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This month marks the 33rd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). I’m proud to say the Stavros staff was present for the signing. It was a blistering day in Washington D.C. The act was a long hard battle which was built on the...

By KAREN LIST

Barbie, now in a theater near you, has always been big in our family.My sister in Iowa has several glass cases in her living room filled with the fanciest collector Barbies. All of my professional life, I’ve had a Glinda Barbie holding a magic wand on...

By DAN WINSLOW

The good news is that Massachusetts state law prioritizes the development of solar energy facilities by zoning protections that limit undue interference by local governments. The better news is that Massachusetts has more than enough potential solar...

By RUSS VERNON-JONES

Floods, heat waves, smoke-polluted air, torrential rains — climate change has certainly come to our part of the world. Personally, I find myself most saddened by local farms, both CSAs and others, losing crops that were growing well and also having...

By JOHANNA NEUMANN

Many of us have an ocean, river or lake that holds a special place in our recollections of summers past. However, too often, when we revisit these waters, they’re marred by pollution. This widespread problem should send a clarion call to...

By RAZVAN SIBII

Surprisingly enough, since establishing its current refugee resettlement program in 1980, the U.S. government has not made it easy for regular citizens to get involved in helping newcomers settle into their new American lives. Usually, after the state...

By JAMES PENTLAND

AMHERST — Sharks have long been creatures of fascination, but having focused on them in his work for almost 10 years, UMass biology professor Duncan Irschick has found that most three-dimensional models are poor representations of the marine...

By SUSAN WOZNIAK

Humans are storytellers. We invented novels and poetry and plays to satisfy our need for stories. The tales we experience stir our emotions, sometimes allowing us to relax and often teaching us what we need to know.As I have been with my grandkids...

By RAZVAN SIBII

Who said, “I believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and lived here, even though sometime back they may have entered illegally”? Was it one of those bleeding-heart liberals who want open borders and have no respect for how...

By DOMENIC POLI

Memories come flooding back to retired Judge David Ross as he strolls the halls, offices and rooms at Orange District Court. Following 24 years on the bench, the Amherst resident hung up his black robe for good on April 28.But the stories he...

By JOHANNA NEUMANN

From the Norwottuck Rail Trail here at home to the Grand Canyon in the West, beauty abounds in the natural world. It’s found in places big and small — some well-known, others our secret respites from the modern world. Almost all are well-loved, and...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Even as a number of states have moved to prohibit gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors through legislation and policy changes, a University of Massachusetts Amherst economist has co-authored a report showing that hormone...

By CHRIS LARABEE and SCOTT MERZBACH

After nearly 10 months of writing letters and meeting with officials in hopes of securing more state funding, Tilton and Jones libraries’ requests have been answered.The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners’ (MBLC) has announced its plans to...

By RUSS VERNON-JONES

“How do you keep from despairing?” a friend recently asked me, knowing that I focus consistently on the climate crisis. It was a heartfelt question. He had started to put more attention on the climate emergency and was encountering the bad news that...

By PAUL MURPHY

I am a proud early childhood educator working on the Preschool Teaching Team along with Meem Carry and Kate Nicolaou at the Hampshire College Early Learning Center in Amherst. I am writing to share about an inspiring trip to Reggio Emilia, Italy that...

House GOP leaders are refusing to raise the so-called ‘debt ceiling” and to pay obligations that Congress created by law, unless they get deep cuts to SNAP, Medicaid, housing assistance, and core global poverty programs.In other words, the “party of...

Thanks to coach Matt Reynolds and the UMass baseball Minutemen for hosting our young players for a “Day with the Minutemen” at Lorden Field. Coach Reynolds and his players have been consistently generous with us over the years and are a credit to...

It may be a small point in the greater scheme of things, but I’m troubled by the subhead of an article in the April 29 Daily Hampshire Gazette. “Newman Catholic Center gets a rebirth” was the main headline of a piece about Bishop William D. Byrne’s...

By RAZVAN SIBII

While the vast majority of Americans have long given up on preventing the spread of COVID-19, the Biden administration found it convenient to keep alive a Trump-era regulation that speeds up the deportation of asylum-seekers under the pretext that...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — State Auditor Diana DiZoglio is seeking a legal review of the potential transition of state employee positions that handle University of Massachusetts advancement and fundraising functions to the private UMass Amherst Foundation.The auditor...