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By SAMUEL GELINAS

BOSTON — Eight months after she started working in a Holyoke marijuana cultivation facility in 2021, 27-year-old Lorna McMurrey died from an asthma attack after inhaling ground cannabis dust while on the job — a death that drew national attention as it was the first to be traced to dust and mold deposits found within marijuana workspaces.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

SPRINGFIELD — Bishop William Byrne not only introduced the Diocese of Springfield’s new executive director for its Catholic Charities Agency this week but also laid out the evolution that the agency will see now that protection of immigrants is no longer part of its agenda in the wake of federal cuts.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Accusing his Republican colleagues in Congress of being “too scared to stand up to their leadership,” namely, President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern is co-sponsoring a new bill designed to block “backdoor” cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

By SAMUEL GELINAS

HADLEY — Irate farmers, waving signs and pitchforks, gathered in front of Town Hall on Sunday afternoon as tractors rolled in and the Expandable Brass Band played at the start of an “Attack on Small Farms” protest.

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.”

By SAMUEL GELINAS

AMHERST — When the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report landed on Dr. Anthony Fauci’s desk in June 1981, he had no idea it would be the start of a “dark” period of his career.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

SPRINGFIELD — The Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts committed this month to a three-year, $200,000-a-year partnership with the Secure Community Network (SCN) to strengthen and enhance security measures at congregations, schools and organizations throughout the region.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

BOSTON — According to Lt. John Girvalakis of the Massachusetts Environmental Police, all that has been required to legally take a boat out on a ride are two things: “money and a boat,” with few exceptions.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

AMHERST — Researchers at the University of Massachusetts flagship campus are anxiously awaiting a courtroom showdown in Boston on Friday that may determine whether the Trump administration can follow through on its plan to slice National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

NORTHAMPTON — It wasn’t the coffee that had the people inside the First Churches of Northampton energetic and on edge Saturday morning. Some 500 people crowded into the church shoulder to shoulder, mutually distressed about national politics, and voiced those concerns in a coffee hour town hall with U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern that lasted close to two hours.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

NORTHAMPTON — Frozen lakes and ponds invite enchanted winter sports enthusiasts outside for classic wintertime festivities. But despite the fun, a fact remains: ice is a potential danger.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

BOSTON — Less than three months after voters rejected a ballot measure to legalize certain natural psychedelic substances and introduce therapeutic care, legislators have filed 10 bills at the start of this legislative session hoping to push the cause forward.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

AMHERST — Yamiche Alcindor’s “ah-ha” moment came when she was in high school and heard the story of Emmett Till, a Black teen from Chicago who was abducted and lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after being accused of offending a white woman.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

BOSTON — Pro-immigrant nonprofits, organizers, and politicians from across the state are bracing for a second Trump presidency as they seek to protect the state’s undocumented population — and a letter recently addressed to Gov. Maura Healey may give glimpses into the reality of challenges ahead, which may include lawsuits and jail time for those disregarding federal immigration laws.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

WASHINGTON — The roller coaster ride last week over a down-to-the-wire congressional spending bill ended on a high note for U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, who expressed victory that some $220 million in federal money will soon be in the hands of New England...

By SAMUEL GELINAS

NORTHAMPTON — Even many in Donald Trump’s circle are unsure whether the president-elect intends to follow through on his often expansive, and some would say, hyperbolic rhetoric — the kind of exaggerated speech that heralded a “big, beautiful wall”...

By SAMUEL GELINAS

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden has been in the giving spirit. In the past month, he went out of his way and against his word by pardoning his son Hunter, followed by an announcement that he would be pardoning a list of 39 others, and granting...

By SAMUEL GELINAS

AMHERST — “Don’t breathe. Be invisible. We don’t want trouble.”As a woman who grew up under legal occupation in Palestine, these words became mantras for Fatima Alabed out of necessity. Her daughter, however, Michigan congresswoman and...

By SAMUEL GELINAS

A week after warm weather led to warnings of fire danger statewide, homeowners are starting to turn their thermostats up as temperatures drop.But for many, the extra expense to heat their homes is a tough ask. That’s why state and local agencies are...

By SAMUEL GELINAS

HOLYOKE — Driving down Interstate 91, said U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, “you see the phoenix rising from the ashes,” referring to a long-awaited new home for area veterans that’s been under construction for the last 451 days.Neal admired the progress being...

By SAMUEL GELINAS

NORTHAMPTON — Regional human service agencies Pathlight and ServiceNet are merging in a move that leaders say will enable Pathlight’s programming to continue and allow ServiceNet to expand resources it already offers.The organizations’ leaders and...