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By EMILEE KLEIN

AMHERST — UMass doctoral candidate Shannon Callaham had initially planned to spend last week analyzing interview data between Holyoke community members and energy industry professionals as part of a grant-funded project that centered around environmental justice in Holyoke’s transition to renewable energy.

By DOMENIC POLI

ORANGE — The Orange Farmers Market is back at its former home, Butterfield Park.

By DOMENIC POLI

WENDELL — The struggle to finalize a Ralph C. Mahar Regional School budget for fiscal year 2026 has spilled into Wendell, where Orange residents and school officials spoke at a Selectboard meeting to advocate for what they want the budget to reflect.

By MADISON SCHOFIELD

GREENFIELD — Library directors from the area gathered on Monday to tell their stories on what it means to be a librarian in 2025.

By CHRIS LARABEE

GREENFIELD — As Greenfield Community College’s 308 graduates step out into a tumultuous world, they were urged to stay grounded in their values by a commencement speaker who one time left the world.

By DOMENIC POLI

ORANGE — Two more North Quabbin area veterans became Quilts of Valor recipients following a ceremony at the Community Church of North Orange and Tully last week.

By CHRIS LARABEE

State Sen. Jo Comerford and Rep. Natalie Blais and are urging the Healey-Driscoll administration to reform the state-owned land payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) formula, which they say “shortchanges” rural counties, while rewarding those in urban and suburban areas.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

BOSTON — Indigenous leaders took the podium in the State House this week to voice united support for five pieces of legislation filed on behalf on their communities, including bills that would say goodbye to Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous Peoples Day and bar the use of Indigenous-themed mascots in public schools.

By CHRIS LARABEE

GREENFIELD — The White House’s discretionary budget request for fiscal year 2026, released on May 2, proposes slashing two line items that, if approved, could significantly alter Community Action Pioneer Valley’s services.

By ALEXA LEWIS

Western Massachusetts stands to “greatly benefit” from a $1.33 billion spending plan for education and transportation adopted by the state Senate last Thursday, thanks in part to lengthy debates leading up to a vote on the package that sought to reverse an initial proposal that Sen. Jo Comerford called “skewed” and “wildly unfair” to this region.

By DOMENIC POLI

ORANGE — Department heads voiced frustration last week about potentially having to sustain 15% budget cuts as Orange once again grapples with financial woes.

By CHRIS LARABEE

With its regional agreement sent off to the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for a technical review, the Six Town Regionalization Planning Board is expecting to bring its new school district proposal to voters in the fall.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HOLYOKE — With family roots in the newspaper industry and many years serving as chairman of Newspapers of New England, Holyoke native Donald R. Dwight, who died at the age of 94 on Sunday, is being recalled for a life lived by the same principles that guided his commitment to locally owned, independent journalism.

By ALEXA LEWIS

As the cardinals in Vatican City prepare to begin a conclave to select a new pope on Wednesday, Bishop William Byrne of the Diocese of Springfield said that local Catholics are in a period of prayer as they eagerly await the election of “a joyful shepherd who will lead the 1.4 billion Catholics in the world.”

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Local gender-affirming care clinic Transhealth is condemning a recent review put out by the federal Department of Health and Human Services that recommends against the use of medical treatment for gender dysphoria in youth.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — A restructuring of the progressive New College of Florida by that state’s Republican leadership in 2023 prompted Hampshire College to offer students there a respite and opportunity to continue their studies in Amherst.

By ALEXA LEWIS

The Trump administration has eliminated roughly $1 million in funding from the Environmental Protection Agency to the state Department of Public Health intended specifically to address asthma in western Massachusetts, according to Gov. Maura Healey’s office. This termination comes shortly after the American Lung Association reported a decline in air quality across the state and region.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

The Massachusetts congressional delegation is demanding answers from the federal government after hundreds of arts grants under the National Endowment for the Humanities, including dozens earmarked for institutions in the Pioneer Valley, were canceled on the seeming recommendation of billionaire Elon Musk.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

NORTHAMPTON — Molly McGovern, the daughter of U.S. Rep. James McGovern and Lisa McGovern and sister to Patrick McGovern, died unexpectedly in Italy while visiting a good friend and his family, according to a statement the congressman’s family issued Thursday morning.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

BOSTON — Eight months after she started working in a Holyoke marijuana cultivation facility in 2021, 27-year-old Lorna McMurrey died from an asthma attack after inhaling ground cannabis dust while on the job — a death that drew national attention as it was the first to be traced to dust and mold deposits found within marijuana workspaces.