UMass football: Minutemen continue to fine-tune defensive identity

School committees get new law to address library material challenges

BOSTON — When Andrea Fiorillo became co-chair of the Massachusetts Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom and Social Responsibilities Committee in 2019, she remembers there being fewer than 10 challenges to library materials in Massachusetts.  By 2025, there were 229 challenged titles. Fiorillo, who is also a member of the Mass Freedom to Read Coalition, noted a […]

Columnist Judy Wagner: Gifts of a summer

Given the daily, even hourly, headlines, I could easily write an entire column on the cruelty, corruption, and betrayal of the lawless, erratic, cowardly and contemptible administration in Washington. Instead I will write about gifts. August can swamp us with too much: too many cucumbers, zucchinis and little tomatoes; too much heat some days; storms that seem especially intense; a few too many events, gatherings or visits whether planned or spontaneous. August’s bounty both arrests our attention in the present and draws us toward what’s next. Any fall crops to seed? Any canning supplies needed? Our California grandkids have already started […]

My Turn: Leadership that moves us forward

I first met Lora Wondolowski when she, as president of the Greenfield City Council, supported turning a vacant downtown parking lot into housing. We met to process our surprise that a ballot initiative had been snuck in at the last minute to block housing in favor of an abandoned parking lot, and to strategize; we had 60 days to defeat the ballot measure.  I watched Lora go to work: she collaborated with other community leaders and housing advocates, they canvassed, wrote in the paper, went on online forums and explained that a housing study had just come out from the UMass […]

South Deerfield resident accused of plotting to kill treasury secretary sentenced to six years in prison

A South Deerfield resident was sentenced to six years and one month in prison for bringing Molotov cocktails to the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to kill Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Blue Cross, Cooley Dickinson assure Medicare Advantage patients of continued coverage amid network shift

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and Cooley Dickinson Hospital announced a 90-day transition period starting Oct. 1 to ensure uninterrupted coverage for Medicare Advantage subscribers losing their primary care network status.