HAMPSHIRE COUNTY

Officials at Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee, Massachusetts, are studying the impact of the base on the surrounding area.

The American Friends Service Committee of Western Massachusetts has raised enough money to continue its activism, although under a new name.

As a new school year draws near, school officials in Massachusetts are focused on immigration policy, with some districts training their staff how to handle information requests from federal immigration officials.

In May, state Attorney General Maura Healey released guidelines for public schools that detail how cooperative they should be with US Immigration Customs and Customs agents, should they seek information about students. The advisory Healey released said schools can provide basic information, but are not required to.

Rallies sprang up around New England Sunday in solidarity with the anti-Nazi protestors in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Two western Massachusetts residents of South Korean descent have been watching as tensions between the United States and North Korea have continued to escalate. 

Suk Massey is a lecturer in east Asian languages and literature at Smith College. She said Friday she's been following the exchanges between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un closely.

"I'm worrying about it but most friends in Korea don't seem to worry about that too much, because they are somehow -- they are used to it," she said.

A video showing Northampton police arresting a man who allegedly blocked the entrance to City Hall doesn't portray the whole story, the city's mayor said.

The video, which was posted to Facebook, shows 33-year-old Eric Matlock clinging to a railing on the steps in front of the building, as two police officers attempt to pull him away. He spits, and appears to gasp for air.

St. Thomas Church in Huntington, Massachusetts, will go up for auction on Thursday. It's one of over 30 churches in the Springfield Diocese to close its doors in the last decade, but the first to be put up for auction.

Diocese spokesman Mark Dupont said the town's decision to make the church an historic district in 2012 could have made it harder to sell.

The Massachusetts House of Representatives on Wednesday is debating a proposal to raise the tax on retail marijuana sales to 28 percent.

Lawmakers opposed to the increase said it could push buyers to the black market. However, a steep tax could also help stores that sell supplies for growing marijuana at home.

"People are not going to want to spend that kind of money when they can grow it themselves for cheaper," said Ian Back, who works at Here We Grow in Hadley.