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By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — School staff members are calling on the Amherst, Amherst-Pelham Regional and Pelham school committees to bring back the School Equity Task Force following reported anti-Black incidents at the middle school this year and ongoing accusations of inappropriate behavior being made against Black educators in that building.

By JENNY ADAMS

Congratulations, high school seniors! You have graduated! You now have two months to relax before you pack your bags, move to college, and … choose your major!

By JENNY ADAMS

Congratulations, high school seniors! You have graduated! You now have two months to relax before you pack your bags, move to college, and … choose your major!

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — More than 100 people lined the downtown streets Sunday afternoon to register their opposition to actions leading to two people in Amherst being taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the morning of May 28.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Juan A. Rodriguez, Amherst Regional Middle School’s interim principal, will become the school’s permanent principal starting July 1.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A ceremonial groundbreaking for the $46.1 million expansion and renovation of the Jones Library, which is already closed to the public to make way for the project, is set for June 18.

Recently, I had an unexpected trip to the emergency department and a stay in the hospital. Throughout the ordeal, I encountered staff — physicians, nurses, nurses assistants, food deliverers, cleaners — who were competent, compassionate, and kind. They made a difficult experience tolerable and they helped get me back on my feet. I’m thankful for their care.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Amherst’s strong financial position and prudent fiscal management are being recognized by S&P Global Ratings, which recently gave the town an AA+ bond rating with a stable outlook, the second highest rating it assigns.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — A water purification startup business that has been operating from the University of Massachusetts campus in Amherst will be moving into a nearly 30,000-square-foot building in the Northampton Industrial Park, the next step in the evolution of Elateq Inc.

I have written in these pages that the demolition and rebuilding of Amherst’s Jones Library is based on a design that is already out-of-date. The Covid pandemic changed how we create, store and retrieve information. The number of in-person visitors to the Jones each year has declined from about 325,000 to 175,000.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Amherst officials are notifying the community about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions in which two individuals were taken into custody, in separate incidents, Wednesday between 7 and 8 a.m.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Buried on the grounds of Fort River School in 1994 to mark the 20th anniversary of the school’s opening, a time capsule is being uncovered Sunday afternoon, 11 years after the original scheduled date to dig it up.

Shortly after dawn on Thursday, May 22, the Republican-held House of Representatives approved, strictly along party lines and by a single vote, a budget bill that is cruel, anti-democratic, and dangerous for our economy. Every person in this country must be aware of how, exactly, this group of legislators turned against America.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Amherst should aim to have 700 to 900 new housing units constructed by 2030 to confront an existing demand that is pricing many families out of town and limiting what is available for student tenants, according to contents of a final draft housing production plan.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Eight staff positions across Amherst’s three elementary schools would be lost if a $28.32 million budget, a 5% increase over this year’s $26.97 million budget, is adopted by the Town Council, according to school officials.

Where is our compassion and tender regard for one another? We are being assaulted by brutal and irrevocable cuts to employment, salaries, savings, safety nets, health care, nutrition programs, education, stability, freedoms to speak and assist our neighbors.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Affordable homeownership opportunities for a handful of families near Amherst center is a vision for the nonprofit Amherst Community Land Trust in acquiring an Amity Street property.

In his May 17 guest column titled, “Paths to advocate for humane treatment of immigrants,” writer Judson Brown tells us ways we can be helpful to our immigrant neighbors, including recent refugees. Brown reports that, under Trump, federal funds have been cut off to the three local agencies that led resettlement efforts for refugees — Ascentria Care Alliance (a Lutheran organization), Catholic Charities, and Jewish Family Services of Western Massachusetts. Brown highlights some of the groups who have arrived recently and have been living here legally, and he points out the Trump administration’s “systematic effort to destroy seemingly almost all sanctioned pathways to legal residency by folks seeking a better life here.”

Two huge realities threaten America. Neither threat comes from immigrants. The first is caused by the seizure of our economy and politics by a handful of rich elites in tech, finance, media, real estate and insurance, with devastating impacts on working Americans, immigrants and citizens alike. This DOGE-Trump-led elite hijacked the U.S. government to steal our assets. They fired federal workers and canceled grants, but not to save money. Indeed, DOGE has cost us billions. Instead, their real goal is to destroy governments so that we depend only on them. The Republican Party lost its long-held goals to uphold the law and to empower the little guy, and now seeks only to aid corruption. America is also rapidly losing control over the natural resources that make our economy and our lives possible. This threat comes not from a trade imbalance nor a drop in energy production. It is caused by Trump-MAGA’s sellout to rich elites in oil-gas, mining, tech and chemicals. They shut down federal efforts to protect our air, water and land, endangering our very existence. Climate change is already driving intense new levels of floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires and pollution. It will get worse. It is not hard to find the reality beyond the lies: The Guardian, NPR, AP, New York Times, Washington Post (still), Boston Globe and our own Daily Hampshire Gazette share real news. There are a thousand ways to connect and to help build a just and sustainable future to address these realities.