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By TERESA AMABILE

By LIZ BROWN

Jewish Activists for Immigration Justice of Western Massachusetts decries ICE’s arrest and threatened deportation of green card holder Mahmoud Khalil. Despite not being charged with a crime, Khalil is currently in detention thousands of miles away from his pregnant wife because he participated in Gaza-related protests, a First Amendment right.

I invite everyone to Western MA Tango’s Live Music Weekend on April 5-6 in Northampton. Whether you dance tango or not, these events will be of interest.

I have read Hannah Moushabeck’s children’s book “Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine.” It’s lovely: a story of a father sharing memories and stories with his three daughters about his family and the sights and sounds of East Jerusalem growing up.

By EMILY QUINTANA, KATE KRUCKEMEYER and STEPHANIE BAIRD

Easthampton’s City Council is poised to review an ordinance legalizing and regulating short-term rentals in the city. (e.g. Airbnbs) The current draft allows up to 50 properties for this use, including whole houses, apartments, parts of houses, and accessory dwelling units (ADUs). Before the current moratorium on cease-and-desist orders was declared to address this issue, there was no provision in Easthampton’s building code that allowed short-term rentals. So, any entity renting to visitors for fewer than 29 days, other than licensed Bed and Breakfast establishments, were operating illegally.

There are so many outrages that President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are perpetuating that it’s hard to know what to focus on. But RumeysaOzturk’s arrest really affects me deeply.

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

Tonight at 7 p.m. at Hatfield Town Hall, the Board of Selectmen will convene a meeting in executive session to remove an elected member of the Hatfield Housing Authority. The member, Christopher Smith, has requested that this meeting be made public and hopefully televised on cable TV.

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.

By KRISTIN DEBOER

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.

I read the article, “Family inspires law for bus monitoring systems” [Gazette, March 29] about a bill allowing school buses to install cameras on their “stop” arms to record violators’ license plates as they pass. As a longtime local school bus driver, I have seen this dangerous behavior up close. It is can be frightening and potentially life-threatening. The challenge seems to be deciding who will fund these devices if town budgets and bus companies claim they can’t cover costs.

For many people right now, things look bleak. But the other day, a seemingly small act of generosity made a huge difference to our local high school students.

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.

“Federal education policy should be limited and, ultimately, the federal Department of Education should be eliminated.” Those are the opening words in the Education Chapter of Project 2025. I just discovered this quote when learning of Trump’s threat on closing the U.S. Department of Education (“Trump will order a plan to shut down the U.S. Education Department,” Gazette, March 21).

Since it appears that “The Republic for which it stands” is no longer applicable, I believe a more fitting loyalty pledge for those so inclined would be as follows: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of Trump and the MAGA cult for which it stands, one divided nation, under my God-King, Donald I, with malice, cruelty, and injustice for all others.”

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 RYAN VOILAND

The following speech was delivered by Ryan Voiland at a farmers’ rally opposing cuts to USDA and other federal programs that are negatively impacting farms and agriculture in the region and around the country. The rally took place on Sunday, March 23 in front of Hadley Town Hall.