Here are today's headlines:

AMHERST - Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine has drawn the focus and worries of people across the world looking for answers as to why Russian President Vladimir Putin is waging war on the country.To understand the broader historical and geopolitical context, a group of University of Massachusetts...

Veterans oral history project coming to Wistariahurst Museum

HOLYOKE - Wistariahurst Museum is collaborating with Holyoke Veterans' Services in an upcoming Veterans Uniform Exhibit. The exhibit will feature a collection of oral histories from Holyoke veterans, along with some preservation projects.The museum was awarded a Heritage Preservation grant of $15,00...

Valley Bounty: A sweet time of year at Mountainside Maple Farm in Hatfield

'A breath of spring": That's how Luke Longstreeth, owner of Mountainside Maple Farm in Hatfield, describes the recent arrival of maple sugaring season to the Valley - the first local crop of the agricultural new year."It's such a finite season where local sugar-makers make enough syrup to supply our...

An artistic second wind: Peter Knapp tackles life changes and crises through his art

Back when he was a student in the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the late 1960s/early 1970s, Peter Knapp imagined he might have a career as an artist. He studied woodcuts, drawing and painting and, after graduating from in 1972, had a studio for some time in Florence.Knapp never quite made...

NCAA women's basketball: Amherst College, Smith College win tourney openers

AMHERST - From the opening tip-off, it was clear that Amherst College was going to make SUNY-Poly fight for every single point it put on the board. The Mammoths jumped out to a comfortable 9-0 lead in the first 3 minutes, 42 seconds of the opening quarter and never let the Wildcats take back the lea...

Guest columnist William Ryan: Corporate Greenwashing on the Connecticut River

Greenwashing is when an environmentally destructive company attempts to appear sustainable in the media. Despite self-proclaimed concerns about the environment and climate change, greenwashed corporations rely on a capitalist economic system that is at the origin of the climate crisis.FirstLight Pow...

Earth Matters: What does it mean for a species to be rare?

Several summers ago, my wife and I visited the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario, Canada in search of wildflowers.We were well rewarded by fields of prairie smoke flowers and forest carpets of white trillium, and then saw something quite unexpected. Along the road to a campground in the Bruce Peninsula Nat...

Div. 2 boys basketball: Amherst upset by Dracut, 59-51 (PHOTOS)

AMHERST - On a few occasions late in the regular season and in the Western Massachusetts basketball tournament, the Amherst boys basketball team found themselves scrambling to make up late-game deficits. It happened once again Friday night in their Division 2 state tournament opener, but the Hurrica...