What’s in This Issue?

Welcome to our Table of Contents. You can also receive a listing of all new items in the Indy each week by dropping us a note with your contact information at amherstindy@gmail.com. The subscription is free and will deliver to your inbox a listing of all new content each Saturday at 6 a.m. We promise that we will not share your email address, nor will we send you any additional emails to clog up your inbox (except in the case of truly urgent breaking news, in which case we’ll send out a special dispatch).

ANALYTICS ARE BACK
Our analytics providers were down from June 12 until the evening of June 14. We have access again, apparently without any data loss during the shutdown.

As of early June, we have eliminated from our counts all visits to our site that did not result in a meaningful engagement with the content. While the total number of visits to our site continues to grow (in the month of June, it was over 105,000 visits), only about a third of those visits resulted in a meaningful engagement, such as opening an article or clicking on a menu. The other visits are likely bot traffic. From now on, we’ll only tally meaningful engagement.

Number of Engaged Page Views Last 30 Days: 29,978 (+928)
Number of Engaged Page Views Last Week: 7670 (-328)

Number of Engaged Sessions Last 30 Days: 19,322 (+774)
Number of Engaged Sessions Last Week: 4881 (-214)

Number of Engaged Users Last 30 Days: 12,523 (+697)
Number of Engaged Users Last Week: 3363 (-252)

TOP FIVE MOST-READ ARTICLES LAST WEEK
1. Citizens Bank is Parting Ways with Two ICE Contractors by Christopher Shea (c/o The Rhode Island Current)
2. Library Trustees Acknowledge That Fundraising Gap Will Be Substantial by Maria Kopicki
3. A Brief History of Amherst Housing – What’s Worked and What Has Not by Ira Bryck and Art Keene
4. Letter: Amherst’s Jumbo ADUs Not Allowed in Deerfield’s New Bylaw by Ira Bryck
5. ZBA Split on Appeal of Permit for Oversized Accessory Dwelling Unit by Maura Keene

WHAT’S IN THIS ISSUE?

ARTS

•  What’s Happening in Amherst? by Art and Maura Keene

CAMPUS

•  Opinion: On the Wisdom of Borrowing from One’s Endowment by Denise Barberet

CLIMATE / ENERGY / ENVIRONMENT / NATURE

• Revised Clean Energy Bylaw Goes to Town Council by Maura Keene 
• The Fight Against AI Data Centers Is Spreading Globally by Cathy Rogers, Saul Levin, and Philip Eubanks (c/o Waging Nonviolence)
• Public Comment | The New Hauler Proposal: Recommendations for Maximizing Reduction of Waste and Emissions by Darcy DuMont
• Opinion | The Amherst Public Shade Tree Committee: Planting for People We Will Never Meet by Rizwana Khan
•  Amherst Arbor Spotlight: Black Walnut by The Amherst Public Shade Tree Committee

DEMOCRACY

• Gov. Healy Signs PROTECT Act into Law
• The Fight Against AI Data Centers Is Spreading Globally by Cathy Rogers, Saul Levin and Philip Eubanks (c/o Waging Nonviolence)
• De-ICE Citizens Bank: A Model of a Successful Civil Resistance Campaign by Peyton Flemming (c/o Common Dreams)

ELECTIONS

• 2026 State Primary Election Information for Amherst Voters

EVENTS

• Learn About Podcasting at the Amherst Media Podcast Parlor
• Amherst to Celebrate Becoming a Purple Heart Community
• Goodwin Memorial Church to Host Historic Unity Service
• What’s Happening in Amherst? by Art and Maura Keene

FEATURES

• Amherst Arbor Spotlight: Black Walnut by The Amherst Public Shade Tree Committee
• Photos of the Week: Aerial Amherst by Aerial-MA

HISTORY / HISTORICAL PRESERVATION

•  Scaled-Down East Amherst Local Historic District Still Meets Opposition from Planning Board by Maura Keene

HOUSING

• Scaled-Down East Amherst Local Historic District Still Meets Opposition from Planning Board by Maura Keene
• Letter: Seeking AG Opinion on Amherst’s Jumbo ADU’s by Ira Bryck

ISSUES & ANALYSES

• The Fight Against AI Data Centers Is Spreading Globally by Cathy Rogers , Saul Levin , and Philip Eubanks (c/o Waging Nonviolence)

LIBRARY

•  Opinion: On the Wisdom of Borrowing from One’s Endowment by Denise Barberet

MEDIA

• Learn About Podcasting at the Amherst Media Podcast Parlor
• Letter: Media is Complicit in Israel’s Unprecedented Assault on Journalists by Jennifer Scarlott

OPINION

• Public Comment | The New Hauler Proposal: Recommendations for Maximizing Reduction of Waste and Emissions by Darcy DuMont 
• Letter: Seeking AG Opinion on Amherst’s Jumbo ADU’s by Ira Bryck
• Letter: Support Area Black Businesses During National Black Business Month by the Black Business Association of Amherst Area
• Letter: Media is Complicit in Israel’s Unprecedented Assault on Journalists by Jennifer Scarlott
• Opinion: On the Wisdom of Borrowing from One’s Endowment by Denise Barberet
• Opinion | The Amherst Public Shade Tree Committee: Planting for People We Will Never Meet by Rizwana Khan
• De-ICE Citizens Bank: A Model of a Successful Civil Resistance Campaign by Peyton Flemming (c/o Common Dreams)
• Listen to the Hibakusha This Hiroshima Day – the World Doesn’t Need More Nuclear Weapons by Jeremy Corbyn (c/o Portside)

PUBLIC HEALTH & SAFETY

• AFD Responds to Fire at Boulders Apartments
• Puffer’s Pond Remains Unsafe for Swimming by Art Keene
• Gov. Healy Signs PROTECT Act into Law

RECREATION

• Puffer’s Pond Remains Unsafe for Swimming by Art Keene

RESOURCES

•  2026 State Primary Election Information for Amherst Voters

SOCIAL & ECONOMIC JUSTICE

• Letter: Media is Complicit in Israel’s Unprecedented Assault on Journalists by Jennifer Scarlott
• De-ICE Citizens Bank: A Model of a Successful Civil Resistance Campaign by Peyton Flemming (c/o Common Dreams)

TOWN GOVERNMENT

• Scaled-Down East Amherst Local Historic District Still Meets Opposition from Planning Board by Maura Keene
• Revised Clean Energy Bylaw Goes to Town Council by Maura Keene
• Town Introduces New Agenda and Minutes Center for Public Meetings
• Applications Now Available for the Town’s 2nd Annual Civic Academy Program
• 2026 State Primary Election Information for Amherst Voters
• Amherst to Celebrate Becoming a Purple Heart Community
• Public Comment | The New Hauler Proposal: Recommendations for Maximizing Reduction of Waste and Emissions
• Letter: Seeking AG Opinion on Amherst’s Jumbo ADU’s by Ira Bryck
• Opinion | The Amherst Public Shade Tree Committee: Planting for People We Will Never Meet by Rizwana Khan

WAR & PEACE

• Letter: Media is Complicit in Israel’s Unprecedented Assault on Journalists by Jennifer Scarlott
• Listen to the Hibakusha This Hiroshima Day – the World Doesn’t Need More Nuclear Weapons by Jeremy Corbyn (c/o Portside)