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By JOHN STIFLER

BOSTON – Beautiful spring weather on Patriots Day is just fine for Boston Marathon spectators. Many runners, however, prefer lightly overcast days with moist air and temperatures in the low 50s. Somehow, Monday’s mostly sunny weather at the 129th running of this, the oldest annual marathon in the United States, seemed to satisfy both parties.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Grow Food Northampton’s Tuesday Market returns for the season today, with the market’s manager Helen Kahn emphasizing the particular urgency of buying from local farmers this year.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

BOSTON — Eight months after she started working in a Holyoke marijuana cultivation facility in 2021, 27-year-old Lorna McMurrey died from an asthma attack after inhaling ground cannabis dust while on the job — a death that drew national attention as it was the first to be traced to dust and mold deposits found within marijuana workspaces.

By JACK CZAJKOWSKI

Five years ago, then Hadley Selectboard member Christian Stanley got approval for and began the Hadley Climate Change Committee (HCCC) in our town. The first few meetings took place just as the COVID pandemic began and with a handful of fellow citizens we joined together and began brainstorming what we could do to make our town buildings be more energy efficient.

BY CARRIE KLINE

Changes are coming so quickly these days that it’s hard to address anything that isn’t bleeding and burning. And yet, some issues that are urgent are largely silent, that is, until they explode. We are on the brink of disaster. Nothing can compare with the immediate decimation of life on earth as we know it. With this in mind, and motivated by the passage of resolutions in other cities and towns in our area and throughout our commonwealth, nation and world, I am bringing a Resolution in Favor of a Nuclear Weapons Freeze to the Sunderland Town Meeting on April 25.

It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Dr. Melvin Hershkowitz. In the relatively short time he graced us here in Northampton so many benefited from his experience, wisdom, and largesse. While originally coming to Northampton to be close to his beloved daughter Marie, we found him engaged with so many facets of Northampton and regional life.

At last Wednesday’s town hall with U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern at UMass Amherst, university community members asked specific, thoughtful questions; meanwhile, all McGovern’s answers were platitudes about the power we the people have and jokes about Russian influence. Enough. We know Donald Trump is a disaster and we are asking what Ywill do; all our elected representatives can offer is “Trump bad” and “we are holding a lot of town halls.” We need our elected leaders putting themselves on the line with real action, like Sen. Van Hollen traveling to El Salvador. Anything less is cowardice. At least McGovern admitted in response to what Congress is doing to protect due process: “not a goddamn thing.” And that’s what McGovern offered us in his town hall, too.

As Democrats resist President Donald Trump here in Franklin County and throughout the United States, those of us on the right try our best to ignore their hysteria. These activists can’t fathom Trump’s appeal and are hopping mad that he has returned to the White House with “an unprecedented and powerful mandate.” The man is almost 80, but he’s still full of vim and vigour (and you’d swear he’s 20 years younger than Joe Biden). Kamala Harris, on the other hand, was just full of hot air. And, honestly, I will always feel immense joy over the fact that this unintelligible candidate failed to win a single battleground state in her doomed bid for the presidency.

Phone call from my frothingly irate, 84-year-old brother. “Trump is cutting off funding to Harvard. You can’t do that to one of the best universities in the world!” says this graduate of Stanford. “I’m sending a donation. What address shall I use?”

By EMILEE KLEIN

SOUTH HADLEY — April showers bring May flowers, but foliage isn’t the only thing blooming in South Hadley after a windy winter and early spring rain.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — Uncertainty around the costs for a new Department of Public Works headquarters, whether it is built to the preferred 23,000-square-foot plan or is reduced in size and price, is prompting Hadley officials to consider a four-month delay in bringing the project before voters.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — In a change from customary practice, Shutesbury will hold its town election and annual Town Meeting on separate days, a little over a month apart.

By CHRIS LARABEE

DEERFIELD — Staff at the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association (PVMA) were checking their inboxes on April 2 and found a strange email in the spam folder.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A large, colorful display depicting the four seasons, created by students in two kindergarten classes from cardboard, wood and paper, is greeting visitors in the lobby at Fort River School.

By ALEXA LEWIS

SOUTHAMPTON — The town’s yearlong 250th anniversary celebration is going strong, with a lineup of community events available this spring.

By JULIA BROWN

To the question why so many people voted for Donald Trump, Democrats commonly reply: ignorance or lack of information — a deficiency of facts, of the knowledge necessary to make a reasoned decision. This was my working definition of ignorance until several years ago, when I began an email exchange with a childhood friend who is a passionate Trump supporter.

By THE REV. PETER KAKOS

On Monday, April 7, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slipped into the White House for a brisk meeting, most likely exchanging latest plans for a Palestine-cleansed Gaza (West Bank, next ), riding high on an additional $8.8 billion from Congress, to stockpile his arsenal in their relentless pursuit of the eradication of an ancient people.

By ALLEN WOODS

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter gave a heartfelt, but politically disastrous speech. He described an American “crisis in confidence.” People faced a stubborn Mideast hostage crisis, long lines at gas stations for scarce, expensive gas, the highest inflation rate of any presidential term in history (almost 10%!), and unemployment rates of nearly 8% (inherited from the previous Ford administration).

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Opposition to a proposed five-story apartment complex at the corner of Phillips Place and Hawley Street continues to mount ahead of a scheduled Planning Board meeting this week to discuss the project.

By ALEXA LEWIS

NORTHAMPTON — In a recent survey, Smith College found that 82% of its student athletes feel disconnected from their “Pioneers” moniker. Now, the school is searching for a new mascot for the community to rally behind.