West County Notebook: Sept. 11, 2026

Environmental experts to talk prescribed burning in Saturday panel discussion, Montague Plains walk

A panel of experts is scheduled to host a discussion and walking tour regarding prescribed burning and forest management on Saturday, Sept. 12.

My Turn: How far have we come since 9/11 attacks?

I’m driving to New York on Friday.  When my good friend said he was having his birthday party on Sept. 11, my reaction was, “You’re having a party on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks?” After all these years, the anxiety remains. For so long, many of us waited for the other shoe […]

Heath officials outline Number 9 Road construction plan

The Heath Selectboard outlined its multi-year plan to reconstruct Number 9 Road, beginning with immediate patchwork and aiming for full completion by the spring of 2028.

Whately, Hatfield officials drafting agreement for shared police chief

The Whately and Hatfield selectboards have formed a working group to explore a multi-phase plan to share a police chief and potentially regionalize their police services to address staffing shortages and budget concerns.

My Turn: Ask the Founders: Democratic socialism can work

The historian Alfred Toynbee once declared that “Communism is a Christian heresy.” In his 1954 book, “A Study of History,” he wrote that “modern Western civilization had become ‘post-Christian’ or ‘ex-Christian,’ having divorced itself from its religious roots starting in the 17th century. He believed that because the secularized West failed to deliver on its […]