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By JAY FLEITMAN

Synonyms of sanctuary: refuge, haven, retreat, safe place, protection, asylum, shelter, hiding place, immunity from pursuers.San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, New York, and our own Northampton and Amherst, liberal communities all, have...

By Mina Corpuz

BOSTON — Conflicting proposals from state lawmakers to implement the recreational marijuana law voters passed last fall has left Massachusetts cities and towns struggling to cope with confusion, and calls into question whether the regulated industry...

By BILL NEWMAN

The Preamble begins, “We the People.” The evening of March 26, a large group gathered at the Haymarket Café in Northampton to read the United States Constitution and its amendments. The thought was, we talk about the Constitution a lot but we actually...

As Donald Trump wraps up his first 10 weeks in the White House, it is clear that the braggadocio he employed as “the closer” in negotiating real estate deals does not play well as president.The other two branches of government dealt Trump humiliating...

By GLORIA  DIFULVIO

In Aesop’s fable, “The Boy who Cried Wolf,” a shepherd boy repeatedly tricks villagers into believing a wolf is attacking their sheep. Alarmed, villagers run to the boy’s aid only to find he had made up the story.Everyone wants to believe the boy...

Two-thirds of the way through President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office, the news just keeps getting weirder and — for those who cherish the rule of law and reason — more disturbing.FBI Director James B. Comey told congressional...

By KEVIN FREKING and MARK SHERMAN

WASHINGTON — The top Senate Democrat said Thursday he will oppose President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee and lead a filibuster of the choice, setting up a politically charged showdown with Republicans with far-reaching implications for future...

By DON ROBINSON

There have been two great presidents in American history: Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. We can learn a lot from studying how they became great presidents.First, they were preceded by a parade of nonentities, men who staggered blindly...

By JON GAMBRELL

ABOARD THE USS GEORGE H.W. BUSH — American sailors watched as the first Revolutionary Guard vessels appeared on the horizon of the Strait of Hormuz, beginning a daylong face-off that has become familiar to both Iranian paramilitary and U.S. naval...

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK

DUBLIN — Martin McGuinness took up arms to fight British soldiers in the streets but ended up shaking hands with Queen Elizabeth II. A militant who long sought to unify Ireland through violence, he became a peacemaking politician who earned the...

By NATALIA MUÑOZ

President Obama finally found his muscle on Israel, dispatching the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to draw a line against the expansion of Jewish settlements on Palestinian lands. Then Secretary of State John Kerry explained why the U.S. cannot...

By JOHN SHEIRER

Growing up, I attended a tiny Lutheran church near our family farm. During a Christmas service four decades ago, as our beloved pastor was delivering another soft-spoken sermon about kindness and grace, thick sheets of snow thundered down the pitched...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

As the new state representative for the 3rd Hampshire District, Solomon Goldstein-Rose plans to make himself available to residents in Amherst, Pelham and Precinct 1 in Granby on a regular basis.Goldstein-Rose, who dropped by the Bangs Community...

By BILL NEWMAN

A year ago I could not have imagined asking or being asked the question, is fascism at America’s door? Now I find it critical to contemplate the answer.The question takes me back to my senior year at Antioch College in 1972 when I was taking a course...

By GAZETTE STAFF

Citing Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, formally protested during a Joint Session of Congress certifying its results.“Today I was the first member of Congress to rise and formally object...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

Amherst Democratic Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg is pledging that the state Legislature will continue to make positive changes for residents of Massachusetts, addressing education funding, income inequality, energy needs and climate change, as well as the...

By CLARE HIGGINS

Eight years ago we were in the middle of what is now known as the Great Recession.The wildly inflated housing bubble burst, causing a crisis in the banking sector and sharp declines in consumer spending. The American auto industry was on the verge of...

People in the Valley already are mobilizing to support immigrants who face an uncertain future after Donald Trump becomes president in January.Particularly at risk are undocumented immigrants. Trump has promised to deport between two and three million...

By JACK SUNTRUP

HATFIELD — Select Board meetings can stretch deep into the night. They can be dull.But every once in a while, there’s a flash of drama, some simmering issue that needs to be addressed. Things can get tense, and then awkward, if only for a few...

By DON ROBINSON

Advent, the Christian season that concludes with the winter solstice, is a time of repentance and of hope, in preparation for the celebration of the birth of Christ.Believers understand Advent in the context of the history of Israel. Abraham entered...