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By BERA DUNAU

The lessons we learn as children can echo throughout our lifetime, sometimes emerging in crucial, defining moments.This was certainly the case for Britt Slabinski, as he sat on the ramp of a helicopter in Afghanistan in 2002, contemplating ordering...

By BERA DUNAU

As the state moves ahead with the creation of a new task force to study the challenges facing local retailers, businesspeople at the Northampton Sidewalk Sales Friday had plenty of thoughts on the matter. The Senate Task Force on Strengthening...

By Laurel Demkovich and Sarah Gardner

NORTHAMPTON — A day after President Donald Trump announced he wants transgender people barred from serving in the military, area trans advocates expressed dismay and a determination to fight the proposed change. The president tweeted his views...

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 CAITLIN ASHWORTH

BELCHERTOWN — Voters shot down a measure Monday that would have withdrawn Belchertown from the Hampshire Council of Governments.By a 134-69 vote at a special Town Meeting, voters decided to stay part of the quasi-governmental agency.Some officials,...

By REBECCA MULLEN

NORTHAMPTON — Erin Samson’s condo sits on a corner lot at the Hampshire Heights public housing development.Like all the homes at Hampshire Heights, Samson’s has a covered front porch and an expanse of grass that leads out of her back door down to a...

By Chance Viles

Belchertown — Despite approving many articles at annual Town Meeting Monday night, one of the most anticipated proposals — a potential withdrawal from the Hampshire Council of Governments — was shelved until next month due to a technical...

By FRAN RYAN

CHESTERFIELD — After four years of planning, work on a new Veterans Park is expected to begin this summer after Town Meeting’s decision Monday night to approve $34,430 toward its construction next to Town Hall. The 67 of the town’s 901 voters who...

By JACK SUNTRUP

HADLEY — Voters enacted a moratorium on recreational marijuana, approved the town’s budget plan and shunned sending $10,000 to Northampton to fund courthouse renovations at Hadley’s annual Town Meeting Thursday night.Select Board Chairwoman Molly...

By FRAN RYAN

CUMMINGTON — If voters at Friday’s annual Town Meeting approve, the town may soon take steps to protect pollinators and enhance their habitat. The resolution for pollinators is one of two nonbinding questions on the docket at the meeting. The other...

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 ANDY CASTILLO

DEERFIELD — There’s one contested race for the Planning Board among the 12 seats on the ballot in Deerfield’s annual town election.River Road resident Steven L. Pistrich has thrown his cap into the ring, challenging incumbents Henry Komosa Jr., a...

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

HADLEY — Voters will decide one contested race Tuesday when they head to the polls for the annual town election.Select Board Chairwoman Molly Keegan faces former Selectman John Mieczkowski Sr. in Tuesday’s contest. Polls will be open from 9 a.m. to 8...

By EMILY CUTTS

SOUTH HADLEY — The Select Board will have a new member as only one incumbent sought re-election in Tuesday’s annual town election.Voters will chose between Select Board member Sarah Etelman and newcomers Andrea Miles and Scott Moore for the two seats...

By AMANDA DRANE

HADLEY — Amid all the back and forth over the direction of the Hampshire Council of Governments, there’s one point everyone seems to agree on: the structure of the agency is flawed, and it needs another legislative look.“It’s not designed properly,”...

By Fran Ryan

Three hilltown communities were among the 36 towns in western Massachusetts that received grants from the state’s Municipal Small Bridge Program this week.Chesterfield received $250,000 to rehabilitate a bridge on Ireland Street over the Jackson...

By KAITLIN JUNOD

BOSTON — Area legislators predict a busy new session beginning in January, with issues including the opioid epidemic, clean energy and educational reform on the priority list.Topping the list is the state’s new law legalizing marijuana, with the Dec....