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Five Colleges plan for more robust on-campus experience in fall A solitary person walks past the Old Chapel at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. GAZETTE FILE PHOTO/KEVING GUTTING Smith College students cross the central campus in Northampton. GAZETTE FILE PHOTO/KEVIN GUTTING Students walk to and from the Mount Holyoke College Blanchard Campus Center. GAZETTE FILE PHOTO Hampshire College GAZETTE FILE PHOTO Signs like this one posted at Noah Webster Circle near College Street (Rt. 9) announce that the Amherst College campus is closed to the public. GAZETTE FILE PHOTO Published: 4/14/2021 7:47:51 PM Come fall, college campuses in the area are expected to look much like they did prior to the shutdowns that began at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, though mask-wearing and social distancing protocols could remain necessary, and vaccines may be required. ....
Mayor mulls police reform while drafting budget Northampton City Hall GAZETTE FILE PHOTO Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz GAZETTE FILE PHOTO Northampton Police Chief Jody Kasper, right, and Captain John Cartledge march with the Northampton Police Department down Main Street during a Northampton Memorial Day parade in Florence. GAZETTE FILE PHOTO Published: 4/14/2021 7:48:50 PM NORTHAMPTON The Policing Review Commission presented its final report to the City Council late last month with a number of suggestions to change policing in the city. Now, as Mayor David Narkewicz drafts what will be his final city budget, what happens next? The report’s main suggestion: creating a Department of Community Care that would be independent of the Police Department and would, through the city’s dispatch system, send unarmed responders to nonviolent calls such as those related to mental health. ....
Northampton restaurateur running for Ward 4 City Council seat JESSE HASSINGER Published: 4/13/2021 7:59:04 PM NORTHAMPTON Downtown restaurant owner Jesse Hassinger has joined four other newcomers running for City Council. While the others are running for two at-large seats, Hassinger, who is co-owner of Belly of the Beast, is the only person who has publicly announced his candidacy for the Ward 4 seat. Current Ward 4 City Councilor John Thorpe has said he will not be seeking reelection. Hassinger, 40, moved from Boston to Northampton in 2015 and he and his wife, Aimee Francaes, opened Belly of the Beast downtown. Last summer, Hassinger became more active in city government amid calls to cut the city’s Police Department budget and when digital meetings made it easier for him to participate, he said. ....
Hope on Wheels project aims to help homeless Melinda Shaw of Florence and BJ Church of Northampton work on assembling a humanity pod as part of a project to provide the local homeless population with a modular live-in unit. FOR THE GAZETTE/SABATO VISCONTI BJ Church of Northampton attaches a puncture-resistant wheel to a humanity pod, a modular sleeper and storage camper, at her garage in Northampton. FOR THE GAZETTE/SABATO VISCONTI Melinda Shaw of Florence and BJ Church of Northampton spend a Saturday morning building a prototype humanity pod as part of an effort to provide local homeless residents with DIY modular live-in units, in Northampton. FOR THE GAZETTE/SABATO VISCONTI ....
Northampton School Committee approves $33M budget John F. Kennedy Middle School in Northampton GAZETTE FILE PHOTO Published: 4/11/2021 8:31:06 PM NORTHAMPTON After discussing options for supporting high school students coming back to school in person post-pandemic, the School Committee approved a $33 million budget at its meeting Thursday. The committee did not vote on the budget at its last meeting in March which ended with a request for the school district to consider ways to provide additional social emotional support for high school students through the budget process, Superintendent John Provost said Thursday. Provost pitched spending around $10,000 in COVID-19 relief funding for curriculum and training in social emotional learning support for everyone at the high school. Already, there is similar programming for all students in the elementary and middle schools, Provost said. ....