Ashfield News

AT 654 PM EDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WITH THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE WIND GUSTS TO 40 MPH AND SMALL HAIL ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM 2 MILES EAST OF ASHFIELD TO HUNTINGTON...OR ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM 8 MILES SOUTHWEST OF GREENFIELD TO 12 MILES SOUTHWEST OF NORTHAMPTON...MOVING NORTHEAST AT ...

Robert Purinton, a native of Buckland, is on a mission. He wants a monument created to list names of all persons who served in the military from World War I on.

Two years ago, Sidehill Farm was gearing up to turn milk from its small herd of Normandy cows into the region's first homemade organic yogurt.

Good fences make good neighbors, poet Robert Frost wrote. But that was in the days before ''sustainable'' became a buzzword along with ''ecological'' -- concepts that are woven into alternative housing arrangements like Wisdom Way Solar Village, Salmon Falls Co-Housing Association and Katywil ''eco-village'' in Colrain.

Perhaps the only bad thing about having enormous talent is that it can be taken away, and too soon.

Wesley Horner had spent three decades in Boston and Washington, D.C., producing radio documentaries and performances with Billy Joel, the Boston Philharmonic, Lena Horne, Dave Brubeck, Jerry Lee Lewis and other notables before he landed in Franklin County six years ago and met some of Franklin County's farming families.

The town has something special in store for this year's Memorial Day parade as fire apparatus from 20 different departments will be featured in a parade beginning at 3:30 p.m. Fire Chief Lawrence Ordyna has sought help from fire agencies in Adams, Ashfield, Charlemont, Cheshire, Chesterfield, Clarksburg, Colrain, Cummington, Florida, Hawley, ...

Gilbert ''Bud'' Howes, 90, of Ashfield died on Mother's Day, May 10, 2009. Born on April 27, 1919, he was the son of the late Leon and Stella Howes and coincidentally died on his late Mom's birthday.

A new regulation will force restaurants to post calorie counts on their menu. The Massachusetts Public Health Council passed the regulation Wednesday.

There's something about facing death that seems to draw people to the face of a mountain.

By DAVID A. VALLETTE dvallette@repub.com HAWLEY - A plan for the Hawlemont Regional School District to merge with the Mohawk Trail Regional School District has been thwarted by the town of Hawley, and it is unclear if it can be resurrected.

Despite a write-in challenger, Selectboard member Thomas Ulrich of Norton Hill Road was able to keep his seat for another three-year term in Saturday's annual town election.

Franklin County Health Officials are the first in Western Mass to issue a statement about swine flu.

This is a 7:40 p.m. update of a story originally posted at noon. By MICHAEL McAULIFFE mmcauliffe@repub.com The state Department of Public Health Wednesday confirmed the first two cases of swine flu in Massachusetts.

The nation has recorded 64 confirmed cases of swine flu in five states. Now Massachusetts Public Health officials are on high alert.

Seven disappointed Sanderson Academy students were heading home late Monday night, their long-awaited visit to Mexico City cut short by fears at home that the children could be exposed to the Swine Flu virus that has closed schools and other public venues in Mexico.

By DAVID A. VALLETTE dvallette@repub.com CHARLEMONT - Annual Town Meetings on dates spread throughout the month of May will determine whether the state's oldest regional school district dissolves into a larger district.

Clark, Alvan , a United States maker of astronomical lenses. Five times his firm, Alvan Clark & Sons, made the then-largest telescope lens in the world.

If you're taking the time to grow your own tomatoes and make your own dough, why not make your own mozzarella cheese to finish that pizza? Unbelievable as it may sound, the perfect ball of mozzarella, made fresh in your own kitchen, can be yours in an hour or less.

Despite a devastating December storm that damaged many maple sugar trees, as this year's season winds down many sugarers in Franklin County report an average season.