Sunderland News

Sales expectations were low, at least according to one retail group, but shoppers still mobbed the Hampshire Mall in the wee hours of what's come to be known as Black Friday.

First the good news: from pennies to big checks, residents across the Valley pitched in some $70,000 for the Sydney F. Smith Toy Fund in 2008.

Alice C. Jekanowski, 93, formerly of Sunderland, died on Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009, at Baystate Franklin Medical Center.

A Franklin County community is stepping up to help out fellow residents who lost everything after a fire ripped through their apartment building.

Sugarbush Meadows, the 150-unit apartment complex proposed for Plumtree Road and Route 116, might not be built after all.

Kenneth W. Duda, 65, of 317 Montague Road, died unexpectedly on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009.

Thomas Glen Hollingsworth, of South Deerfield, Mass., age 79, died October 23, 2009 at the Cozy Corner Nursing Home in Sunderland, Massachusetts.

A U.S. Magistrate ruled Thursday that a strip search policy at the Franklin County Jail and House of Correction in Greenfield is unconstitutional.

Deborah Snow and Barbara White, who operate the Blue Heron Restaurant in Sunderland, are planning a "scary good time" this Halloween.

Tom Ricardi, bottom right, releases a 14-pound female bald eagle that he raised from an egg laid by a pair of bald eagles in April that he cares for at his raptor rehabilitation center in Conway.

George M. Hubbard, 80, of 303 Chapman St., died unexpectedly Saturday evening at Baystate Franklin Medical Center.

Jacqueline and Robert Gaines have created a maze in the shape of a cow on their dairy farm in Bernarston.

Theodore ''Teddy'' S. Liguz, 74, of 9 Conway St., died Tuesday evening in Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield.

Route 116 through Sunderland is known as a fast and busy road. Two more pedestrians have been injured in a spot where others have been hurt and even killed.

On Sept. 20, Pazzo Ristorante , in Springfield, will pitch in to help the local affiliate of Rebuilding Together, a nationwide network that works to preserve affordable home ownership and revitalize communities.

Two people suffered serious injuries Tuesday when a truck hit them while they crossed the street in Franklin County.

An accident on Amherst Road Tuesday left two women injured, police said. State police in Northampton said they assisted Sunderland police in directing traffic after two women were struck by a vehicle when crossing the street at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Residents and officials are looking for a way to make a crosswalk safer, after two women were struck by a truck on Tuesday.

A Sunderland resident still remains at Baystate Medical Center in fair condition after she and a friend were hit by a car on Amherst Road Tuesday, said Sunderland Police Chief Jeffrey Gilbert.

Two women were struck by a pickup while crossing Route 116 in front of the Squire Village Shopping Plaza around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, police said.