LONGMEADOW — Educators are often thanked and hailed for their dedication to their students, but on Oct. 3, the Longmeadow Educational Excellence Foundation put its money where its mouth is, and it is the students who will reap the benefits.

EAST LONGMEADOW — Over the past 20 years, there has been a movement to make downtowns livelier and safer by making them more walkable.

WESTFIELD — With a little less than a month remaining before the Nov. 4 municipal election, candidates’ signs are starting to fill in on residents’ lawns alongside the falling leaves.

SPRINGFIELD — A 35-year-old program just got another boost from state Sen. John Velis during a small gathering on Sept. 26 at the Massachusetts State Police Barracks on Liberty Street.

GRANVILLE — The town’s population, which is about 1,600, will swell by a factor of at least five when it opens its 42nd annual Harvest Fair.

HOLYOKE — On Sept. 29, Gov. Maura Healey hosted the second regional roundtable discussion about collaborative public safety strategies statewide and the results of the 2025 Commonwealth Project Safe Neighborhood Initiative initiative so far.

NORTHAMPTON — The Haunted Train at Look Park is returning once again for seven days during the month of October including a Fall Festival celebration culminating the annual Halloween celebrations.

SPRINGFIELD — A new study conducted by Way Finders and the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute confirms that Western Mass. is facing a severe housing shortage across its four counties.

AGAWAM — Construction of the new high school “remains on time and on budget at this point,” said Mayor Christopher Johnson in a recent update on the project to the School Committee.

Two young men with ties to Western Massachusetts were part of an all-volunteer humanitarian aid flotilla intercepted by the Israeli Navy in waters outside of Gaza early the morning of Oct. 2.