The Planning Board made several changes this week to its proposed senior housing bylaw in response to a flurry of recent feedback. 

The Board of Health voted at its Sept. 8 meeting to add PFAS to the list of substances some homeowners with private wells must test for before selling their homes. 

Article 2 of the warrant for the Oct. 3 Special Town Meeting will determine the future of Bromfield House, currently home to the superintendent’s office and other school administrative personnel.

In one way or another, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected every Harvard resident, but some have been hit harder than the rest. 

At its Sept. 17 meeting, the Conservation Commission unanimously approved rules governing deer hunting on five parcels of conservation land.

Grievances regarding speeding and reckless driving in their neighborhood drew approximately 15 residents of Still River to last week’s Select Board meeting.

Longtime resident, nurse-educator, tutor, community volunteer

Photovoltaic solar panels on the roof of the new elementary school have been part of the building plans since the beginning. Now National Grid has brought those plans to a dead stop. 

Grew up in Harvard, finance manager, devoted to dog rescue

News of the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Sept. 19 brought more than 50 residents to the Common Saturday night for a candlelight vigil to mourn her passing.

Sixth-generation Harvard resident, artist

Former resident, shop foreman, loved the outdoors

Vietnam veteran, mentor to engineers of color, former resident

With barely two weeks to spare, the Select Board has approved a warrant and confirmed date and time for this fall’s upcoming Special Town Meeting. 

Harvard citizens seeking smaller, easier-to-maintain homes probably don’t need to be told that downsizing here is difficult.

Last Tuesday, Detective Daniele Fortunato of the Harvard Police Department held a talk, “Scam Alert,” through the Council on Aging (COA), discussing different tips to protect one’s identity and avoid being scammed.

At Bare Hill Pond, the high cell count of cyanobacteria, a type of blue-green algae that can produce toxins, prompted the Board of Health to leave the current no-contact advisory in effect.

The Planning and Select boards both voted this week to include a bylaw on the Oct. 3 Special Town Meeting warrant that would encourage the development of senior housing in Harvard. 

The state reported two new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Harvard this week.

When hunting season opens next month, 30 bow hunters will have permits to hunt deer in a limited number of Harvard conservation areas.

With a School Committee vote this week, students in kindergarten through fourth grade will soon have an option to receive school-issued iPads.

Active church member, volunteer, dedicated to helping others

Harvard residents are advised to have no contact with the water in Bare Hill Pond because of the possibility that the algal bloom there may be producing harmful toxins. The advisory was issued Aug. 28 by the Board of Health and the Nashoba Associated Boards of Health. 

By the School Committee’s Aug. 17 meeting, Superintendent Linda Dwight was able to estimate how many students would likely return for in-person classes.

The town beach was the target of an act of vandalism early Saturday morning when three juveniles dragged a port-a-potty into the pond and tipped it over. 

By a narrow vote Monday night, the School Committee chose a plan that partially reopens Harvard schools for in-person classes Sept. 8.

Sports enthusiast, youth soccer coach

The clock is ticking toward a new school year, and Harvard school leaders and staff are scrambling to solve the problems of opening during a pandemic.

A town accountant who was indicted this week for stealing nearly $730,000 from towns in central and western Massachusetts was described as “of Harvard” in a press release from the attorney general’s office. 

Local businesses in Harvard and surrounding towns are slowly reopening their doors to visitors as Phase 3 of Massachusetts’ reopening begins this week.

Bromfield School trustee, active volunteer, gifted quilter and knitter

A brief but thunderous storm that hit Harvard between 9 and 10 p.m. Sunday left little reported damage in its wake. 

Alumni of the Harvard public school system are advocating for changes to the schools’ curriculums and practices in an open letter that has been signed by over 600 current and former members of the Harvard public school community.

Updated Tuesday, June 30, 2020, at 10:00 a.m.

Although Harvard’s State of Emergency remains in effect and state and local restrictions to halt the spread of COVID-19 continue to evolve, we are suspending publication of our "State of the Town" for the duration of our summer break. This is our final edition. However, we will report significant developments as breaking news.

Harvard's annual flea market, a major fundraiser for the League of Women Voters of Harvard and the Harvard Schools Trust, is canceled.