Articles

30 pieces from the newsroom: what happened in the valley, and what we tested this month.

Local news

• Northampton pushes Armory Street garage repairs to spring The city council voted 6-3 to delay the deck work, and the two lower levels stay closed through the winter. Dana Whitcomb · August 14, 2026
• Amherst school committee cuts $1.2 million before the fall term Four positions go unfilled and the middle school loses its late bus. Parents packed the hearing anyway. Marisol Reyes · August 11, 2026
• Holyoke opens the second stretch of the canal walk The new half mile runs from Appleton Street to the old mill gate, eleven years after the first section. Tomas Oyelaran · August 9, 2026
• Storms put the Connecticut River over its banks in Hadley Four inches of rain in two days closed River Drive and soaked about 300 acres of farmland. Dana Whitcomb · August 7, 2026
• PVTA redraws six bus routes before the semester starts The B43 loses its Florence loop, the 38 runs later on weekends, and riders have until August 24 to comment. Priya Chandrasekhar · August 5, 2026
• Greenfield hospital nurses settle after eleven months The three-year deal sets staffing floors on two floors and raises night differentials. Marisol Reyes · August 3, 2026
• Springfield keeps cooling centers open into a sixth day Six libraries and two schools are running late hours, and the city says the buses to them are free. Tomas Oyelaran · July 31, 2026
• Valley orchards go into apple season short on pickers Growers from Belchertown to Shelburne say visa paperwork ran late again, and the early Galas will not wait. Priya Chandrasekhar · July 28, 2026
• Hilltown broadband build passes the halfway mark Fiber reached 1,900 of 3,500 homes across seven towns. The last stretch is the expensive one. Dana Whitcomb · July 24, 2026
• Valley rents climb again as vacancy falls under two percent A one-bedroom in Northampton now lists at $1,780 on average, up 9 percent in a year. Marisol Reyes · July 21, 2026

Cars

• Ten cars ranked for a Pioneer Valley winter We weighted ground clearance, heater speed and what happens on an unplowed hill at 6 a.m. Gil Brannigan · August 15, 2026
• Subaru Outback review: the wagon that fits the valley Two weeks, 900 miles, one canoe on the roof and a trunk full of farm share. Gil Brannigan · August 12, 2026
• Ford F-150 Lightning review: three weeks of farm errands The range held up better than we expected. The charging map did not. Rosalind Two Bears · August 8, 2026
• Nine used cars under $15,000, ranked by how long they last here Road salt is the real test. Two of these rust out before the timing belt goes. Gil Brannigan · August 4, 2026
• Minivans ranked by what actually fits in the back We measured with a hockey bag, a dresser, four kids and a very large dog. Rosalind Two Bears · July 30, 2026
• Toyota Camry hybrid review: 47 miles a day on Route 9 A month of commuting from Amherst to Pittsfield, with the numbers we wrote down at every fill. Gil Brannigan · July 26, 2026
• Six cars we would not buy for a pothole spring Big wheels, thin sidewalls and soft control arms make March expensive. Rosalind Two Bears · July 22, 2026

Computers

• Laptops for students, ranked Eight machines, one September. We graded battery life, repairs and how they survive a full backpack. Wendell Ochoa · August 16, 2026
• Dell Inspiron desktop review: $520 and no surprises A boring beige box that does the taxes, the homework and about half a video edit. Wendell Ochoa · August 13, 2026
• Monitors ranked for a small apartment desk Everything here fits on a 42-inch desk without pushing the keyboard off the front. Hazel Kirkbride · August 10, 2026
• Framework Laptop 13 review: a Linux laptop that sleeps properly Close the lid, open it two days later, still 91 percent. That used to be a fantasy. Wendell Ochoa · August 6, 2026
• Five mini PCs, ranked All of them fit behind a monitor. Only two of them stay quiet doing it. Hazel Kirkbride · August 2, 2026
• Keyboards ranked by how loud they are through an apartment wall We typed the same paragraph on nine keyboards with a meter in the next room. Hazel Kirkbride · July 29, 2026
• Reviving a nine-year-old laptop: what actually helped We tried seven fixes on a 2017 machine and timed the boot after each one. Wendell Ochoa · July 25, 2026

Paint

• Apartment paint brands, ranked Seven brands on the same primed wall, judged on coverage, smell and what a magic eraser does to them. Frances Delacroix · August 17, 2026
• The best white paint for a rental you have to hand back Landlord white is a real color, and some versions of it are much easier to match later. Frances Delacroix · August 15, 2026
• Bathroom paint tested in an apartment with no fan Five paints, one windowless bathroom, four months of hot showers and a mildew count. Ike Sandoval · August 9, 2026
• Four cheap paints on the same wall Under $30 a gallon, rolled the same day by the same person, photographed at 24 and 72 hours. Frances Delacroix · August 1, 2026
• Primers ranked for painting over dark rental walls Someone painted the bedroom eggplant. Here is what covers it in two coats instead of five. Ike Sandoval · July 27, 2026
• One-coat paint claims, tested Six cans promise one coat. We rolled one coat and then stood back in daylight. Frances Delacroix · July 23, 2026