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By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Identified last fall as the preferred location for a new fire station in South Amherst, Hickory Ridge Golf Course, the town-owned site on West Pomeroy Lane, is no longer being considered for that building project.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SOUTH HADLEY — Despite Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School administrators finding no wrongdoing by a middle school teacher, following a six-week investigation into sexual misconduct allegations that led to his removal from the classroom last fall, students concerned about his continued presence on campus staged a walkout demanding his termination Monday morning.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Three straight years of deficits at the Amherst Cinema, considered an unsustainable trend for the independent, nonprofit arts and education center, is prompting leadership to return the facility to its original three-screen site that opened in 2006, and to reduce the number of weekly showtimes.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — A $2.5 million loan being sought by the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School should provide the funding to create 14 classrooms inside a second campus building at 300 Venture Way, allowing an expansion of enrollment and possibly new initiatives as student applications to the school surge.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Annual pre-St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Amherst, where numerous college-age people dressed in green began consuming alcohol early Saturday morning, led to 29 arrests and 23 medical transports to the hospital, according to information supplied by town and University of Massachusetts officials.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A shift in culture has occurred at Crocker Farm School over the past decade, where even those students having a challenging time in their classrooms and in interactions with their peers are not sent to the main office.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — As Town Manager Paul Bockelman puts together a nearly $29.5 million fiscal year 2026 budget for Amherst’s municipal operations, the spending plan is currently projected at around a $540,000 deficit.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — A proposed $23.31 million fiscal year 2026 operating budget will maintain existing staffing and services at the public schools and in municipal departments, while supporting the continued transition to a town-operated Advanced Life Support ambulance.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Dr. Khama Ennis, an Amherst resident and board-certified emergency physician with more than 20 years of clinical experience, is receiving the 2025 Black Excellence Award for the 3rd Hampshire District.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A three-building development featuring 140 residential units, 12,000 square feet of commercial space and 180 parking spaces is being proposed for 7.7 acres of vacant land owned by Hampshire College in the Atkins Corner area of town.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — An administrative request by the university demanding that a Pride flag flying from a flagpole at the UMass Transit Services area of the University of Massachusetts campus be removed is leading to the circulation of a petition calling out campus leaders.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Amherst officials will have until the end of April to sign a contract with a general contractor to begin work on the $46.1 million expansion and renovation of the Jones Library.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — The Natural Resources Conservation Service office for Massachusetts, located at 451 West St. since 1980, could close as part of 748 lease terminations posted online this week by the Trump administration.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — J. Crew Factory, a national clothing retailer, will be coming to Mountain Farms Mall later this year.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — Many members of the federal delegation from Massachusetts, including U.S. Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, defended the commonwealth and the city of Boston hours before an address by President Donald Trump before a joint session of Congress they anticipated would serve as an attack on the state.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — In the midst of a search for a permanent principal to oversee the Amherst Regional Middle School, a new interim principal is being appointed for the remainder of the school year.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Improving pedestrian access and parking near Kendrick Park, where a downtown playground is located, and beginning predevelopment on a housing development at the former VFW site on Main Street that will include space serving homeless individuals, are projects being recommended for Community Development Block Grant funding.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — A Northampton business owner found herself in the nation’s capital last week at the invitation of Sen. Ed Markey to urge a Senate panel to maintain a pilot program that provides access to capital for budding entrepreneurs to launch businesses.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — Collective Copies, a worker-owned, union copy shop, is in the midst of expanding and renovating its production facility at 93 Main St. in Florence, a project that will accommodate the consolidation of its longtime site at 71 South Pleasant St. in Amherst when that storefront closes on May 1.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Eliminating the reading intervention program, cutting five special education instructors and three paraprofessionals, and reducing hours for specialist instructors and band teachers, are among changes that could be implemented at Amherst’s three elementary schools beginning in the fall.