Guest columnist Keith Hastie: Our path to a better energy future

Appeals court upholds Granby woman's manslaughter conviction in 2010 killing

The Massachusetts Appeals Court has affirmed Cara Rintala’s 2023 conviction in the killing of her wife in their Granby home 16 years ago, closing out what is believed to be the first murder case in Hampshire County to be tried four times. Rintala, now 59, was tried on a murder charge but ultimately convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the March 2010 strangulation death of her wife, Annamarie Cochrane Rintala, 37, in the couple’s Granby home. Rintala’s first two trials, in 2013 and 2014, ended in hung juries. In 2016, a jury convicted her of murder and she was sentenced to life […]

Let the church bell ring, Williamsburg residents tell Select Board

WILLIAMSBURG — Two weeks after a resident asked that the Haydenville Congregational Church bell to fall silent overnight — a request that garnered significant attention in the community and on social media — the Select Board heard an overwhelming response Tuesday: Let the bell keep ringing. The Select Board took no action on High Street […]

Columnist Carrie N. Baker: A groundbreaking UN resolution calls forced pregnancy what it is: reproductive violence

It took until July 7, 2026, for the world’s leading human rights body to call forcing someone to be pregnant — or forcing them not to be — what it is: reproductive violence. In a landmark resolution adopted unanimously, the UN Human Rights Council formally recognized “reproductive violence” as a specific, systemic form of gender-based […]

A Look Back, July 23

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Pool event in Amherst spotlights accessibility, Paralympic pride

AMHERST — At the 1988 Paralympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, Tory Dixon took 30 seconds off her best 400-meter freestyle time, claiming one of her two bronze medals at that year’s swimming competitions. Dixon still vividly remembers standing on the podium as the British national anthem played for the gold medalist, taking pride in her accomplishments. “Sports did so much for me,” says Dixon, speaking during a Disability Pride Month presentation at Mill River Recreation Area Monday afternoon. “It was a lot of work, but it was fun.” Her husband, Juan Dixon, is a similarly successful Paralympian, earning medals in […]