UMass Memorial Health announced Wednesday afternoon that it will build a new standalone emergency department at a location yet to be determined to serve the Nashoba Valley region, replacing the Nashoba Valley Medical Center emergency room that was abandoned by Steward Health Care in August 2024.

The Addiction Abatement Funds Working Group held its first meeting Jan. 2 to begin reviewing and recommending proposals to spend the $620,000 the town will receive from the national opioid settlement funds. 

The 22 North Central Massachusetts towns served by the Montachusett Regional Planning Commission have some of the lowest average home and rental vacancy rates in the state and may need as many as 6,300 new homes to serve their growing populations within the next 10 years.

January in New England is not for the faint of heart, especially for Department of Public Works employees. As winter flexed its muscle over the past two weekends, Harvard’s DPW crews faced two distinctly challenging snowstorms.

Harvard Police Sgt. Aaron Cavanaugh, who recently received an award for saving a local man’s life in March 2024, saved another life just days ago while on vacation in Cancun, Mexico.

A FedEx driver making a delivery in Harvard last week was robbed in what police believe was a targeted attack. The robbery took place Thursday, Jan. 9, around midday. Four men suspected of the crime were arrested the following day in Rhode Island.

On Jan. 8, families with children in the Harvard schools received the unwelcome news that information about students here had been hacked in a massive cybersecurity breach at PowerSchool, whose software is used by some 18,000 school systems. 

International real estate developer Lincoln Property Company, which in 2023 had proposed an office park on the border of Harvard, is back with several new proposals for the 213-acre site that sits next to the Boxborough Regency on Route 111. 

When the Devens housing working group meets for the first time next Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 21, one of its first tasks will be to clarify its mission.

The Harvard Public Schools, in conjunction with third-party food service provider Whitsons Culinary Group, hosted a forum on Tuesday, Jan. 7, via Zoom, after many families had expressed concerns with Superintendent Linda Dwight regarding the quality and nutritional value of the meals.

The elevator at the town’s library, which has been out of service since November, and which provides access to the mezzanine, second, and third floors, has been repaired.

A FedEx driver making a delivery in Harvard on Thursday afternoon, Jan. 9, was robbed in what police believe was a targeted attack.

The fire chiefs of 13 Central Massachusetts communities formerly served by the shuttered Nashoba Valley Medical Center have asked Gov. Maura Healey for an emergency appropriation of nearly $10 million.

Residents ambling past Town Hall or taking in the view from the Prospect Hill parking area may have noticed two new cameras aimed their direction.

At the Harvard Police Department’s Dec. 23 Christmas party, officers celebrated the heroism and leadership shown by department members during the past year. 

The furnace that burns waste oil to heat the Department of Public Works mechanic’s garage has become so unreliable that Director Dave Smith asked the Select Board for emergency funds to replace it. 

The Executive Office of Economic Development released the names of the last two members of the Devens housing working group this week and set a date for the group’s first meeting.

With time running out, municipal and state agencies scrambled this week to name representatives to the working group that will study the feasibility of building more housing in Devens, in an area that includes the iconic quadrangle of abandoned Army barracks known as Vicksburg Square.

In the recent election, voters rejected requiring a passing score on the MCAS for high school graduation. In the wake of that change, Harvard school administrators are updating graduation requirements for the Bromfield High School.