A Look Back, July 21

Guest columnist Claudia Lefko: Time to reimagine Northampton's city budget

“Planners, architects of city design, and those they have led along with them in their beliefs are not consciously disdainful of the importance of knowing how things work. On the contrary, they have gone to great pains to learn what saints and sages of modern orthodox planning have said about how cities ought to work […]

Carolyn Topor

Carolyn (Czaja) Topor March 24, 1937 – July 16, 2026<br /><br />South Hadley, MA - Carolyn (Czaja) Topor, 89, of South Hadley, MA, passed away peacefully on July 16, 2026, after a short illness.<br /><br />Born in Springf ...

Greenfield man gets 18 to 20 years in 2024 slaying

A Greenfield man was sentenced to 18 to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the death of Christopher Hairston.

No more lone responders: Amherst adds four firefighters, plans to increase minimum staffing levels year-round

AMHERST — An Amherst firefighter driving an engine to a fire or other emergency ensures a prompt response, but once on scene, a single responder has to wait until other members of the career, on-call or student force arrive. “You can’t effectively do anything at a fire with a single person,” said Sarah Forsaith, president of the Amherst Firefighters Local 1764. But the occasional challenge of having a solitary firefighter on board an engine should soon go away. The town is adding four firefighters and eventually increasing the minimum staffing to 10 full-time firefighter-paramedics year-round, upping this from the current seven [&hellip;]

My Turn: Hiring managers must rethink roles for Gen Z

As I sit down to write, my email inbox has just received two new job rejections. Since graduating from Bryn Mawr College with a dual degree in English and history this past May, I have been on the hunt for a post-grad job, hitting the two-month mark while on a visit back to western Massachusetts. [&hellip;]