HAMPSHIRE COUNTY

Updated at 10:59 a.m.

As one of western Massachusetts' major newspapers operates on bare bones, its staff hosted a public forum this week.

Three state lawmakers from western Massachusetts have been chosen to lead new committees in the new session on Beacon Hill.

At least one western Massachusetts hospital is no longer scheduling appointments for the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine — for now. That's after the state said it's focusing its limited supply on other sites like the Eastfield Mall in Springfield.

As UMass Amherst tries to beat back a major COVID-19 outbreak, some students are frustrated by at least one new restriction.

UMass Amherst now has 541 active COVID-19 cases amid a major outbreak that prompted the near-shutdown of campus.

Updated at 5:44 p.m. 

The town of Amherst, Massachusetts, will keep in place capacity limits and a business curfew — both of which were set to loosen on Monday — as part of efforts to contain a COVID-19 outbreak at its flagship University of Massachusetts campus.

The sheriffs of Hampshire and Hampden counties say a growing number of inmates in their jails are getting vaccinated, despite some initial hesitation.

The top doctor at a Springfield, Massachusetts, medical facility said the region has enough capacity to treat patients for COVID-19 and other illnesses — at least for now.

Two members of city government of Holyoke, Massachusetts, have announced they're running to replace Mayor Alex Morse.

Five more employees have been laid off at the Daily Hampshire Gazette, based in Northampton, Massachusetts. The job reductions are again being blamed on the pandemic.

The Springfield Roman Catholic Diocese said it will expand which clergy accused of sexual abuse it lists on its website.

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker announced on Monday an expansion of free COVID-19 testing in the western part of the state.

Earlier this week, the sheriff of Hampden County announced that 10% of inmates in the department's Ludlow, Massachusetts, jail had tested positive for COVID-19.  But the sheriffs of the other three counties in western Massachusetts said they see no need to test all their inmates.

The race for the 7th Hampden District seat in the Massachusetts House is headed toward a recount. Democrat Jake Oliveira leads Republican Chip Harrington by a little more than 100 votes.

Updated Nov. 11 at 9 p.m. 

Dozens of supporters of President Trump clashed with a larger group of counterprotesters holding Black Lives Matter signs Sunday in downtown Northampton, Massachusetts.

In Massachusetts' 2nd Congressional District, there's a rematch on the ballot from two years ago.

Last time, incumbent Democrat Jim McGovern defeated Republican challenger Tracy Lovvorn by about a two-to-one margin.

UMass Amherst plans to expand its campus population in the spring, announcing Friday that first-year and transfer students will be invited to campus next semester after learning remotely throughout the fall.

The city clerk of Northampton, Massachusetts, said her office mailed ballots to some voters with the wrong address to send them back.