Robinson to depart as executive director of Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce

‘It makes me so happy’: Ashfield Fall Festival brings tradition and reconnection

Hundreds of residents and visitors gathered in Ashfield on Oct. 10 and 11 for the annual Fall Festival, featuring traditional pumpkin games, an artisans market and improved safety measures through a new main street closure.

Amherst pay-as-you-throw plan could close transfer station to household trash

AMHERST — A request for proposals for a pay-as-you-throw system to collect trash and recyclables, and possibly compost, at the curb of just over 5,000 Amherst homes could mean the end of household trash drop-off at the Belchertown Road transfer station. The Town Council’s Town Services and Outreach Committee, after several meetings, is finalizing what it wants in the request. The bids it draws would show whether it makes financial sense to pursue a new system meant to incentivize homeowners and renters to cut down on the amount of waste they produce. In all likelihood, if the town finds a vendor, […]

Williamsburg Select Board appoints new administrative assistant

WILLIAMSBURG — The Select Board voted unanimously on Wednesday to appoint Santo Tomasine as its administrative assistant, picking him for his background in software, funding procurement and leadership. His contract runs through June 2027, with a salary of $24,180. Selected from a pool of four candidates, Tomasine replaces Elizabeth Van Iderstine, who left the role in May. “Being a part of the town was very interesting and exciting to me,” Tomasine said shortly before the board took a vote. To this, Select Board member Paul Wetzel replied, “You’ll be right in the center.” Tomasine was a faculty support coordinator for information […]

Area Briefs: Ephemeral films gets big-screen night at Amherst Cinema

Ephemeral films get big-screen night at Amherst Cinema Amherst Cinema will welcome Rich Remsberg and Shawn Rosenheim for a curated evening of ephemeral films: vintage classroom instruction, industrial animations, forgotten children’s TV shows, declassified military training films, religious movies, scraps of stock footage and a bunch of weird science stuff. Travel with Remsberg and Rosenheim […]

UMass men's basketball : Frank Martin weighs in on college basketball’s changing landscape

AMHERST — While his season-opening press conference on Monday, Oct. 5 was centered around the players on his team, UMass men’s basketball coach Frank Martin was not shy on sharing his thoughts about the landscape of college basketball. In his opening lines in the afternoon, Martin commented on the shift in the start of the […]