Info session at Westfield Tech will focus on preventing accidental overdoses

HOLYOKE – The Holyoke FTD Caregiver’s Support Group will be holding its monthly meeting as a virtual Zoom meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 8 from 4 to 5 p.m. It is for caregivers of those afflicted with Frontotemporal Degeneration. FTD is a rare brain disease, and is the most...

American International College recently appointed Bianca Figueroa-Santana as director of its newly-created Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging. Figueroa-Santana previously served as the college’s assistant director of diversity education. Said college president Hubert Benitez, “We look forward to supporting Bianca as she takes on this new and important...

Minnechaug Regional High School’s unique problem of lights that can’t be turned off recently gained national attention, but one student within the school already had the scoop more than a year ago. Lilli DiGrande, a 16-year-old junior and co-editor of “The Smoke Signal,” the online school newspaper, published...

Workforce professionals from all over the Northeast will be on the Holyoke Community College campus on March 17 for the 12th New England Workforce Network Conference. The network is a collaborative of regional workforce professionals. The theme of this year’s conference is “Reimagining the Workforce,” which reflects the turbulent times of adjusting to the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The week of Jan. 23 was bittersweet for Maxine Stein. It was her final one before retirement as chief executive officer of Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts, a nonprofit perhaps best known for its decades-long resettlement of refugees in the Greater Springfield area. In the last year alone, the...

Orlando Taylor III was on the verge of getting help for the mental struggles he’s been fighting through since graduating high school. But the day before his scheduled appointment with a recommended mental health professional, he was shot and killed during an altercation with police.

The following is a listing of all real estate transfers in Hampshire County reported from Jan. 29 to Feb 5. There were 24 transactions posted during this time. During this period, the median sale for the area was a 880-square-foot home on Station Road in Amherst that sold for $380,000.

Dinesh Patel and Glanee Patel acquired the property at 908 Frank Smith Road, Longmeadow, from Subhash C Grover and Neena Grover on Jan. 20, 2023, for $490,000 which works out to $194 per square foot. The property features four bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a garage. The unit sits on a 0.5-acre lot.

WESTFIELD — The Athenaeum will collaborate with Westfield State University this Friday afternoon on a program that will introduce and promote the university’s new zine collection. What are zines? According to Becky Blackburn, public services librarian at the Westfield Athenaeum, they’re self-published and small-print-run non-commercial handmade magazines.

Cynthia G. Simison, whose career at The Republican stretches back nearly 50 years, will retire as its executive editor on March 1. She will be succeeded by Larry Parnass, who has had a presence in journalism in Western Massachusetts since the 1980s. George Arwady, publisher and CEO of The Republican,...

Riccardo Albano bought the property at 7 Surrey Lane, Wilbraham, from Cynthia L Catuogno on Jan. 19, 2023. The $435,000 purchase price works out to $174 per square foot. The property features four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a garage and sits on a 81,911 square-foot lot. Additional houses have recently...

SPRINGFIELD – One man was killed in a multi-car crash that sent two other drivers to the hospital early Sunday morning. One of the drivers, whose name was not released, died at the scene from injuries he received in the crash. The other two were taken to Baystate Medical Center by ambulance for evaluation of possible injuries, said Ryan Walsh, police spokesman.

CHICOPEE – An electrical fire left one person displaced Saturday. The fire broke out at about 1:30 p.m. on Carter Drive. The resident was not home but Chicopee Fire Department emergency medical technicians spotted smoke coming from the house while returning from an ambulance call, said Fire Capt. Katie Collins Kalbaugh.

WESTFIELD — The City Council will determine whether Westfield spends $110,000 to buy about 17 acres of riverfront land near the Russell town line. City Planner Jay Vinskey initially proposed the purchase to the city Conservation Commission and Community Preservation Committee, which both voted in favor of it. It would be funded in part by the city’s Community Preservation Act fund.

Wilbraham police are asking for the public’s help in locating a 70-year-old man who has been reported missing. Officials are trying to locate Paul Pirro, who was last seen in Hampden at about 6:15 a.m. Sunday. Pirro may be driving a white 2001 Chevrolet Impala with a Massachusetts registration...

WESTFIELD – A fire that displaced at least a dozen people on Saturday was caused by someone trying to thaw frozen pipes. The fire was reported at about 11:15 a.m. at a three-story, multi-family home on 9 Brush Street. No one was injured in the blaze, Deputy Fire Chief Seth Ellis said.

A house in Springfield that sold for $75,000 tops the list of the most affordable real estate sales in Hampden County between Jan. 29 and Feb. 5. In total, 75 real estate sales were recorded in the area during the last week, with an average price of $291,305. The average price per square foot ended up at $196.

The following is a listing of all real estate transfers in Worcester County reported from Jan. 29 to Feb 5. There were 179 transactions posted during this time. During this period, the median sale for the area was a 2,160-square-foot home on Patriots Road in Templeton that sold for $417,500.

Members of the Hampden County Narcotics Task Force arrested three Holyoke residents after it executed a search warrant at a home at 392 Pleasant St. in Holyoke Thursday. The task force seized approximately 844 grams of heroin and more than 260 grams of powdered cocaine. The heroin had been divided into 34,150 individual bags for sale on the streets.

HOLYOKE — Mayor Joshua A. Garcia released a five-year budget forecast workbook, a new tool to project the city’s fiscal future. The mayor appeared Wednesday before the City Council’s Finance Committee. Garcia responded to an order filed by Councilor at-large Kevin Jourdain, who was concerned about the...