What tick tests can — and can’t — tell you

Oh deer, ‘ticks are winning’: Booming deer populations, shifting weather are fueling sharp rise across New England

Every year, “The Tick Guy” Thomas Mather is asked if the tick season will be bad, and his answer is always yes. “Most tick experts will say, ‘Oh, they’re probably going to be bad,’ and they will never be wrong, because to the average person, one tick is a bad tick year,” said Mather, director […]

'The lives it touched': Cold Spring School bids farewell after 72 years

BELCHERTOWN — Every story eventually comes to an end, and Cold Spring School reached its last page on Monday. After 72 years, the school will no longer mark the first chapter of Belchertown students’ classroom learning. The School Committee voted to close the early childhood learning center last September based on declining enrollment and rising […]

Gazette All-Stars: Boys, Girls tennis

The Daily Hampshire Gazette’s selections for boys and girls tennis all-stars are next up on the docket. Each team in the area made either their respective Western Mass or state tournaments, representing their hometowns on big stages. Players just short of fulfilling All-Stars status were named honorable mentions. Tennis All-Stars Boys Henry Michal | Amherst […]

After racist letter, Amherst residents discuss community values

AMHERST — Clear and concise values are a town’s best defense against racist events that may pop up locally, a pair of college professors told residents at the third of four community conversations last week. Speaking at the Bangs Community Center following the recent discovery of a racist letter last month, the educators warned that […]

Guest columnist Jack Tulloss: The roads to hell

Saint Bernard, the 12th-century cleric, not the dog, is often credited with the proverb, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” As proverbs go, it’s not a bad one. But what if, what if, work with me now, hell isn’t the terminus but the road itself? That brings us to Amherst, the commonwealth’s […]