Heywood Healthcare's School-Based Services program receives state honor

Franklin Hampshire unemployment rate drops to 3.8% amid shrinking labor force

The Franklin Hampshire region's unemployment rate fell to 3.8% in June 2026, even as experts noted a shrinking labor force driven by an aging population and housing shortages.

Heywood Healthcare responds to data incident

GARDNER – Following an unauthorized access of its systems last October, Heywood Healthcare has determined that personal information had been viewed. According to an announcement issued earlier this month, Heywood Healthcare notified the individuals effected by this via mail in the months that followed the incident. On Oct. 12, 2025, Heywood detected suspicious activity on […]

Former WMass aide to Gov. Healey appears in court for drug trafficking case

BOSTON — The disgraced former aide to Gov. Maura Healey facing drug charges for allegedly running a cocaine trafficking ring out of the governor’s western Massachusetts office appeared in Hampden Superior Court Wednesday for a pretrial hearing. LaMar Cook, who was serving as Healey’s western Massachusetts deputy director when he was arrested in October after […]

Sportsman's Corner: Hunting season is here

In this space it was previously noted that a number of hunting seasons were starting in September with the Early Goose Season kicking things off on the first day of the month and closing today. The black bear season opened Sept. 7 and runs through Dec. 12. Check the regs if you are interested in […]

Retired astronaut urges voters to protect democracy at UMass

AMHERST — Five seconds after Columbia Space Shuttle STS-93 lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center, Catherine “Cady” Coleman felt her stomach lurch. The retired NASA astronaut heard her commander Eileen Collins announce that an electrical short took out two engine controls. A hydrogen leak in the main engine also slowed the shuttle’s velocity, throwing off its trajectory into orbit. Before panic had a chance to settle in, Coleman’s training took over. “My first thought was, we know how to do that,” Coleman told the audience at the UMass Amherst Old Chapel. “We just did that, really, last week in the […]