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

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 […]

West County Notebook: Sept. 11, 2026

Evening ‘Sky Tours’ coming to Colrain COLRAIN — Those who are interested in seeing the night sky as they never have before are invited to join one of three Sky Tours this weekend. Local astronomy educator Jon Rehmus invites residents to the lawn next to the West Branch Cemetery on Foundry Village Road for the […]

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 […]