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By AMANDA ALIX

Dan Winslow’s melodramatic guest column for the Amherst Bulletin and Daily Hampshire Gazette casts Shutesbury as the villain and W.D. Cowls Inc., and Amp (now PureSky) Energy as the victims vis-a-vis the lawsuit filed by Cowls and Amp claiming the...

By LENORE BRYCK

Why would eco-climate activists throughout Massachusetts challenge the siting of industrial solar installations on forests and green lands? Their focus is precisely climate healing, not impeding solar development. But witnessing severe damage by big...

By KAREN LIST

Barbie, now in a theater near you, has always been big in our family.My sister in Iowa has several glass cases in her living room filled with the fanciest collector Barbies. All of my professional life, I’ve had a Glinda Barbie holding a magic wand on...

By CLAIRE MORENON, MARGARET CHRISTIE and PHIL KORMAN

On July 10, heavy rains led to widespread flooding alongside small rivers and creeks throughout our region. The next day, the Connecticut River overflowed its banks to levels not seen since Hurricane Irene in 2011.This flooding event was fast in some...

By DAN WINSLOW

The good news is that Massachusetts state law prioritizes the development of solar energy facilities by zoning protections that limit undue interference by local governments. The better news is that Massachusetts has more than enough potential solar...

By VALLE DWIGHT and BRIAN MELANSON

Gov. Maura Healey’s proposed update to the state’s sex education curriculum covers a range of important topics to ensure that students are getting comprehensive and medically accurate information about their bodies and their health.“All of our...

By WILLIAM LAMBERS

The first atomic bomb test in New Mexico on July 16, 1945 opened the door to the dangerous nuclear arms races we have seen ever since. J. Robert Oppenheimer, a leader in the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb during World War II, thought...

By PENNY SCHULTZ

Western Massachusetts doesn’t get a whole lot of attention from the state, so a visit by our new, feisty, change-making State Auditor Diana Dizoglio in Williamsburg was a welcome event for all who attended.DiZoglio is shaking things up in...

By IAN RHODEWALT 

In my household of two, together we hold $132,829.70 in student debt. On a bitter cold day in early March on the week the Supreme Court was hearing oral arguments, at a student debt cancellation rally, 25 of us stood on the steps of the federal court...

By MATT L. BARRON

One of the major fights in the coming reauthorization of the 2023 Farm Bill will be over the commodity checkoff system. Checkoffs are mandatory Department of Agriculture fees assessed on a per-unit basis that many U.S. farmers and ranchers pay every...

By KERRY DUMBAUGH

Having just passed the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision to restrict abortion access, it is worth considering Anthony Comstock’s terrible legacy of doing more to restrict American women’s reproductive rights than anyone...

By WILLIAM LAMBERS

Major League Baseball has produced many classic, inspiring moments over the years, including the World Series. But one of its most noble efforts is not well known.It was during the Second World War, when Major League Baseball launched a plan to raise...

By ROB OKUN

Women’s activism, including mothers in leadership roles, is legendary. Moms have long employed their moral authority as parents to advance the social good.Where are the fathers and grandfathers? We care about our children and grandchildren, too. As...

By WILLIAM LAMBERS

When General Dwight Eisenhower spoke at the third anniversary of the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944, he praised the bravery of American soldiers. The D-Day invasion of Nazi German occupied France led to the liberation of Europe and victory in World...

By SARAH BUTTENWIESER and ALICE BARBER

We have been wondering what parents need to hear right about now. This month marks the declared “end” of the COVID crisis. It is a time of implied “get-on-with-its” and “that-was-then-this-is-nows.”Overall, our society tends not to think very...

By GENE STAMELL

I changed my razor blade this morning. I realize this revelation falls far short of being categorized as earth-shattering news. But if you bear with me, dear reader, you may recognize some parts of yourself in the following self-reflection — and I’m...

By JOHN PARADIS

May is National Military Appreciation Month. Designated by Congress in 1999 to honor past and present military members and their families, the month includes several commemorations, including Loyalty Day, VE Day, Military Spouse Appreciation Day,...

By CHRISTI PAYNE and GREG DARMS

My husband and I moved to New England from Oregon five years ago, not knowing for sure where we would end up, and fortuitously landed in Shutesbury. We could not have chosen better than this forested rural hilltown we now call home.One of the very...

By SUSAN J. TRACY

In addition to the recent carnage in Nashville, last spring 18-year-old shooters in separate incidents killed 10 adults in Buffalo, New York, and 19 children and two adults in Uvalde, Texas, 10 days apart. Both shooters were using semiautomatic...

By JAMES LEVINE

‘Childhood trauma.” We hear these words so often that they’ve lost any kind of concise meaning. Virtually all children confront disturbing experiences, and rates of their diagnosed mental struggles have increased significantly, but not every one of...