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By JOHANNA NEUMANN

 For the past two decades, America has accomplished a minor miracle. Despite a growing population, ballooning home sizes, a spike in the number of electronic devices we own, and more, electricity demand has remained largely stable. That’s a testament...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Continued efforts to increase the clean energy workforce for offshore wind and “climate tech” in general in Massachusetts are looking to Denmark as a possible model where, even with a smaller population than the Bay State, the wind energy...

By RUSS VERNON-JONES

 We’ve known that climate change is getting worse. We’ve known that we are going to see more serious effects of climate change in the United States. Nonetheless, the wind, the rain, the flooding, the damage, the deaths caused by Hurricane Helene,...

By CHRIS LARABEE

SUNDERLAND — The feasibility study for the Norwottuck North Shared-Use Path kicked off Tuesday evening, as representatives from the engineering and design firm Vanasse Hangen Brustlin (VHB) laid out the study’s roadmap to the Selectboard.The study...

Mahar hosting Homecoming WeekendORANGE — Homecoming Weekend at Ralph C. Mahar Regional School in Orange is set for Oct. 17 through Oct. 19.The first event is a program will be held in the Kermit Cook Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 17, when the...

By RAZVAN SIBII

Somehow, even though Donald Trump himself delights in describing how he’ll shut down various immigration programs, I still meet people who are convinced that “He’s not anti-immigration, he’s just anti-illegal immigration!”I can’t tell whether they...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Drilling of geothermal wells in Lot 31 off Governors Drive is set to begin next month at the University of Massachusetts, a project that will allow two large classroom buildings under construction to be powered by renewable energy when they...

By CAROLYN BROWN

Valley Players, a local volunteer theater group formed earlier this year, will perform their first full production in Amherst this weekend and next.The show, “Constellations,” by playwright Nick Payne, will be at Munson Memorial Library in Amherst...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

LEVERETT — The Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA) is launching a new weekday round-trip service from Amherst to Greenfield that, for the first time, will include a stop in Leverett.The agency announced this week the start of the...

By MARIETTA PRITCHARD

 My mother-in-law was a very disciplined person. That’s putting it mildly. A public school music supervisor, she would do a spring cleaning every year when school ended. And what a cleaning it was. She would start at the top of the house, taking up...

Ballot Question 1 — to allow the state auditor to audit the Legislature — sounded simple and reasonable enough at first. Then I read the Majority Report in the red “Information for Voters” booklet — a real eye-opener. While the current state auditor...

By SAM DRYSDALE

The program meant to give students a head start on their college enrollment is expanding, which officials say will save students money, make them more likely to attend college than their peers and increase lifelong earning potential.University of...

By RUSS VERNON-JONES

 When we think about the climate crisis, our minds often, quite rightly, go to how greenhouse gas emissions are causing the global temperature to rise, causing catastrophic storms, floods, fires and hunger. What we sometimes forget is that burning...

By ALEXA LEWIS

AMHERST — “Growing up poor, all I’ve ever wanted was financial freedom,” said Beatrice Rogers, a third-year psychology and holistic health major at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. But that freedom might be far away for Rogers, whose college...

By JOHANNA NEUMANN

It can sometimes be challenging to find clean energy solutions that all stakeholders support. For example, California utility companies and their unions have fought against policies that support rooftop solar panels, successfully lobbying for a policy...

By MICKEY RATHBUN

Late summer isn’t a pretty time in the garden, at least not in my garden. The recent mini-drought has bleached out what passes for lawn, several large hydrangeas are drooping as they beg me for water, the daylily borders are shriveled and brown....

By CHRIS LARABEE

AMHERST — The Karuna Center for Peacebuilding is welcoming people from around the region to celebrate its 30 years of work in the Pioneer Valley and around the world.To highlight the nonprofit’s significant milestone, the Karuna Center will welcome...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

A steep drop in the number of Black students in the Class of 2028 at Amherst College compared to the preceding year’s incoming class, and less racial diversity in the first-year class, is likely a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling against...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

Music from centuries-old folk songs and contemporary and classical tunes emanates through the hallway at the Bangs Community Center on a recent morning, as some of the autoharp players hold the instrument upright against their shoulders and below...

By PAIGE HANSON

During his sophomore year of college in November 2021, Charley Blacker wanted to start an organization that was unique and new to the University of Massachusetts Amherst community: a group dedicated to promoting local musicians through playlists,...