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By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Come the upcoming municipal elections in November, at least half of the Northampton School Committee members will be different from the ones who started at the beginning of the current term.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — As the movement to ban smartphones in schools gains momentum in the state, a new group of local parents and educators has been formed to highlight the dangers kids are facing from the devices, as well as to advocate for school policies and state laws around youth smartphone access.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — The School Committee on Thursday approved a recommendation for a massive increase in school spending in the upcoming fiscal year budget, although some members acknowledged the prospect of actually doing so represented a nearly impossible financial challenge for the city.

By CAROLYN BROWN

Legendary Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot died in 2023, but his longtime band members, who now tour as The Lightfoot Band, will share his music and legacy in Northampton at the Iron Horse on Thursday, April 24, at 7 p.m.

By CAROLYN BROWN

A new festival for young people and the arts is coming to Northampton.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — ValleyBike Share is adding more than 100 new bikes and welcoming a new city to its operations, thanks to a nearly $1 million state grant.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — The Northampton Education Foundation (NEF) has awarded its first two grants since completing a restructuring that will allow it to fund projects across the city’s school district in perpetuity.

By OLIN ROSE-BARDAWIL

Regardless of where you stand politically, it is hard to deny that what Cory Booker did on March 31 was amazing.

How should Northampton address its school funding crisis? The simple answer: Increase the budget. The harder question: Where does the money come from, and at what cost? We need to discuss this issue without reducing it to accusations of not supporting students and educators.

By CAROLYN BROWN

A new group of “queerleaders” in Northampton wants to lift up the LGBTQ community — in more ways than one.

By CAROLYN BROWN

Two events this month aim to raise funds for 33 Hawley in Northampton for two different reasons – namely, to support programming in its Barn Door Gallery and to add risers and 175 chairs for shows in its Workroom.

This past week saw two unsettling videos come out within 24 hours of each other. In the first, RumeysaOzturk, a Tufts University graduate student and visa-holder, is dragged off the street by masked, plainclothes ICE agents. Like Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful permanent resident also targeted for anti-Zionist activism, she is held in detention without facing formal charges.

Dear Readers,

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HATFIELD — Framed prints from Godey’s Ladies Fashion magazine hanging on the wall, what-not shelves with novels and books of poetry, a table with dishes, vases and other fine china and a sewing chest next to an upholstered chair, reflect what Sophia Smith’s 19th century parlor might have looked like.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — The city may soon again ask the state Legislature for permission to prohibit landlords and real estate brokers from charging prospective tenants a broker’s fee to move into a residential unit.

I hate war. I mean, who doesn’t hate war? It’s basically young healthy people fighting to the death over causes and political positions they don’t know much about. And they die. And the people they are sent to fight against also die. And all of the innocents, they die, too. Since the brutal attacks of October 7th, survivors occupy my mind daily. First, as a Jew, I cried for the brutal killings of innocents, in the name of holiness. Now, every day has been a new barrage of news with all its perspectives and positions, and more innocents dying.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — A week after nomination papers became available in the city clerk’s office, several candidates have already thrown their hat in the ring for Northampton’s municipal election this fall.

By RABBI ARIELLA ROSEN

The following guest column is adapted from testimony Rabbi Ariella Rosen gave to the state’s Special Commission on Combatting Antisemitism on March 11.

By BILL NEWMAN

On March 15, the Trump administration deported over 200 Venezuelans to a notoriously violent prison in El Salvador. Trump has claimed that the Alien Enemies Act of 1789, which allows deportation of citizens of a nation at war with the United States, gives him that unilateral power and that the U.S. today is at war with (you might have missed this — I did) Venezuela.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — For Sarah Ahearn, the movement to legalize overdose prevention centers in Massachusetts is a deeply personal one.