EDUCATION

In Springfield Public Schools, about 87% of all students eat breakfast every morning, followed by 75% of elementary school students in North Adams and 73% in Holyoke, a new report finds.

Staff at K-12 public schools in Massachusetts missed an average 12 days of work during the 2024-2025 school year, apart from summer vacation and breaks. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released the staff absenteeism data for the first time on Tuesday, though Commissioner Pedro Martinez noted it was "not popular" with certain stakeholders.

Panelists break down the latest on the fires that devastated the UMass Amherst community, a rise in enrollment in vocational schools, collapsed plans for a long-awaited community center in Springfield, concerns about Mercy Medical Center’s future and more.

The fallout from the federal government shutdown continues to chip away at federal funding for safety net programs designed to aid low-income Mass. residents.

We visit the Center School's new building in Greenfield, we speak with East Forest before his performance at the Hope Center for the Arts and take the latest Thunderdome at Tip Top Wine Shop in Easthampton.

We visit New Salem Orchard ahead of Franklin County Cider Days, check in with folx from Self-Evident Education about how to support their programming and check out semantic bleaching with the Word Nerd.

Western Mass voters head to the polls Nov. 4 as mayoral races heat up in Easthampton, Northampton, Westfield, West Springfield, and North Adams. We break down the contenders.

This week on The Rundown, our panelists discuss state Senate action on spending in local sheriff's offices, a new Franklin County survey on student needs, how the Trump administration is affecting higher education and the local impact of the No Kings protests.

We speak with the third candidate for mayor of Easthampton, JT Tirell, learn about the origins of the word "stereotype" with the Word Nerd, and explore the work of photographer Michel Kameni at Smith College Museum of Art.

BU Professor of finance Mark Williams says Massachusetts needs to adopt some longer-term strategies to soften the impact of Trump Administration funding cuts.