From Other Sources: News for and About Amherst:  This Week, Catching Up

I have assembled some stories from last week that we were unable to cover in the Indy and that I think are worth reading. But first I provide a few recommendations from readings that had an impact on my thinking last week.

Are Paywalls An Obstacle?”
Here at the Indy, we support several other publications with our personal subscriptions, and we encourage our readers to do the same as they are able.  And for this feature, we try to post articles that are not hiding behind a paywall.  But sometimes an article worth reading IS hiding behind a paywall, and subscription to the source is just not feasible. For such instances there are workarounds. Check out some possibilities here.

Share The Good Stuff That You Are Reading
Have you read something that you think is worth sharing? Share the link in the comments section below and tell us why you are sharing it.

Here’s Some of What I Have Been Reading That’s Had an Impact
Here are two blog posts and a book that I have been thinking about a lot this week. Heather Cox Richardson’s post explores how Trump is redesigning/defiling the historic landscape of Washington, D.C. while imposing restrictions on how the history of America can be told. Scot Nakagawa’s piece offers practical advice on how to support folks who are the targets/victims of immigration enforcement. Both posts are short, provocative reads. And the book by Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon, which I heartily recommend, helps to get us past the disabling discourse that says that there is no hope for peace in Israel and Palestine. Instead of lamenting what can’t be done, these authors are doing something.

The Trump administration is trying to rewrite the history of the United States by Heather Cox Richardson (7/27/26). Trump officials reject our traditional understanding that the country was based on the ideas the Founders wrote in the Declaration of Independence and that Americans from all walks of life have struggled ever since to make those principles come to life.In place of that historic understanding, the administration argues that the United States was founded as a white nation whose citizens are defined by their European heritage and the land they inhabited, an echo of the “blood and soil” ideology of Germany in the 1930s. (“Letters from an American” on Substack)

What You Can Do Right Now by Scot Nakagawa (7/9/26). The most common thing I hear from people who are not directly targeted by the immigration assault is some version of: I want to do something. I just don’t know what. That’s an honest place to start. So let me give you something honest back – not a feel-good checklist, but a real map of what action looks like at different levels of commitment, risk, and capacity. Not everyone can do everything. But everyone can do something. And the something you do matters, because in a campaign designed to make people disappear, visibility is resistance. Start where you are. Build from there. (“The Antiauthoritarian Playbook” on Substack)

The Future is Peace by Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon has received widespread critical acclaim. It is a short and easy read (226 pages) and tells the story of two tour operators, one Palestinian and one Israeli, both of whom lost family to the conflict, who form a deep friendship while creating a company that offers dual-narrative tours of the Holy Land, with a vision of creating cross-cultural understanding and a path toward peace in the region. The book is a reflection on an 8-day tour of Israel/Palestine that they took together, following the October 7 Hamas attack. Inon lost both of his parents in that attack. This book is neither as complex nor as nuanced as Apieregon by Colm McCann (also the story of a deep friendship forged between two former combatants, one Palestinian and one Israeli, and also worth your time), but it is filled with idealism and optimism at a time when cynicism and despair prevail. (Penguin Random House)

Area News Roundup
Pediatricians and Health Officials are Sidestepping Trump’s CDC on Vaccine Advice by Karen Brown (7/30/26). Dr. John Snyder, in Amherst, Mass., has been practicing pediatrics for 30 years. Whenever he wanted to find the most up-to-date research on treating young patients, he would turn to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.If he wanted to learn more about an outbreak of measles or hantavirus, he would pore over the weekly CDC report that came by email.If a patient’s family was traveling to Africa or Asia, he would check the latest CDC vaccine recommendations for overseas travel.And if family members at his practice in Amherst, Mass., expressed worries about potential side effects from a shot, he could always send them to the CDC’s website to bolster his argument to get the immunization.Public trust in the CDC has hit bumps in the road during infectious disease outbreaks, but for medical professionals, Snyder said, “the CDC used to be, worldwide, the most trusted source of information pertaining to public health and infectious disease.” (Vermont Public Media)

Recent Rainfall Helps with Ongoing Drought Conditions by Adam Strzempko (7/30/26).  Heavy rainfall has moved across western Massachusetts since this past Tuesday, with some communities recording between three and five inches of rain. The precipitation follows a prolonged period of dry weather that had left much of the region in a moderate drought.The persistent rain has provided a necessary boost to local water levels and agricultural operations. While the current U.S. Drought Monitor still classifies most of the area in the moderate drought category, that report does not account for the significant rainfall that occurred after 8 a.m. Tuesday. (WWLP)

A Stirring Sequel: Pioneer Valley Bookstore Crawl Returns with an Expanded Footprint by Pearl Davis (7/30/26). For book lovers in the Valley, a weekend road trip just got a lot more rewarding. Sixteen independent booksellers have joined forces for the second annual Pioneer Valley Bookstore Crawl, a season-long scavenger hunt that turns local shopping into a community-wide adventure, running through Aug. 31.Driven by a customized passport system, the expanded event that’s already underway and runs through August has more than doubled its roster from last year, offering prizes, community connections and a structured map to help readers discover hidden literary gems right in their own backyard.The independent shops anchoring this year’s crawl span across the region and include: High Five Books and Bookends in Florence; Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley; Amherst Books and The Carle Museum Bookshop in Amherst; Booklink Booksellers, Broadside Bookshop, and Interlink Showroom in Northampton; Book Moon Books and Comics N’More in Easthampton; Federal Street Books and Roundabout Books in Greenfield; A New Chapter in West Springfield; Olive Tree Books-n-Voices and Rumspringa Books in Springfield; and Unnameable Books in Turners Falls. (Greenfield Recorder)

