Here are today's headlines:

Area fire crews battle Williamstown forest fire

WILLIAMSTOWN - A Berkshire County forest fire that had burned more than 800 acres by Monday has drawn more than 120 firefighters from across the region in an effort to douse it.The East Mountain Fire in the Clarksburg State Forest, which started Friday, was about 75% contained as of Monday afternoon...

Amherst lifts mask mandate

AMHERST - Masks and face coverings are no longer mandatory for people on sidewalks, in parks and other outdoor areas of downtown Amherst.As of noon Monday, Health Director Emma Dragon, as an agent of the Board of Health, rescinded the order that first went into effect last August.Dragon said the dec...

Acting Holyoke mayor cuts funding requests by $3M

HOLYOKE - Acting Mayor Terence Murphy has proposed a budget for fiscal year 2022 that reduces funding requests from city departments by around $3 million.Murphy introduced his $144.6 million general fund spending plan at a special meeting of the City Council last week. In an accompanying letter, he...

Hampshire Regional taps assistant principal Hotz as interim principal for year

WESTHAMPTON - The Hampshire Regional School District has appointed Lauren Hotz, assistant/associate principal at the high school, which serves high school and middle school students, as interim principal for the next school year.Current Principal Kristen Smidy will be departing Hampshire Regional at...

Chesterfield voters OK museum repairs

CHESTERFIELD - Voters at Saturday's annual Town Meeting chose to fund repairs to the Edwards Museum and decided to table an article that would have put a buffer between the Historic District and wireless communications facilities.Select Board Chairman Roger Fuller said the meeting took about 3½ hour...

Guest columnist Anna Dragunas: Arkansas' SAFE Act - keeping youth unsafe

"No amount of therapy will help them when they realize that the government seems to oppose their existence," said Joanna Brandt, mother of a 15-year-old transgender boy in Arkansas.Her words fell on deaf ears as the Arkansas Legislature passed the SAFE Act (Save Adolescents From Experimentation) in...

Columnist Razvan Sibii: What we can learn from formerly incarcerated people

When you deny a minority group access to housing, to education, to the labor market, and to political opportunity, you're not only infringing on their human and civil rights - you're robbing everyone, including members of the majority, of the contributions the people you excluded could have made to...

UMass women's lacrosse falls to Temple in NCAA Tournament

A valiant second-half comeback by the shorthanded UMass women's lacrosse team fell just short on Friday. Taking on Temple in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Chestnut Hill, the Minutewomen found themselves down seven players - including top two goal-scorers Kelly Marra and Stephanie Croke...

Fork and Spade: A community food digest for May

One thing your Fork and Spade moderator loves about putting this column together is that while this monthly feature is always about food access and sustainability, there are so many different and innovative ways people are approaching these issues that there's always something new and interesting...