Shopping around pays off when seeking nursing care

With her elderly father hospitalized and recovering from pneumonia, Martha Ackelsberg knew there was little time to find him a nursing home. She'd been through this before.

•  Tips for picking the best nursing home
•  Residents' rights defined by law
•  Area elder resources

Monday's coverage: Use of antipsychotic drugs an issue in Valley nursing homes

County group aims to cut electric rates

NORTHAMPTON - Some 100,000 people in three counties, including a majority of the communities in Hampshire County, may soon see their electricity bills drop.

Atlantic 10 takes proactive approach to realignment, lands VCU, Butler

AMHERST

Give the Atlantic 10 credit. Not many conferences can lose a flagship institution and not miss a beat. But the A-10 certainly comes out of the current run of conference realignment looking like a winner. Faced with losing Temple, which has been a banner carrier for the conference, and Charlotte, which has solid basketball history, the Atlantic 10 went out and got two schools that were in the 2011 Final Four: Virginia Commonwealth and Butler.

Josh Beckett pitches like an ace, leads Red Sox over Mariners

BOSTON (AP) - Josh Beckett did exactly what he needed to satisfy the fired-up fans at Fenway Park. Beckett pitched his best game of the season, striking out nine and scattering four hits over seven innings as the Red Sox shut out the Seattle Mariners 5-0 on Tuesday, extending Boston's winning streak to five.

Valley's CSA farms a model for growth

When Brookfield Farm in Amherst became one of the first farms in the country to adopt the Community Supported Agriculture model 25 years ago, not many people knew what the acronym "CSA" stood for.