Alex Milan Tracy for Underscore
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The dozens of independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan news organizations that make up the Rural News Network are developing the broadest news alliance reporting on rural America. These newsrooms are pursuing coverage that provides a more complete picture of what it means to live and work in these communities.
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LATEST NEWS FROM THE NETWORK
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Cannabis cafes are headed to western Mass. But who will profit?
January 21, 2026
Expanded cannabis regulations promise a head start to those harmed by the War on Drugs. That is, if they don’t get tangled in red tape.
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No sprinklers installed before Holyoke fires — and none required
January 12, 2026
“The Holyoke Fire Department would like to have sprinklers in all our buildings, but we are bound by the building code and the law,” said Capt. David Rex, a department spokesperson.
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AI Hallucination? Proposed Westfield data center appears abandoned by developers
December 30, 2025
The Shoestring’s investigation uncovered signs the project’s developers may have abandoned it, even after local officials spent years arranging for significant tax breaks.
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Life under ICE: Surviving and organizing amid a new immigration regime
August 16, 2025
Federal agents have already disappeared some living without legal status in western Mass; for others, fear pervades.
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Smith College dining workers ratify “landmark” union contract
June 13, 2025
Over 500 food workers at the private school have become the latest western Mass union members to secure their first contract.
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Doxing, death threats, deportation: How the far right stifled campus activism and sent ICE after a local student
June 09, 2025
Militant groups have targeted local Palestine-solidarity activists — part of what they say is an intimidation campaign to silence them.
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Attacks on health research could cost local economy millions
May 09, 2025
Trump’s cuts to science funding would have big impacts for researchers, patients, and public health, too.
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“Dangerous” Medicaid cuts likely coming for MassHealth, CHIP programs
March 23, 2025
Massachusetts residents and lawmakers are in a state of limbo waiting for updates on proposed federal cuts to Medicaid. They say the effects of those cuts would be devastating.
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“Protect Public Participation”: Greenfield Codifies Remote Access to Meetings
January 11, 2025
With the state’s temporary remote-access provisions set to expire in less than three months, Greenfield acted to “integrate disability justice” into local governance, one city councilor said.
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At the Last Bastion of Rent Control, Requests for Big Hikes
September 23, 2024
In Ludlow, Orange, and other small towns across Massachusetts, rent control boards are arbitrating bitter struggles between landowners seeking rent increases, and residents who say they fear being priced out and losing their homes.
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Parks and Wrecked: Inside Easthampton’s Crumbling Maintenance Building
August 01, 2024
With new parks in planning stages, some question when long overdue building upgrades will be prioritized for the parks department.
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Amid A Police Corruption Scandal, One Of Massachusetts’ Smallest Towns Rebuilds Its Government
May 06, 2024
Leyden’s former police chief is now facing charges. But town residents have been working on reform for years.
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Help that Hurts: Easthampton’s Policing of an Autistic Transgender Adult
February 09, 2024
Is pairing police with mental health professionals actually improving outcomes for western Mass residents experiencing crises?
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The Forest and the Trees: Western Mass’ Solar Siting Problem
December 13, 2023
Climate activists agree forests aren’t the best place to build solar. So why is it still happening?
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The Wired, Wired West: The Collapse of Public Internet in Easthampton and the Struggle to Connect Massachusetts’s Overlooked Communities
October 04, 2023
Easthampton’s defunct efforts to create a publicly owned utility are a case study in the challenges of bringing affordable, reliable internet to the region.
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