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By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Three full-time positions at the Jones Library will remain vacant, as they have for the past six years, in the $3.09 million budget proposal recommended by the elected trustees.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

Several Amherst Regional High School students recently had the opportunity to travel to the State House to offer testimony to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means hearing, explaining to legislators why funding formulas for state aid to local school districts should be revised.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — For a town like Hatfield, annual road maintenance has become increasingly more challenging over the past 12 years, as state Chapter 90 road money declines even as the price of hot mix asphalt rises substantially.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — Recent demolition of a former bank at 5 South Maple St. will make way for a new building housing a fast-food restaurant specializing in Nashville hot chicken.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Professional mold remediation in the music and instrument storage rooms during April vacation, along with recent roof repairs and replacement of HVAC air filters, are among steps being taken to improve air quality at the Amherst Regional Middle School.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Near annual challenges in putting together budgets for the Amherst and Amherst-Pelham Regional schools that meet the financial guidelines set by the Amherst Town Council is leading to the concept of forming a joint town and school task force, which would be responsible for examining educational needs over a five- to 10-year period.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Amherst Town Council is allowing the Jones Library expansion and renovation project to continue moving forward, nixing a measure that could have rescinded the borrowing authorization to pay for the work.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HATFIELD — Residents are being given the opportunity to decide whether the town should have around-the-clock fire protection and ambulance service, with a Proposition 2½ tax-cap override coming before voters at both annual Town Meeting and town election next month.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Faculty at the University of Massachusetts are calling on Chancellor Javier Reyes and President Martin Meehan to form a compact with the 250 land grant and public universities across the country to fight Trump administration actions impacting academic freedom and free expression, including politically motivated detentions of students and faculty and visa revocations for some international students.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Responding to an online petition that collected nearly 250 signatures, officials at Amherst Regional High School have reversed a recent decision to close nearly all of the school’s bathrooms for students during lunch periods out of concern with a rising level of vaping indicated by vaping detection alarms frequently going off.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — Potentially hazardous chemicals missing or moved from a 108 Hockanum Road home, following a raid at the residence by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents on April 8, has prompted the temporary detention of resident Jacob D. Miller.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — After a contentious debate, the Town Council agreed last week to recommend the town spend nearly $422,000 more on schools next year than originally recommended.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — Resources and information for both older adults and their families to assist older adults to age safely and comfortably in the community will be provided during the Hadley Council on Aging’s annual health fair Wednesday morning.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Chanting “hands off our students now” and “up, up with liberation, down, down with deportation” more than 100 students, staff and faculty at the University of Massachusetts, participating in a pro-Palestinian rally and march Thursday afternoon, demanded both divestment from Israel and improved protections for international students, including those whose visas are being revoked.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Three members of the Town Council have called for an emergency meeting on Monday at which councilors will decide whether to rescind all funding for the controversial Jones Library renovation and expansion project, which has been in the works for than a decade.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Both mixed-use and apartment-style developments will be allowed along a half-mile section of University Drive, under a new zoning overlay district.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

LEVERETT — Several local Democratic Town Committees in Hampshire and Franklin counties, and Holyoke, are making an appeal to the Massachusetts congressional delegation to take stronger steps in confronting the Republican Party, the Trump administration and special government employee and billionaire Elon Musk.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — At the John P. Musante Health Center, where health services are provided to low-income and immigrant populations and others, exam rooms feature Immigrant Legal Resource Center posters explaining the constitutional rights for everyone living in the United States.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Using project-based learning in the classroom, building a supportive and welcoming place and treating all students fairly and equitably are how culture is built intentionally at Wildwood School.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HADLEY — FBI agents arrested a 43-year-old Hadley man on Wednesday at his home on charges of unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition following an extensive search of his residence the previous day, according to an FBI spokeswoman.