For the first time in over two decades, the Northampton 12U softball team captured a victory in the district tournament on Thursday.Buoyed by contributions from throughout its roster, Northampton edged Longmeadow, 8-7, at the 12U District 2 Tournament.Ary Lebarge paced Northampton’s offense with thr...

If you live, work, or play in Northampton, possibly one person has had more influence on how you experience the city than any other. For more than 30 years, Director of Planning and Sustainability Wayne Feiden, has shaped the form and function of the city — from housing density and mixed-use zoning...

NORTHAMPTON — Northampton Fire Rescue, renowned bird of prey expert Tom Ricardi and concerned neighbors of St. John Cantius Church worked together to save a male redtail hawk that was trapped in the downtown church’s bell tower for about three days.At around 8 a.m. Wednesday, a fire department ladde...

NORTHAMPTON — The driver charged with hitting and killing city musician Charlie Braun last year as he rode his bike near Northampton High School will serve probation, perform 200 hours of community service and lose her right to drive for 15 years after she pleaded guilty Wednesday to motor vehicle...

50 Years Ago■Children, refreshments, babies, fun and mothers were all part of a picnic held this week at the Williams Street School. The event, which was planned for both rain or sunshine weather, was an activity of the Williams Street Parent-Teachers Organization. ■The long-standing policy barring...

Massachusetts for Safe Technology on June 16 marked World EHS Day: Voices of the Invisible Made Visible. EHS, or electromagnetic sensitivity, is an environmentally induced illness from today’s wireless technology.Scientists indicate with our growing electrosmog that up to 30% of children and adults...

A legal dispute is still playing out in court and the relationship between officers and the state’s new policing oversight body remains tense, but the great majority of officers whose certification runs out at the end of the month are in position to be recertified.The law that created the Peace Offi...

WASHINGTON — The House 1/6 committee heard chilling, tearful testimony Tuesday that Donald Trump’s relentless pressure to overturn the 2020 presidential election provoked widespread threats to the “backbone of our democracy“— election workers and local officials who fended off the defeated president...

WHATELY — In celebration of the town’s 250th anniversary, residents left two gifts for future generations at the S. White Dickinson Memorial Library on Monday night.The first gift, a granite bench adorned with the phrase, “The One and Only Whately,” was placed overlooking the valley. Susan Baron and...

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Jurors at a civil trial found Tuesday that Bill Cosby sexually abused a 16-year-old girl at the Playboy Mansion in 1975. The Los Angeles County jury delivered the verdict in favor of Judy Huth, who is now 64, and awarded her $500,000.Jurors found that Cosby intentionally caus...

GREENFIELD — Building on her more than 20 years of experience working in higher education, Michelle Schutt has been tapped to lead Greenfield Community College as its next president.Schutt will begin in the role on July 11, taking over for Richard Hopper, who has served as interim president since Au...

Leave politics aside for a moment, if you can. What does the word “conservative” mean to you, outside of that cursed arena? To me, it connotes respecting tradition, caution when it comes to change, and hewing to the tried and true.The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as “tending or disposed to...

NORTHAMPTON — “The Book of Form and Emptiness” may have taken Ruth Ozeki eight years to write, but it’s now paid off in a big way: She’s won Great Britain’s prestigious Women’s Prize for Literature, which comes with a £30,000 purse (about $36,700 in U.S. dollars).The Women’s Prize for Literature, cr...

BOSTON — A mental and behavioral health care access bill cleared the Massachusetts House on a unanimous vote last week, and representatives will now have a little over six weeks to reconcile their plan with its Senate counterpart if they hope to get a final version to Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk by th...

ORLANDO, Fla. — College basketball season ended almost three months ago, the NBA draft lottery was more than a month ago and the draft itself is later this week.Seems like the process should be winding down.Orlando Magic President Jeff Weltman sees it differently.“I tell you, it’s still early in the...

GREENFIELD — There’s nothing like enjoying music in the great outdoors. The experience of dancing on the grass while listening to both old favorites and new music makes music festivals like the Green River Festival something special. The annual festival, now in its 35th year, is more than a big conc...

BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia for the first time elected a leftist as its next president, but the slim victory is a cue that a large portion of the country rejects the ambitious proposals of Gustavo Petro, who will have to consider their concerns and negotiate with a divided Congress to be able to gov...

BAKHMUT, Ukraine — Holed up in a bombed-out house in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian troops keep a careful accounting of their ammunition, using a door as a sort of ledger. Scrawled in chalk on the door are figures for mortar shells, smoke shells, shrapnel shells, flares.Despite the heavy influx of weapo...

NORTHAMPTON — A manufacturing facility is planned for one of the final undeveloped parcels of the former Northampton State Hospital, a roughly two-acre lot on Earle Street.The 17,560-square-foot, two-story facility would house the metalworking operation for VCA Inc., a maker of custom furniture and...

BRUNSWICK, Maine — Maine is producing more oysters than ever due to a growing number of shellfish farms that have launched off its coast in recent years.The state’s 2021 oyster harvest was the largest and most valuable in its history, according to recent data from the Department of Marine Resources...

PHOENIX — Hundreds of blue, green and grey tents are pitched under the sun’s searing rays in downtown Phoenix, a jumble of flimsy canvas and plastic along dusty sidewalks. Here, in the hottest big city in America, thousands of homeless people swelter as the summer’s triple digit temperatures arrive....

REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. — President Joe Biden said Monday that he will decide by the end of the week whether to order a holiday on the federal gasoline tax, possibly saving U.S. consumers as much as 18.4 cents a gallon.“Yes, I’m considering it,” Biden told reporters after taking a walk along the beach...

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Authorities in India and Bangladesh struggled Monday to deliver food and drinking water to hundreds of thousands of people evacuated from their homes in days of flooding that have submerged wide swaths of the countries.The floods triggered by monsoon rains have killed more than...

I feel compelled to add my name to the growing list of people wanting a softer, gentler Northampton Senior Center.When you dare to go there the atmosphere is quieter than a library. Pardon me, the local libraries are much more active than the Senior Center.It is so quiet one feels as if talking is...

NORTHAMPTON — The City Council has voted again to delay implementation of the packaging and plastic reduction ordinance that was set to go into effect on Jan. 1, citing continued economic pressures on local businesses and restaurants that would be expected to comply with new rules for takeout contai...