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By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — After more than five years of sitting vacant, the site of the old Faces store at 175 Main St. will finally have a new occupant, one that’s already established itself as a downtown mainstay of downtown.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Downtown Northampton is about to get a whole lot sweeter.

By EMILY QUINTANA, KATE KRUCKEMEYER and STEPHANIE BAIRD

The Gazette chose divisive headlines when presenting Northampton school budget issues: “Showdown looms for school budget” and “Budget battle likely” [March 29].

By J.M. SORRELL

On March 1, the person once again impersonating the president signed an executive order declaring that English is the official language of the United States. The order stated, “A nationally designated language is at the core of a unified and cohesive society, and the United States is strengthened by a citizenry that can freely exchange ideas in one shared language.” Given that over 350 languages are spoken here, it is challenging to grasp the “free” part of the order.

The lead headline in the Saturday, March 29 Gazette, “USDA yanks $3.4M in aid to food banks,” calls to mind a recent book review in The New Yorker [March 17] about the Irish Potato Famine, which explained that the famine was “the product … of a particularly virulent form of exploitative capitalism that left millions of people utterly exposed” to a political/economic system that was stacked against them.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Schools Superintendent Portia Bonner confirmed an investigation is underway amid a determination by the state’s Department of Education and Secondary Education that the city school district failed to comply with state special education laws.

By JOANNA BUONICONTI

The doorbell rings, and my stomach immediately clenches. It’s the beginning of the necessary same song and dance which I’ve come to dread like no other. Meeting a new nurse.

Many Valley residents assume that Massachusetts is already a sanctuary state that is doing as much as possible to defend immigrants from ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). The truth is that Gov. Maura Healey, the country’s first openly lesbian governor, does not believe that Massachusetts should be a sanctuary state, and that collaboration between ICE will continue under her governorship. Gov. Healey also wants to make it harder to access housing assistance and the state’s shelter system. There is not a shortage of resources; there is a shortage of justice.

I am incredibly proud of the hardworking professionals at our Public Safety Communications Center. Every day, our dispatchers answer difficult calls with patience, professionalism, and dedication to the safety of our community. Their work is demanding and often unseen, yet they remain steadfast in their mission to provide exceptional service to our city.

By RICHARD FEIN

This column is about Ukraine in the fourth year of a war that Russia started. The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, wants to wipe out Ukraine as an independent country with its own history and culture. Under the Biden administration, NATO was revitalized and the U.S. supported Ukraine in its hour of need. Under President Donald Trump, U.S. policy has changed.

We are writing to highlight an urgent issue that threatens our community: the defunding of our nation’s libraries due to a recent executive order. The order aims to eliminate funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the sole federal agency dedicated to supporting public libraries nationwide. The proposed cuts jeopardize essential services such as interlibrary loans, eBook services, and crucial grants.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Comments made by school officials, parents and Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra during a public hearing Thursday on the school budget for the next fiscal year indicate the city will face another tense showdown this spring over prospective staff cuts.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — A decision by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to terminate a $3.4 million allocation to Massachusetts for purchase of 121,830 cases of food items, including eggs, chicken, milk, fruit, pasta, beans and salmon for food banks across the state is being criticized by representatives of food security organizations and the Healey-Driscoll administration.

By CAROLYN BROWN

At a time in which elected officials have tried to lessen or erase certain undesirable periods from America’s history, the play “A Light Under the Dome” aims to shed light on the abolition struggle through the lens of one historic speech in Massachusetts.

While the writers of the March 21 letter, “Mayor Sciarra, a competent, compassionate leader,” list several examples of what they see as the Northampton mayor’s compassion, they’re pretty thin on their basis for declaring her competence. The one item they raise of any possible relevance here — she’s “a whiz at budgets and spreadsheets” — is an awfully low bar for someone at the top of the organizational chart for a $137 million per year operation. A better measure of mayoral competence is to look at results.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

HOLYOKE — More than four firetrucks were on scene in Holyoke to respond to a blaze that broke out at a Lincoln Street house on Thursday afternoon.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Cara Leiper, the executive director for the Northampton Housing Authority, has been placed on paid administrative leave following a January complaint submitted to the authority’s board and various state agencies accusing her of numerous legal and ethical violations that include providing housing to close friends and family members.

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Before chef Saul Ayala cooked in decorated Italian restaurants and high-end bars in Boston, Dallas and New York City, he learned about working in a kitchen from his cousin Roberto Saravia, owner of Masa Mexicano in Florence.

Fox News and the Republican Party have convinced many Americans that undocumented immigrants don’t contribute anything to our society and are just a drain on federal programs.

Once again I feel compelled to sing the praises of our daily newspaper. Last week, in addition to covering the day’s pressing news stories, the Gazette featured a quieter but no less important item in the B section: retired Hitchcock Center naturalist Ted Watt’s spirited recollection of taking a group of schoolkids on a snowy hike in search of animal tracks [”Learning a Sense of Wonder,” March 19].