Downtown Amherst in Flux: Closures, Openings and a Call to Shop Local by Scott Merzbach (7/29/26). Beers and wines, bread, fresh produce and other kitchen essentials have filled the shelves at Aster + Pine Market in downtown Amherst for the past 2½ years, in what its owners described as a European-inspired market. As July ends, though, so will the store. Bill and Mallory Nurse, a Holyoke couple who opened the shop at 189 North Pleasant St. in February 2024, are citing various challenges for the closure. These include foot traffic that’s lower than what Northampton offers, a difficult national and regional economy, and a lack of help from the University of Massachusetts in promoting the town’s main commercial district.It is one of three recent closings in downtown. The others are The Taste Thai Cuisine, which shut down at 25 North Pleasant St. at the end of May after 12 years in business, and Zhu’s Kitchen Asian Bistro and Ramen, which for about a year was located at 25 South Pleasant St., replacing the former Oriental Flavor. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

National Developer Proposes $45M, 90-unit Affordable Housing Development in Easthampton by Sam Ferland (6.29/26). A national developer has proposed a $45 million, 90-unit, affordable housing complex near Mountain View School, adding another major project to Easthampton’s growing residential landscape. The project was first presented to the public at the Community Preservation Act (CPA) Committee’s July 16 meeting, where attendees weighed concerns about the potential impacts of such a project against a current need for more housing — a discussion that has become increasingly common in the city as local developments continue to pop up.“There’s a lots of concerns,” resident Bob Peirent said at the meeting, citing traffic, drainage and stormwater issues. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

Brian Pearson: Two Rivers, One Overlooked Problem by Brian Pearson (7/29/26). The recent attention paid to sewage spills in the Merrimack and Connecticut Rivers is welcome, and overdue. When a pipe breaks and millions of gallons of untreated wastewater pour into a river overnight, it makes headlines, and it should. Beaches close, fisheries shut down, and elected officials take notice. Friends of Lake Warner and the Mill River works on just as important an issue that rarely makes the news. A sewage spill is a point source event: sudden, visible, and traceable to one broken pipe or one failed system. Nonpoint source pollution is different. It is the slow, steady runoff of phosphorus, nitrogen, and bacteria from lawns, farms, and parking lots, carried into our streams every time it rains, and often accelerated by undersized culverts and aging stormwater infrastructure that were not built to handle today’s storm intensity. There is no single moment when it happens, no single agency to blame, and no emergency bill written to fund the fix. That makes it easy to overlook. (The Amherst Bulletin)

No More Lone Responders: Amherst Adds Four Firefighters, Plans to Increase Minimum Staffing Levels Year-round by Scott Merzbach (7/28/26). An Amherst firefighter driving an engine to a fire or other emergency ensures a prompt response, but once on scene, a single responder has to wait until other members of the career, on-call or student force arrive.“You can’t effectively do anything at a fire with a single person,” said Sarah Forsaith, president of the Amherst Firefighters Local 1764. But the occasional challenge of having a solitary firefighter on board an engine should soon go away. The town is adding four firefighters and eventually increasing the minimum staffing to 10 full-time firefighter-paramedics year-round, upping this from the current seven minimum during the summer and eight minimum during the academic year. This will mean that at least four full-time personnel are on board an engine every time one goes out. (Amherst Bulletin)

$16.3M Affordable Housing Project to Transform Former Hadley EconoLodge by Scott Merzbach (7/28/26). A $16.3 million development that will bring 50 affordable apartments to a former hotel on Route 9 will soon get underway.With Valley Community Development earlier in July securing the final financing for what will be known as Russell Crossing, crews from Keiter Corp. of Florence will be at the 329 Russell St. site to begin transforming what had been an EconoLodge. “Renovation will begin in August 2026 and finish in late spring 2027, with residents moving in during summer-fall 2027,” Valley CDC Executive Director Alexis Breiteneicher wrote in an email. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

Amherst Media Sells Planned Building Site by Scott Merzbach (7/25/26). Amherst Media’s quest to build a new headquarters and technology center on Main Street, a short distance from the Emily Dickinson Museum, is ending with the sale of the land it bought in 2013 for that purpose.The .56-acre site at 420 Main St., which had been eyed for the nonprofit’s new $1.3 million building, recently sold to Emerald Land Holdings, Inc., of Rutland, for $410,000. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

Northampton Panel Debates How to Protect Immigrants Amid ICE Fears by Anthony Cammalleri (7/23/26). Amid concerns that Northampton could be the next target of an unwelcome U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement visit, a City Council committee held a panel this week to discuss immigration justice — in the wake of ICE agents fatally shooting immigrants in Texas and Maine.A virtual hearing of the council’s Committee on Community Resources Monday featured several leaders in the field who gathered to discuss what they can — and can’t — do to protect immigrants in the community. Laurie Millman, executive director of the Center for New Americans, explained that much of the nonprofit’s work to connect local immigrants with community and state resources has been hindered by federal funding cuts under President Donald Trump’s administration. Among those resources are immigration legal services, English classes and more. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)