EDUCATION

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.

We hear from Easthampton mayoral candidate Lindsi Sekula, learn about Massachusetts Farm to School Month and celebrate Catherine Newman's new novel, "Wreck."

Monte and Kaliis are taking some time off, but while they're gone, they explore the Cricket Creek Farm Fall Festival, the Write Angels Conference, A new play "Swamped" in Wendell, new documentary "Hunting Yellow Pigs", and Recordville's Northampton Record Fair.

Superintendent of the Springfield Public Schools, Sonia Dinnall, accompanied the students, teaching them about her job and showing them around the school district office.

Although standard vaccines are required by Massachusetts, it's up to local school districts to enforce the mandate - and they really don't want to keep children out of school.

This week on The Rundown, our panel takes on the local impacts of the federal government shutdown, a Legionella bacteria outbreak in Pittsfield, and what the latest MCAS test scores mean for Massachusetts students.