Dusty Christensen
DailyHampGazette
Northampton, MA, United States
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Past articles by Dusty:
HCC President Christina Royal moving on after current academic year
HOLYOKE — After five years leading Holyoke Community College, President Christina Royal has announced that she will retire.In a message to the HCC community last week, Royal, 50, said that she will be stepping down from the community college after the... → Read More
Fed up with proliferation of trash, Holyoke mayor going on offensive
HOLYOKE — When driving into work last week, Mayor Joshua Garcia admits that he was “already in a bad mood.” But then he pulled in front of the city’s School Department on Suffolk Street and looked across the street.There, two medium-sized dumpsters... → Read More
Pathlight celebrates opening of its new home on Village Hill
NORTHAMPTON — Anyone up on the former Hospital Hill on Thursday afternoon would have known that something exciting was underway. Cheering, jubilant shouts and applause echoed across the parking lot on Village Hill Road, where Letitia Ward, 36, summed... → Read More
‘Social equity’ applicants making inroads, gradually, in cannabis business
HOLYOKE — The first time lifelong Holyoke resident Damaris Aponte sold marijuana, she was 14 and growing up in a city deeply impacted by the so-called War on Drugs. She saw many people she knew get arrested on drug charges, and her own brother was... → Read More
Holyoke Police bring in $1M over 4 years in money taken from suspects
HOLYOKE — In the past four years, the Holyoke Police Department has seized nearly $1 million in cash from people, according to records obtained by the Gazette.From the beginning of 2018 through the end of 2021, Holyoke police seized $982,227 that went... → Read More
Teaching the ‘universal language’ ... in two tongues: Holyoke musician creates music academy
High Street in Holyoke was quiet Wednesday evening, when only a few pedestrians mingled about and even the PVTA bus — an electric model — seemed to tiptoe down the street as the sun began to dip below the street’s taller buildings.But above the street... → Read More
‘A gift to us all’: Community mourns the loss of Sarah Etelman
HOLYOKE — Select Board vice chair and deeply involved community member Sarah Etelman died Friday at the age of 53 after a battle with cancer.Across the region, people are mourning the death of Etelman — a sharp, creative person who loved the color... → Read More
Triumphant return: South Hadley High’s grads reflect on pandemic, remember the positive
SOUTH HADLEY — Graduation ceremonies are often filled with excitement, the buzz in the air palpable. But for graduating South Hadley High School seniors at Friday’s commencement, the day was particularly special.“This was our first year of normalcy,”... → Read More
UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy to retire in 2023
AMHERST — Nearly a decade after he arrived on campus, University of Massachusetts Amherst Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy has announced that he is retiring next year.In an announcement Thursday, the university said that Subbaswamy will step down from his... → Read More
‘The coup is still underway’: McGovern, Raskin debate democracy with large crowd in Northampton
NORTHAMPTON — A town hall event Tuesday between two powerful Democratic congressmen was billed as a discussion with constituents about defending democracy.But it was as much a pep rally as it was a back-and-forth with audience members.Constituents... → Read More
Honoring the war dead: Florence resumes its parade after 2-year hiatus
FLORENCE — Squinting into the sun and jumping up and down on the hot pavement on Monday, Jaedyn MacBrown knew exactly why she was at the 154th annual Memorial Day parade.“For candy!” she said. Which kind? “Lollipops!”The parade was the first since the... → Read More
Longtime Northampton planning director Feiden stepping down
NORTHAMPTON — One of Northampton’s longest-serving municipal leaders — a man the mayor described as “among the most influential government officials in Northampton history” — has announced he is retiring.Wayne Feiden, who has served as the city’s... → Read More
‘We, if we are lucky, are always on our way’: Mount Holyoke College graduates 577
SOUTH HADLEY — Mount Holyoke College’s graduation was packed with distinguished speakers and honored graduates, as evidenced by the thick program informing attendees about the students’ accomplishments as they prepared to receive their diplomas.But... → Read More
HCC program helping lift people’s heads out of jail
LUDLOW — Sitting at a long table in the Hampden County jail’s computer lab on Tuesday afternoon, Daryl Hill pored over notes that his professor, Naomi Lesley, made on his latest writing assignment.Hill didn’t attend college when he was younger; he... → Read More
Holyoke City Councilor Puello-Mota, charged with possession of child porn, arrested on new charges in Rhode Island
HOLYOKE — In January 2021, Rhode Island prosecutors charged Holyoke City Councilor Wilmer “Will” Puello-Mota with possession of child pornography after allegedly finding sexually explicit photos and videos of a 17-year-old girl on his phone in... → Read More
For families of fallen Soldiers’ Home vets, relief along with the anguish
HOLYOKE — When Kara Kapinos’ 91-year-old father, Ted, was dying of COVID-19 in 2020, she wasn’t able to get into the Soldiers’ Home, where he lived, to say goodbye. She and her husband had to wait in the parking lot while her mom, Helen, was granted... → Read More
Advocates push for safe injection sites in western Mass.
NORTHAMPTON — The first time Cara Moser considered the idea of a safe, legal place for her daughter Eliza Harper to use opioids was in 2018 after seeing Eliza dead. Her family discovered her following an overdose at age 26.“I saw my daughter in rigor... → Read More
Belchertown woman denies lying to FBI over threats
SPRINGFIELD — Former Chicopee school superintendent Lynn Clark pleaded not guilty Wednesday to two counts of making false statements to the FBI in connection with allegations that she sent threatening text messages to a candidate for Chicopee’s police... → Read More
Longtime Guatemalan farmworker poised to take over Hadley farm
HADLEY — It has been 17 years since Rosendo Santizo came to the United States from Guatemala to support his mother and siblings.Santizo, who began work harvesting, washing and packing vegetables on the Winter Moon Roots farm in 2010, is making a... → Read More
Fans roll up for new music festival/carnival at Three County Fairgrounds
NORTHAMPTON — When Iris Cruz was growing up in the Holyoke and Springfield area, she wished that big-time music acts would visit the region.“Growing up listening to this music but not being able to attend bummed me out,” Cruz said.But that all changed... → Read More