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By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — The City Council on Thursday rejected a proposal that would have given it the authority to increase the school budget, with tense discussions highlighting the way school funding has divided city politics.

Northampton is a beautiful, thriving city, so it’s no surprise that many people want to live here. But that popularity comes with a cost: housing prices have soared. Young people, new families, and longtime residents alike find it increasingly hard to find a place they can afford. We can’t preserve Northampton’s vitality by freezing it in time. Welcoming new neighbors, including at the proposed apartment building on Phillips Place, is essential if we want a living city, not just a historic artifact.

I too have been disappointed not to see more students and Gen Zers at anti-Trump protests. But I haven’t been surprised. Born in the ’90s, I share their frustration with older Democrats. A formative experience for many in my generation was trying, and failing, to get our parents to vote for Bernie in the 2016 primary — only to watch the DNC hand the nomination to Hillary Clinton and the presidency to Trump. Four years later, COVID stunted our 20s, while our elders’ stock portfolios soared just months later. Today in the Valley, more and more of us are being priced out of renting in towns like Northampton (home ownership completely out of the question), thanks in part to older Democrats who, behind a granola façade, quietly oppose affordable housing policies that threaten their property values.

By CHRIS LARABEE

Names like John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin all evoke the image of the United States’ Founding Fathers, but have you ever heard of Major Joseph Hawley?

BY RYAN AMES

Everything changed when Charlie Edwards took over the Northampton boys lacrosse team in 2024. The Blue Devils had five straight seasons with a losing record prior to Edwards’ arrival and interest in the program was low from prospective athletes.

By ALEXA LEWIS

EASTHAMPTON — Under the watchful eye of Michelle Prindle, 10-year-old Carya Verson worked on perfecting a short song on the piano on a Monday afternoon. She began by playing a lilting melody with her right hand before moving onto some deeper notes with her left. When she combined the two, music filled the small room to the brim.

BY RANDI KLEIN

Americans’ voting rights are under assault from pending legislation and a presidential executive order. Led by the League of Women Voters (LWV) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Americans are fighting back against attempts to make it harder for millions of eligible voters to have their voices heard.

Two months ago, some local service providers gathered to describe the impacts of possible funding cuts from the federal government. It was grim. And dire. It felt, someone said, like the room where our dreams of a better world went to die.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — City schools will avoid layoffs next fiscal year under a budget proposal announced earlier this week by the mayor, though Superintendent Portia Bonner said Wednesday that other reductions in services are expected.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — As he fought to swim to the shore along the Oxbow of the Connecticut River Tuesday afternoon, his lungs taking in heavy amounts of water, thoughts of his own mortality began to enter the mind of James Roberts.

Sure, I’d rather not get the finger but sometimes it’s actually pretty awesome.

A recent letter writer from Easthampton has spoken up for building housing [“Yes, in my backyard,” Gazette, April 26]. He’s probably in favor of apple pie, too. Those of us who have questioned the wisdom of building a five-story building (54 market-rate units) in our [Hawley Street and Phillips Place] neighborhood, predictably, must be NIMBYs. I don’t suppose the letterwriter attended the April 24 Planning Board public hearing at which we stated our concerns and objections: the outsized scale, the overloading of a small street with cars and traffic and the strain on the storm water system, to name a few.

This year 197 Northampton students will receive a total of $158,800 from the Northampton Chapter of Dollars for Scholars. This is both the largest number of scholarships and the largest dollar amount in our 51-year history of supporting local students who are continuing their education beyond high school.

While civility is important, Ward 3 of Northampton deserves a city councilor that aims to do more than get along. We need effective advocacy and improvement for residents, in addition to the basics of respectfully working with other members of municipal government. We need more housing, built in a way that improves the character of a neighborhood and provides stable homes for decades to come, as well as maintenance and improvements to existing housing. We need well-funded public infrastructure, including sidewalk repair, robust schools, and municipal internet. We need city services that are easy to access, ways to report issues like unshoveled bus stops or car-eating potholes, and the ability to track progress and see what’s been done. We need to mitigate harms from necessary actions, like providing grants to local businesses impacted by the construction fixing the sewers. We need councilors that actively reach out and ask, how can our government be flexible and creative in solving problems? How can we proactively make improvements? How can we support all who live, work, and learn here, especially those who have historically been un- or under-supported? With those goals, I ask for your support in my candidacy for Ward 3 City Council. Let’s make the ward, and the city, a better place for all.

Regarding the article, “Letter to feds riles library backers,” (Gazette, April 23), here is a letter I intend to send to the White House:

Valley Players’ third “Bard in the Bar” reading will be on Sunday, May 4, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Progression Brewing in Northampton.

Although it was not the first time I’ve read a one-sided hate filled opinion from this local clergy (“The butcher and the megalomaniac,” by the Rev. Peter Kakos, Gazette, April 19), I am shocked that a “person of God” continues to write such antisemitic vitriol.

The Northampton Post 28 Senior Legion baseball team (19U) will be holding tryouts on Saturday, May 3 and Sunday, May 4 from 10 a.m. to noon, and again on Saturday, May 10 also from 10 a.m. to noon at Arcanum Field in Florence.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra has signaled she intends to give the school district $43.8 million in the city’s upcoming fiscal 2026 budget, a 5.8% increase from the current year but likely not enough to appease advocates of higher school spending.

By EMILEE KLEIN

NORTHAMPTON — Whether it’s injecting more whimsy in festivities or rallying to preserve civil protections for queer communities, Hampshire Pride promises to be bigger and bolder for its third year under new leadership.