FRANKLIN COUNTY

Two million revelers gathered in downtown Manhattan on the evening of V-J Day, 75 years ago this week. They filled Times Square — waving flags, dancing, and shrieking with joy.

It’s been five months since live music venues and DJ clubs shut their doors to dancing crowds, and in Massachusetts they won’t be able to open in full until a COVID-19 vaccine or a proven treatment is available. If they make it that long.

As school districts in Massachusetts submit their fall proposals to the state, many parents are coming up with their own contingency plans. 

Richie Davis has more than four decades of stories behind him reporting for The Recorder newspaper in Franklin County, Massachusetts. He's now retired and has a new book out, a compilation of newspaper stories called "Inner Landscapes: True Tales From Extraordinary Lives."

Actors and directors are finding ways to adapt to the coronavirus pandemic by producing theater online. Among the plays in rehearsal in western Massachusetts is a 10-minute piece, "This Is Your Captain."

Western Massachusetts health care providers say they have much better access to COVID-19 testing than a month ago, but ideally, they would like even more.

COVID-19 is upending many aspects of life, including the beginning of it.

For a number of years, small communities across Massachusetts have been struggling to staff their volunteer fire departments. But amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there are signs that's changing in Franklin County.

The COVID-19 outbreak is taking its toll on some newspapers in New England. Already-sagging advertising revenues have dipped even more. That’s led to layoffs and other cuts.

A lot of recovery programs happen in person — meetings for people who are trying to overcome addictions of all kinds. That sort of in-person interaction is now limited by social distancing guidelines meant to control the spread of the new coronavirus. 

As the effort to stem the coronavirus pandemic continues, many waitstaff, cooks and bartenders in Massachusetts lost their jobs almost overnight this week, as Governor Charlie Baker ordered restaurants to close their dining rooms.

Some are shutting down completely, but others are trying to survive through takeout and delivery.

When Roxann Wedegartner takes office January 2 as the mayor of Greenfield, Massachusetts, it won’t be as a newcomer to city government.

In western Massachusetts this week, the Athol Daily News shut its office in town. The paper will still be published, but will be based some 25 miles away in Greenfield. 

Wilson's Department Store in Greenfield, Massachusetts, is shutting its doors after 137 years, once everything is sold — including the mannequins. For many, the family-owned store has been a fixture both on Main Street and in their own families' lives.