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By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — As a University of Massachusetts doctoral student in physics, Mark Murdy has seen his wages as a graduate employee decline relative to inflation, meaning he, like others who work on campus, is taking home less money.Amid these financial...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Climate change’s impact on farming, as well as emerging areas like urban agriculture, soil health and pollinators, are a focus for the University of Massachusetts Extension Agriculture Program, which continues to help farmers adapt and...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

The owners of a Shelburne farm have permanently protected 100 acres through the Agricultural Preservation Restriction program, ensuring that the fertile land won’t be turned into a large, upscale housing estate or put to other uses.“That’s what’s...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — In film, literature, paintings and other forms of art, palm trees and warm climates are almost always the settings depicted for slavery in North America, from the plantations of the American South to the transatlantic ships transporting...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — A continued challenge for some prospective students and their families in accessing federal financial aid applications, and a corresponding delay in relaying the information from these forms to colleges and universities, is raising...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — Food and other necessities can be found at the Goshen General Store on Route 9. For low-income individuals in Goshen and surrounding communities, the Hilltown Food Pantry, at the nearby Town Office Building, distributes food every...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

ERVING — Athol Community Elementary School Principal Shannon White-Cleveland is being tapped as the next School Union 28 superintendent, overseeing four K-6 elementary schools attended by children in Shutesbury, Leverett, Erving, Wendell and New...

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 SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — Prohibiting PFAS from consumer products sold in Massachusetts remains an objective for Sen. Jo Comerford, who sees a recently advanced legislative bill to protect soil and farms from such contamination as an important first step to...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

BOSTON — On her 26th birthday on Nov. 30, 2018, Eliza Harper died from an accidental opioid overdose on the living room couch in her South Deerfield home, despite being in recovery for 10 months.Her then 14-year-old brother, Jackson, was the first to...

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 SCOTT MERZBACH

HOLYOKE — At Holyoke Community College this fall, 3,706 students are enrolled and receiving credits for classes they are taking. That’s a 4.4% increase over the 3,550 students at the college in the fall of 2022.The jump in enrollment mirrors what is...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A new working group focused on improving the campus climate at the University of Massachusetts, aimed at ensuring all members of the community continue to feel welcome in the midst of rising tensions over conflicts across the world, was...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

LEVERETT — Should the redevelopment of Juggler Meadow, the estate built for late Yankee Candle Founder Michael Kittredge, move forward with possibly hundreds of homes, those living in those future homes and apartments could access amenities including...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — After being given multiple oral warnings to leave the Whitmore Administration Building on Wednesday evening, 56 University of Massachusetts students and one UMass employee were arrested on charges of trespassing, according to a university...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A late Amherst resident who spent overnights listening to classical music has bequeathed $3 million to New England Public Media, the largest gift ever received by the nonprofit organization based in Springfield.Walter J. Wolnik, who died at...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Within a year, students and researchers in a laboratory at the University of Massachusetts will begin using a nanoimprint lithography tool to craft metal lenses in what will be the first open access facility in the country for the...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

As fifth graders at Fort River School in Amherst last spring, weeks of research into a change they would like to see in the world prompted students to champion the idea of Indigenous Peoples Day becoming a state holiday.On Tuesday afternoon, three...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — In videos shared over social media platforms, a robot dog with an attached machine gun illustrates the ease some people could have weaponizing this advanced technology, bringing new dangers to the public from drones and various robotic...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

Back in April, the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts distributed 1 million pounds of food to its 172 food pantries and meal sites, a sizable increase from the 750,000 pounds of food that went to the same locations just two months earlier.While the...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

LEVERETT — Upon moving to Shutesbury in 2017, Samantha Spisiak discovered a weekly story time at M.N. Spear Memorial Library, often bringing her toddler to the get-together with other families.“This has been a really big part of our lives,” Spisiak...