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By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra formally introduced her $145 million fiscal year 2026 budget before the City Council Wednesday night amid the backdrop of advocates of higher school spending making one final push to prevent a likely reduction of services next year.

All of us at Young@Heart were so proud to hear that Evelyn Harris, one of our newest and youngest singers, was to receive an honorary degree at Smith College this spring. She has been such a great addition to our group, and such an inspiration to all of us — as she has been to many others. We were saddened by the way Smith College has chosen to humiliate Evelyn in public by accusing her of plagiarizing parts of her acceptance speech. Evelyn has informed us that her speech was submitted to Smith College in early May, and was edited by them for length. Surely the question of plagiarism could have been brought to her attention at that point, avoiding the drama and spectacle that has unfolded now?

By GARRETT COTE

NORTHAMPTON — When the Northampton and Longmeadow boys tennis teams met for the first time this season, the Lancers grabbed a 4-1 victory back on April 10. Three weeks ago, the two sides matched up again – this time the Blue Devils earning a 5-0 win. The rubber match just so happened to be in the Western Mass. Class A finals at Smith College on Wednesday afternoon that felt more like fall than spring.

By CARRIE N. BAKER

As someone who has taught and fought for women’s rights for close to four decades, I find it intensely frustrating how the Trump administration is weaponizing feminist rhetoric and law to attack women’s rights. Claiming to defend women’s rights, they are eliminating hard-fought gains for women and twisting laws meant to protect women’s rights into tools to destroy them. We are plunging into a world eerily similar to George Orwell’s novel “1984.”

The music festival Strangecreek Campout will return to Greenfield from Friday, May 23, to Monday, May 26, at Camp Kee-Wanee.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra has officially debuted her $145 million fiscal year 2026 budget for the city, continuing to defend her plan for the school district while warning of possible instability from federal cuts.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Musician Evelyn Harris has relinquished an honorary degree after it was discovered that parts of her speech given at Smith College’s commencement on Sunday were plagiarized, according to letter sent to the campus community by Smith College President Sarah Willie-LeBreton.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — The defense and commonwealth have rested in the case of Edward Kostek, a former physical therapist from South Hadley facing two counts of rape of a former patient, but not before Kostek himself took the stand in Hampshire Superior Court in his own defense.

I am writing to heartily endorse Laurie Loisel as a candidate for Ward 3 city councilor. I’m a fan of Laurie’s work from her days as a Daily Hampshire Gazette reporter. Her stories were thoroughly researched, covering all angles of a particular issue and asking questions of multiple sources to get to the heart of the matter. Ward 3 will gain a lot with this kind of dedication to seeking the truth and understanding of an issue; now more than ever, we need this kind of effective representation. I’m excited to vote for her this fall and hope my Ward 3 neighbors will join me!

By RYAN AMES

AMHERST — The Amherst girls tennis team outlasted Ludlow, 4-1, in a marathon match on Monday at the Amherst Middle School Courts during the Class A semifinals of the girls tennis Western Mass. Tournament. The second-seeded Hurricanes took two pivotal points against the No. 3 Lions with match wins in second singles and first doubles — matches that took about two hours — to advance to the Class A championship against top-seeded Longmeadow.

By GARRETT COTE

NORTHAMPTON — Two weeks removed from their dramatic victory at the Amherst Invitational, the Amherst Regional girls varsity ultimate team added another accomplishment to their terrific spring season on Sunday.

By JILLIAN DUCLOS

Dear Northampton: My life here began at 19 working the counter at Sylvester’s, where I got to know the people that bring this city to life. It was there that, over at least a million cups of coffee, I learned about Northampton through the eyes of the people who live here, where I learned that Northampton is a community where people take care of one another, because this community took care of me.

There’s a saying here in New England that if you don’t like the weather, just wait five minutes. On May 10, the staff and volunteers at the Northampton Survival Center were crossing our fingers and hoping that a week of downpours wouldn’t hinder the flow of food arriving at the center through the Annual Post Office Food Drive. The letter carriers and community of the greater Northampton area didn’t let us down. By noon or so the sun was high and the donations were rolling in. The postal trucks delivered bag after bag of grocery items that will excite and delight our clients. Volunteers arrived with smiles and ready hands. Excitement, dedication, and community flowed through our pantry on the 10th as people worked together to bring what good they could into the world.

I was touched by Gazette columnist J.M. Sorrell’s most recent declaration of concern for American Jews facing rising anti-semitism [“Tribe of Radical Allies Against Hate (TORAAH),” May 7]. Actually, that’s not true: I found it simplistic and misguided. The writer’s willingness to take Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (FCAS) talking points at face value suggests a profound ignorance about the perilous political landscape in which American Jews find ourselves. FCAS is bankrolled by billionaire Patriots owner Robert Kraft, the richest man in Massachusetts. Leave aside for now Kraft’s history of fundraising for AIPAC and the Israeli Defense Force. How Kraft spends his own money is his business, but this is a guy who can’t even form a coherent opinion about Donald Trump. Forgive me if I find his motives, and his foundation’s “survey results,” questionable.

Like many towns in Massachusetts, we don’t fluoridate our water in Northampton. This policy (or lack-of-policy, really) is a holdover from the charming crankdom of yesteryear and naive misunderstandings (as well as willful misunderstandings) of the health science behind fluoridation dating from the 1940s. Every polity has its quirks, of course, and for decades, the resulting damage from fluoride inaction has been limited by the availability of prescription fluoride pills for children.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — A week after Nuttelman’s Florist fell victim to a large robbery, store owners say they have received an outpouring of community support that has helped the store recover from the theft.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — The Northampton Association of School Employees (NASE) union and the school district’s negotiating committee reached a tentative agreement on a new contract Wednesday, ending a work-to-rule action the union initiated on Monday.

By JUDSON BROWN

The Trump administration’s aggressive and highly publicized campaign to deport “undocumented criminal aliens” has swept up non-criminals and fully vetted refugees and documented temporary residents in its dragnet.

By THE REV. ANDREA AYVAZIAN

In recent weeks, I have asked friends and colleagues how they are feeling — probing beyond the perfunctory “fine” that people say when you connect momentarily in the grocery store. The list of feelings people have shared often include “angry.” Other emotions people commonly report are: scared, anxious, discouraged, motivated, stunned, and restless.

The writer of the May 6 letter to (“Medicare hooey”) has apparently not read the “Medicare for All” proposals introduced in Congress and state Legislatures across the U.S. to establish single-payer health care financing.