherst-Pelham Regional schools, in which the budgets are around $2 million short of providing level services for the 2025-2026 school year, are leading a member of Amherst’s Town Council to suggest town officials find a way to get more money to local public education.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

HOLYOKE — Some 16% of the city’s properties are exempt from paying property taxes — a potential source of revenue Mayor Joshua Garcia is looking to tap into next fiscal year via a new payment in lieu of taxes policy.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — On an early March weekend, as numerous musicians took the stage at venues across the city for the Back Porch Music Festival, some spent a portion of their downtime at Mill River Music and Guitars, relaxing on the store’s couches, surrounded by hundreds of acoustic and electric guitars displayed on the walls.

By ERIN-LEIGH HOFFMAN

GREENFIELD — The more than 700 people who attended a town hall event with U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern on Tuesday relayed an expansive mandate for him to take back to Congress: Defend federal institutions, create a stronger coalition of Democrats and be a voice of resistance to the Trump administration.

By ALEXA LEWIS

EASTHAMPTON — The campaign to become the Easthampton’s next mayor officially kicks off this week, as Lindsi Sekula is the first candidate to announce her intention to become the city’s next chief executive officer.

By CHRIS LARABEE

WASHINGTON — As federal dollars continue to be frozen for projects across the nation, a Pioneer Valley farm has joined a federal lawsuit demanding the government lift the “unlawful and indefinite freeze of congressional appropriated funds,” according to documents filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — When he was a young child, Brian O’Connor remembers returning home from school, finishing his homework, and then heading to the Northampton St. Patrick’s Association with his parents to help plan for that year’s parade.

By CHRIS LARABEE

Budget season rolls on at the Frontier Regional and Union 38 school districts, with Sunderland, Deerfield and Conway elementary schools recently sharing their fiscal year 2026 budget proposals.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A draft housing production plan with a series of strategies to ensure there are sufficient housing options in Amherst for people with a range of income levels is suggesting Amherst produce 265 to 715 new housing units by 2030.

By EMILEE KLEIN

LUDLOW — A new regional energy manager will guide decarbonization and sustainable energy efforts for 15 communities in Hampshire and Hampden counties as part of a collaboration to bring down energy costs.

By ALEXA LEWIS

SOUTHAMPTON — Nomination papers are now available in the Town Clerk’s office to those interested in serving in an elected position in town. The deadline for returning a nomination is March 31 by 5 p.m.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — The Roost, a coffee shop located at the corner of Main and Market streets, announced on social media that it will be closing down permanently, although hinted at a potential new business may be reborn from the closure.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Entirely knit with black yarn surrounding a foam interior, an enderman, the tall, thin blob seen in the Minecraft video game, is being turned into a three-dimensional form inside a classroom at Amherst Regional High School.

By EMILEE KLEIN

SOUTH HADLEY — As a former Girl Scout, Celia Overby hoped her 6-year-old daughter would find a sense of self, responsibility and community with a local troop just as she did during her childhood, but no troop in the area was accepting new scouts her daughter’s age.

By Alexander MacDougall

NORTHAMPTON — Locked in contract negotiations for more than a year, Baystate Health’s visiting nurses and their allies are taking their message public.

By ALEXA LEWIS

EASTHAMPTON — What started out as a men’s gifts and grooming shop in Northampton has become a bustling barbershop in Easthampton that prides itself on its inclusive practices and atmosphere.

By MADISON SCHOFIELD

ASHFIELD — Wicked Good Café is bringing new life to the historic Elmer’s Store, with help from both new and familiar faces.

By CAROLYN BROWN

Ten local high school students will take the stage at the Academy of Music on Saturday, April 5, at 7 p.m. to compete in the Third Annual Academy Regional Youth Poetry Slam. The event, a competition for young spoken word poets, is the only one of its kind in the Pioneer Valley.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — Hayley Bolton, who for the past six years has led senior centers in Amherst and Bernardston, is poised to become Shutesbury’s town administrator in April.