Guest columnist Daniel A. Brown: Can those Buddhist monks heal a wounded nation?

Northampton’s Smithland Pet & Garden Center returning to North King Street’s Big Y Plaza

NORTHAMPTON — More than a year after Smithland Pet & Garden Center closed all 13 of its Massachusetts and Connecticut locations, including its Northampton and Hadley stores, the pet and garden chain is expected to return to Northampton — in its former space at the Big Y Plaza on North King Street — by the end of the year. Westfield restaurateur Nabil Hannoush, owner of the Shortstop Bar & Grill, who described himself and his wife, Julie, as being animal and nature lovers, said he was disappointed to hear of the pet and garden stores’ closure for liquidation last year, and […]

Gauntlet of musical treasures: UMass piano professor selected to perform Beethoven's complete sonatas

Mastering one Beethoven sonata is a feat even for an accomplished musician, but one local pianist has accepted the challenge to master all 32 of them. The Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center selected Gilles Vonsattel, who teaches piano at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, to learn and perform all 32 of Beethoven’s sonatas — […]

Pelham residents split over solar project that would clear 34 acres near UMass research forest

PELHAM — A proposed 4.4-megawatt solar installation off Tower Road that would require clearing 34 acres of privately owned woodland next to Cadwell State Forest to accommodate 7.7 acres of panels is drawing both support and opposition. At the first public hearing on the proposal from PureSky Energy Tuesday, Christine Crispin of Bray Court asked […]

Former Healey aide charged with SNAP fraud while awaiting drug, gun trial

SPRINGFIELD— Lamar Cook, a former aide to Gov. Maura Healey who was arrested last year on gun charges and accused of trafficking more than 8 kilograms of cocaine, now faces federal charges that he fraudulently collected more than $500 a month in food assistance. Cook, 46, of Springfield, was arrested Wednesday morning on charges that […]

An artful farewell: Three Sisters Sanctuary founder reflects on mortality in final work

GOSHEN — Very few people get to work on a project relating to death in the months leading up to their own. Richard Richardson, founder of the Three Sisters Sanctuary in Goshen, is one of them. Down a gravel path at the sanctuary off Cape Street, visitors pass several abstract machine creations. They next encounter […]