Here are today's headlines:

'Just looking for heart': Schoolchildren, author delight in Hatfield's writing tradition

HATFIELD - On the porch at Jane Yolen's Hatfield home Monday afternoon, several elementary school students presented the children's book author with an oversized card signed by the entire school, a large paper flower made in art class and cut flowers, an appreciation for her annual review of their...

Amherst budget funds community response program; advocates say funding inadequate

AMHERST - The creation of an unarmed community responder program whose members will respond to some emergency calls typically handled by police is included in a $25.1 million municipal budget delivered to the Town Council Monday by Town Manager Paul Bockelman.The proposed budget includes $130,000 fo...

Registrars to review affidavits Friday in Jones Library case

AMHERST - The town's Board of Registrars is expected to meet Friday to determine how to handle affidavits submitted by residents who claim their signatures were inappropriately invalidated on a Jones Library project voter veto petition drive.Town Manager Paul Bockelman told the Town Council Monday...

Showtime stops at Whately Diner for continued filming of 'Dexter'

WHATELY - Film crews are making a pit stop at the Whately Diner this week, the latest in a tour of Franklin County locations, for continued filming of the Showtime series "Dexter."The Whately Diner will be closed all week for filming the new 10-episode limited series.Possible Productions announced...

Spring game a culmination for UMass football

AMHERST – UMass' defense tried to ice kicker Cameron Carson before the final play of Saturday's spring game.The Minutemen's offense lined up for a field goal to potentially clinch a victory in the red zone lockout period of the supersized final spring practice at McGuirk Alumni Stadium. It held a si...

Guest columnist Freeman Stein: Arts council member explains vote on PD cut

A recent article in the Gazette, "Arts Council backs police cut," (April 22), reported about a recent Northampton Arts Council discussion and the vote taken to support the three demands of Northampton Abolish Now (NAN). In the article, I was identified as the sole Arts Council member to cast a vote...

Columnist J.M. Sorrell: President Warren?

Well, I'll be darned. Elizabeth Warren won after all. She is appearing as an older white guy because people seem to trust and follow men in positions of power more easily in this country. As she did when she was running for office, she is espousing a fair distribution of taxes to pay for long overd...

CDH reopens hospital-based urgent care clinic

NORTHAMPTON - Cooley Dickinson Health Care has reopened Urgent Care at its hospital location. The Urgent Care practice, which closed in the spring of 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, provides an alternative to Emergency Department visits for illnesses and injuries that are not life-threate...

Hampshire Hope: DART takes national stage

A snippet of video included in our Hampshire HOPE presentation at the 2021 RX Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit drove our point home better than any PowerPoint ever could. Seated at a table was Adam Van Buskirk, a founding officer in the Northampton Police Department's post-overdose response team known...