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By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Families of students at Amherst Regional Middle School are being notified about an antisemitic incident that occurred Monday when a student gave a Nazi salute during class — the latest in a series of incidents that have occurred at area schools in recent years.

By RUDY PERKINS

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Unless state aid increases, other sources of funding are found or member towns can contribute more, a fiscal year 2026 budget that eliminates around 17 positions may be the best-case scenario for the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools, according to information presented at a “Four Towns Meeting” Saturday.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A significant majority of elementary school teachers, paraprofessionals and clerical staff are disavowing a recent statement, released by the executive board for the Amherst-Pelham Education Association, offering support to Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman in the face of allegations made by 12 administrators whose identities have not been made public.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Revised regulations on the sale of tobacco products in Amherst drafted by the Board of Health, including restricting oral nicotine pouches to adults-only tobacco stores, is winning both praise and criticism from the public, with advocates for curtailing access to tobacco calling for the town to bolster the rules by adopting a nicotine-free generation measure.

By DARCY DUMONT

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — An Amherst man pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston on Wednesday to distribution and possession of child sexual abuse material, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Massachusetts.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Organizers of the “Cambodians in Amherst: A History of the Khmer Community” exhibit in 2024 at the Strong House are earning the Amherst Historical Society’s annual Arthur F. Kinney Conch Shell award.

By KEVIN A. YOUNG

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A $2.5 million donation from Amherst College will support the Amherst and regional schools, the town’s emergency services, and infrastructure work downtown over the next three years, as well as one of two municipal building projects the town is undertaking.

By DOMENIC POLI

AMHERST — As a teenager, Skye Wellington frequented Kelly’s restaurant, a nearly 30-year mainstay of a College Street business plaza until closing near the end of 2022.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Amherst is facing a much larger than anticipated increase in health insurance costs for fiscal year 2026, with a projected jump of almost 20%, at the top range allowed for the town’s insurer, the Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association.

I beg to differ on a few points in the Jan. 30 guest column ”Just not ready for clean energy future” by Stephen Fox. First, Gov. Maura Maura Healey and the Legislature are quite aware of the concerns he lays out and are addressing the challenges of climate changes. They are putting policies in place to get us to net zero (i.e., not producing more carbon than the environment can sequester) by 2050.

In David Murphy’s Jan. 31 guest column ”All-electric rule: Costlier homes, worse efficiency” he erroneously calculates the overall efficiency of heating a home with electricity from the grid and compares it to the efficiency of the natural gas furnace in his basement. He concludes that Ordinance 24.170 would force homeowners to rely on electric heating that is 60% efficient rather than a home furnace that is roughly 90% efficient. He asks, “Am I missing something?” The answer is a definitive “Yes.”

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — After more than a decade of rental housing oversight in Amherst being complaint-driven, with no regular evaluations of the habitability of rental properties, a more rigorous process that will lead to all apartments being inspected every five years starts July 1.

By SCOTT MERZBACH and SAMUEL GELINAS

The ever-shifting tariff landscape took a turn late Monday, as the U.S. agreed to pause tariffs on Canada for 30 days, several hours after agreeing to do the same with Mexico. China, meanwhile, was also preparing to talk trade with President Donald J. Trump about impending tariffs on its goods.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Printed the day after an early morning fire gutted an Amherst College fraternity house, a headline in the Feb. 3, 1975 Daily Hampshire Gazette quoted the Amherst fire chief describing the incident as the “worst Amherst blaze in 15 years.”

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A briefly considered White House federal funding freeze order and other possible changes in how federal money is disbursed, including for grants related to diversity, equity and inclusion projects, is prompting University of Massachusetts leaders to keep researchers regularly updated about possible funding shortfalls and disruptions to their ongoing work.

With regard to the Jan. 30 letter ”Time to get things done,” I agree it is time to get things done. The question is what things?

While guest columnist Bob Couch has a point regarding the danger of ignorance, he looks in the wrong direction [“Let’s leave ‘Age of Ignorance’ behind,” Jan. 29].