EPA to roll back dozens of regulations

By MATTHEW DALY

Athol Town Manager reviews next year’s budget

By GREG VINE

ATHOL – Town Manager Shaun Suhoski went before the Finance and Warrant Advisory Committee Tuesday night to present his revenue projections for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Sportsman’s Corner: Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

By Mike Roche

Red Apple Farm featured at TD Garden

By GREG VINE

PHILLIPSTON – The Boston Bruins may have beaten the Florida Panthers 3-2 on Tuesday, but the Black & Gold weren’t the only winners that night.

Petersham couple receives presidential award for volunteer work

By GREG VINE

PETERSHAM – Prior to the end of his term, former President Joe Biden awarded Larry Buell, a lifelong resident of Petersham, and his wife Katja Esser with the U.S. President’s Award for Volunteer Service.

No state plans to offset $12 million federal food aid cut

By COLIN A. YOUNG

BOSTON — Massachusetts is losing $12.2 million in federal money that had been earmarked for Bay State schools to buy food from local farms and Gov. Maura Healey indicated that the state has no plans to backstop the funding for more than 200 school systems, including virtually every school in Hampshire County.

Nate Johnson of Orange receives Humanitarian Award at Lions conference

The Massachusetts Lions District 33A recently awarded Nate Johnson of North Orange the 2025 Humanitarian Award. Johnson was nominated by the Athol Lions Club and presented with this prestigious award at the District 33A Mid-Winter Conference in Southbridge by Committee Chair Joni Laplante in the presence of representatives from all 46 Lions Clubs.

Firearm age limits in new state law see pushback locally

By DOMENIC POLI

A clause in the new state gun reform law preventing 18- to 21-year-olds from carrying certain firearms has gun enthusiasts, including those in Franklin County and the North Quabbin region, asking a rhetorical question: Is there an age requirement for the Bill of Rights?

Front Street Bridge in Winchendon closed indefinitely

By GREG VINE

WINCHENDON – Motorists driving between the center of Winchendon and Olde Centre will have to make a short detour for the foreseeable future.

State reaches out to fired federal workers with new website

By ALISON KUZNITZ

The Healey administration launched a new website Friday to connect fired federal workers with job opportunities and training resources in Massachusetts.

Warwick Community School gets $100K for mental health services

By CHRIS LARABEE

WARWICK — With a $100,000 state grant, Warwick Community School will continue to lay down the foundation for its comprehensive behavioral and mental health services program.

PHOTO: Horse and buggy statue swamped

Some 800 attend Northampton rally, where Markey fires up activists to resist Trump

By SAMUEL GELINAS

NORTHAMPTON — “Nobody knows how to start a revolution better than us,” said U.S. Sen. Ed Markey Sunday afternoon at Pulaski Park, where more than 800 people came to collectively ignite the sparks of revolution against what they described as President Donald Trump’s “technocratic dictatorship.”

Strange start for sugaring season: Sap coming in slower, with less sugar content

By ALEXA LEWIS and MADISON SCHOFIELD

When he started tapping trees for the 2025 sugaring season, Paul Zononi of Paul’s Sugar House in Williamsburg was shocked to find that the sap came at a trickle — and with only half of its typical sugar content.

State bracing for cut of federal funds

By Sam Drysdale

BOSTON — With unusually high levels of uncertainty circling around the federal funding that buoys more than $16 billion of the state budget, Gov. Maura Healey’s finance secretary said that federal cuts would be too big of a problem for the executive branch to solve on its own.

Professors with UMass ties land tech’s top prize

By MATT O’BRIEN

North Quabbin Notes, March 10

GARDNER – The Pioneer Valley Brass return to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Cross Street in Gardner on Sunday, March 30 at 1 p.m. to perform the 814th vespers program sponsored by the First Universalist Parish of North Dana.

FRCOG to inventory 280 ‘blighted’ properties in Orange

By DOMENIC POLI

ORANGE — The town is using grant money to task the Franklin Regional Council of Governments with conducting a slum and blight inventory to determine if Orange qualifies for Community Development Block Grant funding for infrastructure upgrades and other improvements.

Natural Resources Conservation Service office in Amherst for 45 years ID’d for closure

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — The Natural Resources Conservation Service office for Massachusetts, located at 451 West St. since 1980, could close as part of 748 lease terminations posted online this week by the Trump administration.

Legislators, activists advocate for menstrual equity bill inspired by Frontier students

By Mitch Fink

BOSTON — As they researched women’s health care for a civic action project at Frontier Regional High School in 2022, three eighth-grade students were appalled to learn that menstrual products — such as tampons and pads — can contain potentially harmful chemicals and toxins.