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By SAMUEL GELINAS

AMHERST — Change is a theme common enough at college commencements — a beginning and an end. But for the UMass Amherst class of 2025, change seemed more pressing and obvious when they received their diplomas Friday night.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

WORCESTER — According to Oxford Dictionary, baseball refers to both the game and the ball used in it. It’s a popular sport played by two teams of nine players, who take turns batting and fielding. The game involves hitting a ball with a bat and running around four bases before the other team can return the ball.

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 SAMUEL GELINAS

SPRINGFIELD — Bishop William Byrne was just as caught off guard as everyone else Thursday when white smoke marked the election of Pope Leo XIV, who will reign as the next pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.

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 — a death that drew national attention as it was the first to be traced to dust and mold deposits found within marijuana workspaces.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

SPRINGFIELD — Bishop William Byrne not only introduced the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield’s new executive director for its Catholic Charities agency last week but also laid out the evolution that the agency will see now that protection of immigrants is no longer part of its agenda in the wake of federal cuts.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

The Daily Hampshire Gazette, together with the United Way of the Franklin & Hampshire Region and the Greenfield Recorder, is calling for nominations for its annual Person of the Year Award and for the Young Community Leader Award.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Accusing his Republican colleagues in Congress of being “too scared to stand up to their leadership,” namely, President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern is co-sponsoring a new bill designed to block “backdoor” cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

By SAMUEL GELINAS

HADLEY — Irate farmers, waving signs and pitchforks, gathered in front of Town Hall on Sunday afternoon as tractors rolled in and the Expandable Brass Band played at the start of an “Attack on Small Farms” protest.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

NORTHAMPTON — “Nobody knows how to start a revolution better than us,” said U.S. Sen. Ed Markey Sunday afternoon at Pulaski Park, where more than 800 people came to collectively ignite the sparks of revolution against what they described as President Donald Trump’s “technocratic dictatorship.”

By SAMUEL GELINAS

AMHERST — When the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report landed on Dr. Anthony Fauci’s desk in June 1981, he had no idea it would be the start of a “dark” period of his career.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

SPRINGFIELD — The Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts committed this month to a three-year, $200,000-a-year partnership with the Secure Community Network (SCN) to strengthen and enhance security measures at congregations, schools and organizations throughout the region.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

BOSTON — According to Lt. John Girvalakis of the Massachusetts Environmental Police, all that has been required to legally take a boat out on a ride are two things: “money and a boat,” with few exceptions.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

NORTHAMPTON — It wasn’t the coffee that had the people inside the First Churches of Northampton energetic and on edge Saturday morning. Some 500 people crowded into the church shoulder to shoulder, mutually distressed about national politics, and voiced those concerns in a coffee hour town hall with U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern that lasted close to two hours.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

NORTHAMPTON — Frozen lakes and ponds invite enchanted winter sports enthusiasts outside for classic wintertime festivities. But despite the fun, a fact remains: ice is a potential danger.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

BOSTON — Less than three months after voters rejected a ballot measure to legalize certain natural psychedelic substances and introduce therapeutic care, legislators have filed 10 bills at the start of this legislative session hoping to push the cause forward.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

NORTHAMPTON — Jimmy Carter, who died Dec. 29 at 100 years old, has often been labeled different among his presidential peers in that his legacy is tied not so much to his politics, but his heart.

By SAMUEL GELINAS

WASHINGTON — The recent roller coaster ride over a down-to-the-wire congressional spending bill ended on a high note for U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, who expressed victory that some $220 million in federal money will soon be in the hands of New England...

By SAMUEL GELINAS

NORTHAMPTON — Even many in Donald Trump’s circle are unsure whether the president-elect intends to follow through on his often expansive, and some would say, hyperbolic rhetoric — the kind of exaggerated speech that heralded a “big, beautiful wall”...

By SAMUEL GELINAS

WASHINGTON — In the past month, President Joe Biden went against his word by pardoning his son Hunter before announcing that he would be pardoning a list of 39 others, and granting clemency to nearly 1,500 people.But lawyer Steven Donziger wasn’t on...

By SAMUEL GELINAS

A week after warm weather led to warnings of fire danger statewide, homeowners are starting to turn their thermostats up as temperatures drop.But for many, the extra expense to heat their homes is a tough ask. That’s why state and local agencies are...