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Each year I listen to the budget hearings. I find myself getting angry every time someone says the state requires us to do this or that. We are spending more and more money on things that we did not vote for. I guess I have hit my limit because this year I started looking at the bills on www.mass.gov . I found something, House bill 2297. This bill will stop new unfunded mandates. It won’t solve the whole problem but it is a place to start. Go to the website www.stopunfundedmandatesinma.com you will find a copy of the bill, the committee it is in, and the members contact info. Please take some time to call or email them to let them know you want this bill to pass or not depending on how you feel about it. It is your money, it is your choice.

ORANGE – The Selectboard voted unanimously on Wednesday to appoint Seth Kelley as a Planning Board alternate.

By LUKE MACANNUCO

WARWICK — Matthew Bobola, the new business administrator of the Warwick Community School and district, has a passion for applying his financial expertise to education.

By MADISON SCHOFIELD

SUNDERLAND — The Zoning Board of Appeals has continued the public hearing on a proposed 9,100-square-foot Dollar General store on Route 116 to June 24.

By DOMENIC POLI

WENDELL — Voters that convene at Town Hall on Wednesday night will be asked to pass a Proposition 2½ override to fund town operations.

By ANTHONY CAMMALLERI

GREENFIELD — One week after Superintendent Karin Patenaude announced her resignation, effective July 3, the School Committee voted to begin its search for an interim superintendent.

By CHRIS LARABEE

WHATELY — Come Jan. 1, all addresses in Whately will be unified under ZIP code 01093.

By SAM FERLAND

GREENFIELD — Four Rivers Charter Public School celebrated the conclusion of the 33 graduates’ high school adventure on Saturday, a ceremony marked by two seniors who shared a heartfelt metaphor.

By RICHARD FEIN

Recent presidents waited until they became private citizens to make millions of dollars from their presidency. The general principle while serving in public office is to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. After leaving office it is a different story. In Washington it is called “Doing good then doing well.” For example the Clinton’s were technically in debt when they left the White House due to Bill’s legal expenses. Now their net worth is estimated at $120 million derived mostly from book sales and speeches. The Obamas’ post-presidency net worth is estimated at $70 million.

By KAREN SERRA

The first time I heard the word autism, I was in high school. Someone told me it was caused by “cold moms” and vaccines — and that it could be prevented. I didn’t know much about autism back then, but I remember thinking, that doesn’t sound right.

Shortly after dawn on Thursday, May 22, the Republican-held House of Representatives approved, strictly along party lines and by a single vote, a budget bill that is cruel, anti-democratic, and dangerous for our economy. Every person in this country must be aware of how, exactly, this group of legislators turned against America.

By RICHARD WEDEGARTNER

Iread a lot of news and blogs. Most of my news comes from the left: MSNBC, columns or blogs by Heather Cox Richardson, Joyce Vance, Robert Reich, and others. My concern about the direction of our country has increased daily since President Donald Trump was installed as our 47th president.

By MADISON SCHOFIELD

BUCKLAND — For Mohawk Trail’s Class of 2025, graduation marked the end of 12 years of hard work and learning, and the beginning of their next chapter.

By HANNAH MORIN

ATHOL — Despite a threatening sky, the rain held off as 106 graduates of Athol High School’s Class of 2025 marked the occasion on Friday with a celebration of growth, resilience and future promise.

By H. PATRICIA HYNES

A postcard I use as a bookmarker contains a set of principles for gardening in urban soils for minimizing risks to human health from exposure to lead and other contaminants. Developed many years ago for Boston Natural Areas Network by Dr. Wendy Heiger-Bernays, a toxicologist, and myself, I now read it on a deeper level — as a prescription for both soil health and human health — and thus, Planet health. For I have come to understand we are part of a whole — the Earth and humans together — and must be saved together.

Summer is almost here, and with it will come deadly heat waves supercharged by the climate crisis. Yet in 27 states, it’s perfectly legal for utility companies to shut off electricity on the hottest days of summer for nonpayment, leaving individuals and families without air conditioning in extreme temperatures and threatening their health and safety.

I was disappointed by the uncritical reporting of the words of Kevin Roberts: “The whole world is mission country today — just like Northfield, Massachusetts, was for the first people who settled here.” [”Protesters oppose Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts as Thomas Aquinas College commencement speaker in Northfield,” Recorder, May 29]. This statement is simply incorrect. The first people who settled here were not Christian missionaries, they were Indigenous Americans with their own culture and spirituality. Colonialism and Christianity have been at the root of countless atrocities, and the destruction of Native American people is one of them. We need moral people of faith to understand how to repair the damage that their own forbears have done, not double down on the kind of Christian nationalism that is embraced by Heritage and Project 2025.

Art is the most important piece of culture that a community can have. It empowers people, it inspires people, it makes people feel any emotion the artist wants to convey. It reflects what the artist believes, informing and communicating different aspects of life and the world, different perspectives and point of views, and shows every part of humanity.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

LEVERETT — Mediation in mid-July could resolve an ongoing Land Court lawsuit, filed nearly a year ago by the owners of a Shutesbury Road property against the town and its Conservation Commission, that has prevented the public from using the easiest access to 65 acres of town conservation land in East Leverett.

By JOHN PARADIS

President Trump and his MAGA movement don’t own patriotism or the American flag. Both belong to all of us.