Athol to hold Special Town Meeting in November

Most Franklin County school districts saw attendance gains in 2025-26 academic year

Most public school districts in Franklin County saw attendance rates increase during the 2025-2026 school year, according to data from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Trace PFAS contamination widespread across Massachusetts freshwater bodies, including Deerfield and Chicopee rivers

NORTHAMPTON — PFAS were present in a vast majority of Massachusetts waterways sampled between 2022 and 2024, including the Connecticut, Deerfield and Chicopee rivers, Oxbow Pond and Pelham Lake, according to a recent report from the MassPIRG Education Fund. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, form an expansive class of manmade “forever chemicals” that accumulate […]

Athol Select Board votes to continue free holiday parking

ATHOL – The Select Board voted to continue free downtown parking during the holiday season, after the Parking Benefits District Oversight Committee recommended it be suspended. Committee Chair Gary Deyo went before the board at its Nov. 10 meeting to explain the reasons behind the proposal. At first reading from a prepared statement, Deyo explained […]

Sportsman's Corner: Thank you for your service

This past Wednesday was Veterans Day. This writer would like to add my thanks to all the men and women who have served this country in the military. My father, John E. Roche Jr., served proudly in the Air Force. He took particular pride in the job his unit, the 357th Fighter Squadron, did and […]

A monumental undertaking: On Veterans Day, one man’s mission to preserve the graves of veterans and Swift River Valley residents

Gene Theroux, president of Friends of Quabbin, has spent the last seven years refurbishing and cleaning monuments at the historic Quabbin Park Cemetery to honor the residents of the former Swift River Valley.