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By JACK SUNTRUP

NORTHAMPTON — Sonia Wilk was polite but frazzled. She hadn’t slept well in days. On Wednesday afternoon, she walked her bike down Conz Street, gripping a weathered stack of leaflets.She rolled her bicycle into the Fairfield Inn & Suites parking lot,...

By JACK SUNTRUP

EASTHAMPTON — Flanked by family and supporters, longtime City Councilor Joy E. Winnie made her run for mayor official as traffic rolled by Nashawannuck Pond Tuesday evening.“My knowledge of Easthampton’s past and present make me the best choice to...

By JACK SUNTRUP

SOUTH HADLEY — After months of controversy surrounding its head of school, a South Hadley charter school welcomed a new leader earlier this month.George E. Simpson, 45, started July 3 as head of the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Public Charter...

By JACK SUNTRUP

The gypsy moth caterpillar’s on-again, off-again reign of destruction over Massachusetts forests starts in 1868 or 1869 in Medford.Leopold Trouvelot was an amateur entomologist who, in 1852, left France as Napoleon III was fastening his grip on power....

By JACK SUNTRUP

NORTHAMPTON — Northampton High School’s senior class president Matti Tacy spent much of her commencement speech Sunday talking about the class of 2017’s accomplishments: There were Nickolas Smith and Patrick Quinlan, who won All-American status in...

By JACK SUNTRUP

NORTHAMPTON — Local organizers have chosen a site for homeless youth and youth at risk of homelessness, and spent Sunday working to renovate the Hatfield Street property. Fundraising since January 2016, the two organizations — DIAL/SELF Youth &...

By JACK SUNTRUP

EASTHAMPTON — Alex Blow spread peanut butter on an English muffin upstairs, flipped on the TV to watch Netflix downstairs, and, after a while, heard a pop outside the basement door on Oliver Street.“Before I even opened the door I saw an orange glow...

By JACK SUNTRUP

NORTHAMPTON — In 1995, Boston-area native Albert Sacco Jr. hurtled into space at 17,596 mph and saw “the blackest black you’ve ever seen.” “Blacker than the blackest velvet,” he said of space to a room of patients and other visitors at the CareOne at...

By JACK SUNTRUP

SOUTH HADLEY — Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School trustees voted Tuesday to place Head of School Scott Goldman on paid administrative leave after staff leveled three grievances and two petitions against him.Now, a select panel from...

By JACK SUNTRUP

Winter ticks, it seems, live by climate change and die by climate change.The parasitic blood-suckers have hammered the New England moose population for years. Shorter winters mean a greater likelihood tick larvae live long enough to grab onto a host....

By JACK SUNTRUP

AMHERST — Apryl Sabadosa was the first woman to finish a 5-kilometer race in Amherst Sunday — and she did it barefoot.Well, not technically. She wore two socks on each foot. Sabadosa, 33, of Westfield, crossed the finish line in 18 minutes and 2...

By JACK SUNTRUP

HATFIELD — What to do about recreational marijuana, Select Board term limits, a debt exclusion question and the town’s $12 million budget blueprint will all be on the agenda for the upcoming annual Town Meeting.Hatfield’s Town Meeting is at 7 p.m. on...

By JACK SUNTRUP

EASTHAMPTON — For the love of Easthampton, please don’t release sky lanterns.That firm request comes from Fire Chief David Mottor, who said Wednesday he received an email asking if it was OK to launch what are essentially tiny, unmanned air balloons...

By JACK SUNTRUP

FLORENCE — Members of the Broad Brook Coalition on Sunday afternoon celebrated improvements to the 850-acre Fitzgerald Lake Conservation Area, with sunny, clear skies as a backdrop.The improvements — a new bridge leading to trails, a raised boardwalk...

By JACK SUNTRUP

NORTHAMPTON — When scientists talk dire impacts of climate change in say 2050, or 2100, the far-away dates can be hard to put into perspective. For Peter Ives, the problem does not seem so distant. He thinks of his 2-year-old granddaughter Ila. “I...

By JACK SUNTRUP

NORTHAMPTON — Parents, staff and students gathered outside the Upper School building at the Montessori School of Northampton for its official ribbon-cutting Tuesday — and, in line with the sunny day, ice cream sandwiches.The 7,400-square-foot...

By JACK SUNTRUP

HADLEY — Incumbent Molly Keegan will retain her spot on the Select Board for another three years after fending off a challenge by former board member John Mieczkowski Sr. in Tuesday’s annual town election.According to preliminary tallies, Keegan took...

By JACK SUNTRUP

AMHERST — Anyone walking into Hangar Pub and Grill Sunday afternoon might not have immediately known there was a fundraiser for childhood cancer research going on.There was lots of beer, lots of appetizers, live music and raffle prizes. Why the large...

By JACK SUNTRUP

WARE — The Rattlesnake Review Working Group has the thankless job of recommending what the state should do about the timber rattlesnake, an endangered serpent some revere as a New England symbol but nonetheless gives others the shivers.On Wednesday,...

By JACK SUNTRUP

HOLYOKE — Authorities on Tuesday had no word as to the cause of a New Year’s Day fire that claimed three lives in the Flats neighborhood of Holyoke.Hampden County District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni’s office did announce Tuesday, however, that Trevor...

By JACK SUNTRUP

HADLEY — Farmer fortunes are tied to the elements. Too much rain or too little can have the same effect — a spoiled growing season.Much of New England has been snared in drought conditions since April. The National Weather Service Climate Prediction...