THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE in Ludlow is expected to wade into the nation’s culture wars this week, taking up a proposal that would shift decision-making power around library book acquisitions from […]
Linda Enerson
Posted inTransportation
Barriers going up on bridge to prevent suicide jumps
THE FRENCH KING Bridge spans a pastoral stretch of the Connecticut River valley between the tiny towns of Gill and Erving along Route 2 in western Massachusetts. Since its construction […]
Posted inHousing
He’s been living outside in a tent the last three years
MANY RESIDENTS of Greenfield know Greenfield River Park as the local dog park. Others play softball or pickleball there. Some, like Batch, call it home. His small blue and orange […]
Posted inEconomy
Climate change taking toll on Mass. farms
RYAN VOILAND, owner of Red Fire Farm in Montague and Granby, says growing organic vegetables is hard enough, but doing it amidst climate change makes it nearly impossible. In 2021, […]
Posted inHealth Care
Telehealth is available, but no one’s calling
BRUCE WEINRAUB, who works as a primary care physician in Northampton, came down with COVID-19 earlier this spring. He recovered from the disease, but his practice hasn’t been so resilient. […]
Posted inHealth Care
Nurse frustrated with mask directives
MARK BRODEUR loves his work as an intensive care and emergency room nurse at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, but he is frustrated by directives coming from administrators on how […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Couple turns old mill into sprawling arts complex
VITEK KRUTA, a professional painter, sculptor, and conservator, originally went looking more than a decade ago for a larger studio space in Holyoke. Instead, he and his life partner, Lori […]
Posted inHealth Care
Baystate mental health consolidation stirs anxiety
ON THE FACE OF IT, Baystate Health’s plan for a new mental health facility in Holyoke seems like a boon for the region. The proposed new facility will have approximately […]
Posted inEducation
Pro-Palestinian panel to go on at UMass Amherst
IN A SIGN of the polarized times, it took a judge’s ruling on Thursday to clear the way for a pro-Palestinian panel discussion this weekend at UMass Amherst. Three Jewish […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
In Northampton, it’s tough to be a police officer
ON A RECENT CALL for police assistance, Northampton Police Officer Adam Van Buskirk said a young boy saw him walking towards the building, shouted “fuck you,” and ran away. “When […]
Posted inUncategorized
Homelessness no longer just a big-city issue
MADELYNN MALLOY and Bob Morin, a homeless couple frustrated by the lack of affordable housing in rural Franklin County, rolled out their blankets this summer on Greenfield Town Common and […]
Posted inHealth Care
Researchers at odds on agency’s nurse staffing report
THE HEALTH POLICY COMMISSION’S REPORT early last month on the potential effects of Question 1 was portrayed as an independent, objective analysis, but many of the researchers whose work was […]
Posted inPolitics
Caccaviello to mount write-in campaign
THE INCUMBENT DISTRICT ATTORNEY in Berkshire County, who came in second in the three-person Democratic primary, says he is not giving up and plans to run for the office as […]
Posted inPolitics
Berkshire County DA’s race: baggage, experience, politics
BY ALL INDICATIONS, the Democratic primary race for Berkshire County district attorney has been a bruiser. In public forums and interviews, the incumbent and his two challengers have challenged each […]
Posted inPolitics
Filling the liberal black hole
THOUGH IT’S DRAWN LITTLE NOTICE east of I-495, the race to succeed former senator Stanley Rosenberg of Amherst has captured the rapt attention of many voters here, who see their […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Course corrections
PHOTOGRAPHS BY MEGHAN MOORE THE HAMPDEN COUNTY SHERIFF’S Pre-release Center in Ludlow looks pretty much like what you’d expect of a minimum security jail—clean but stark. Then, Zadie and Misty, […]
Posted inEducation
College math doesn’t add up
AMY BLANCHETTE GRADUATED from community college a few years ago and applied to the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth as the next step in her long-term goal of attaining a master’s […]
Posted inPolitics
Amherst church is now his home
ON THE VERGE of being deported last summer, Lucio Perez took sanctuary in the First Congregational Church in Amherst. He hasn’t left since. Perez is one of three people in […]
Posted inEconomy
Puerto Ricans struggle to rebuild lives in Mass.
ON A CRISP morning in November, Veronica Perez and Limarie Rivera, both self-evacuees from Puerto Rico, borrow a car from Rivera’s cousin and make their way to the New North […]
Posted inEconomy
Economic development, co-op style
WELLSPRING COOPERATIVE IS PREPARING to launch its third business in Springfield, a greenhouse that will grow fresh greens and herbs and sell them to supermarkets and institutions in the area. […]
Posted inPolitics
Brockton candidate already a winner
WITH MAYORAL RACES in the gun lap around the state, most eyes are on what’s happening in Boston and then maybe on Lawrence and Framingham or Newton. But little attention […]
Posted inHealth Care
Nurses, hospitals tangle over staffing levels
MARK BRODEUR, a nurse at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, says his unit, which serves patients recovering from anesthesia post-surgery, is usually staffed pretty well. But not long ago he […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Economy
The promise of MASS MoCA
Photographs by Michael Manning TWO YOUNG MEN from Brooklyn tentatively inch down the hallway, holding onto a handrail because it’s so dark. They turn a corner and the room in front […]
Posted inEconomy, Education
UMass Amherst investing in innovation
THE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST, the flagship campus of the state’s university system, is diving into the innovation economy with a splash they hope will ripple out far beyond the […]