Hilltowns
Granville ballot to feature contested Selectboard seat race
GRANVILLE — When residents visit Town Hall on Monday, April 8, to cast ballots in the 2024 municipal election, there is only one contested seat, and it’s on the Selectboard. Current Selectboard Chair Nicole Berndt is being challenged by a longtime member and...
Outside tuitions drive proposed hikes in STGRSD budget
SOUTHWICK — While residents of Southwick and Granville will be asked to increase their annual allocation to the schools for fiscal year 2025, Tolland would pay less. During a March 15 hearing at the Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District offices, it...
Sponsors step in to save Westfield River Wildwater Races
After hearing that the Westfield River Wildwater Races would be canceled this year, Jeff DeFeo couldn’t just go with the flow. The Montgomery resident saw the March 8 notice while wintering in Florida. As a competitor in the races since 1974 and a former committee...
Gateway staff share findings from grant-funded school visits
HUNTINGTON — Gateway Regional School District administrators and teachers, who visited schools around the country during the “dream” phase of the Barr Foundation grant, related some of the programs that impressed them during a professional development day for staff...
Blandford voters back library expansion with state grant aid
BLANDFORD — On the Special Town Meeting warrant of March 18 was a vote to move forward with a grant application for an expansion of the Porter Memorial Library, a step that library director Nicole Daviau said the town has been waiting for five years to take. “Every...
Gateway seeks 3.2% budget hike with insurance costs rising
HUNTINGTON — The Gateway Regional School District presented the fiscal year 2025 budget at a public hearing on March 6. Superintendent Kristen Smidy said overall the budget of $17,971,760 reflects a 3.24% increase, which she added is a little lower than...
Southern Hilltowns vote like state to support Biden, Trump in primary
Joseph Biden and Donald Trump widened their leads in the presidential nomination races on March 5, and voters in both Massachusetts as a whole, and the southern Hilltowns in particular, placed themselves firmly in the front-runners’ corners. Both major-party...
Chester weighing sale of town’s electric utility to Eversource
CHESTER — Back in November 2023, Eversource Energy offered to buy the electric utility assets of the Chester Municipal Electric Light Department, and as the town recently made the details of the deal public, the buzz around the potential deal has only increased....
Tolland teen wins patriotic essay contest 3rd year in a row
TOLLAND — For the third year in a row Leo Dennis, a ninth grader attending Southwick Regional School, has been awarded first place in Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 873’s annual essay contest. “My mom told me about [the essay contest] and said, ‘You’re a good...
Theater hosts 2 world premieres in 35th anniversary season
CHESTER — Co-producing artistic directors James Barry and Tara Franklin have announced the plays included in the 35th anniversary season of the Chester Theatre Company.
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