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By EMILEE KLEIN

AMHERST — UMass Amherst will lead a new $11.9 million center on offshore wind education, research and outreach to expedite development of offshore wind energy and train a national workforce to install and maintain the clean energy...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — A call for an increase in federal money to support homeless services and programs related to substance use disorders, and for keeping unhoused individuals from being targeted by federal law enforcement agencies, is coming from the House...

By EMILEE KLEIN

The influential lobby group Mothers Out Front took aim at the natural gas industry this week, using its monthly climate action call to encourage people to push for a future without gas.Each month, the statewide group with local chapters in Pioneer...

By DOMENIC POLI

ORANGE – Newcomer Julie Davis will join the re-elected Andrew Smith on the Orange Selectboard following Monday’s Town Election.Davis was the contest’s top vote-getter, with 384, and Smith accumulated 304. The two competed against Sandra Fawn Weinstein...

By DOMENIC POLI

ORANGE – It seems Billy Goat Boats isn’t going anywhere, as the town’s Selectboard opted this week to award a request for proposal to the family-run watercraft rental business following a public and contentious leasing fiasco.The company owned and...

By CHRIS LARABEE

As money from the nationwide opioid settlement continues to be disbursed to Franklin County towns, the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG), in partnership with local boards of health, is inviting residents to share their input on how this...

By DOMENIC POLI

The Democrat representing the 2nd Congressional District of Massachusetts has teamed up with a Republican colleague from Florida to sponsor a bill aimed at making it easier for Americans to get medically necessary foods.Jim McGovern and John...

By DOMENIC POLI

NEW SALEM — Swift River School’s new PFAS6 filtration system seems to be working perfectly, and 190 students and staff members will drink to that.A little more than three years after tests of the school’s tap water revealed elevated levels of the...

By BELLA LEVAVI

The Franklin Regional Transit Authority (FRTA) now offers weekend fixed-route transportation. With additional funds from the Fair Share Amendment, all free routes will run through the weekend, providing much-needed transportation access in the...

By EMILEE KLEIN

AMHERST — As debate continues over how best to develop solar throughout the state to help meet an ambitious net-zero emissions goal, representatives from Mass Audubon and Harvard Forest are touting a recently completed report that details how solar...

By MADDIE FABIAN

Less than a month after it began enforcing a longstanding policy restricting the use of anesthesia during colonoscopies and other procedures, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts is pausing that action after physicians statewide lobbied the insurer...

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — Heartbreak struck the UMass men’s basketball team for the second time in three games on Tuesday night at the Mullins Center.Clinging to a one-point lead with 12.5 seconds left after Rahsool Diggins’ acrobatic layup put the Minutemen ahead,...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

Even with less severe cases of COVID-19 than the past two years and a marked decrease since last fall in RSV, officially known as respiratory syncytial virus, a surge in flu cases is keeping Cooley Dickinson Hospital’s emergency department as busy as...

By DOMENIC POLI

ORANGE – Voters at the Special Town Meeting on Thursday opted to table a proposed animal bylaw until more people have had an opportunity to contribute input.Residents in Town Hall voted overwhelmingly to take no action on a warrant article prohibiting...

By MADDIE FABIAN

As the state considers the governor’s proposed $4.13 billion Affordable Homes Act — a comprehensive roadmap for affordable housing across the Commonwealth — a group of 16 western Massachusetts legislators are advocating for amendments to meet housing...

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — UMass freshman guard Jayden Ndjigue stripped George Washington’s Zamoku Weluche-Ume, Jaylen Curry picked up the loose ball, and sprinted the other direction – leading a four-on-two fastbreak.Instead of taking it himself, which he certainly...

By CHRIS LARABEE

Seven towns around Franklin County are re-examining their town accountant positions due to a change in policies with the current software system contracted through the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG).For nearly 20 years, FRCOG has...

By DOMENIC POLI

ORANGE — The Mahar School Committee voted this month to name the football field concession stand after longtime varsity girls basketball coach and Booster Club member Larry Fisher.Booster Club President Charles “Joey” Verheyen approached the committee...

By GARRETT COTE

Josh Cohen stepped to the line with his UMass men’s basketball team tied against Loyola Chicago on Wednesday night. The Minutemen were trying to avoid consecutive losses for the first time this season, and despite free throws being the weakest link in...

By EMILEE KLEIN

The final clumps of melting snow in the backyard are no indication of snow on the slopes.With the power of snowmaking, gone are the days when winter sports relied on Mother Nature to provide powder for skiing, snowboarding and tubing. Ski resorts in...