Gray squirrels' engineering skills are remarkable, their persistence amazing. The more protected the bird feeder, the more obsessive their approach.

Kids should be grabbing their sleds, not their baseball gloves. Golfers should need yoga, not be chipping in the backyard. Perennials should keep sleeping, as should bears. The world is out of kilter.

Pittsfield has a surplus of $17 million, and no shortage of needs to fill. How about helping the homeless and fixing the streets, for starters? 

The groundhog story is meteorological nonsense, obviously. But it’s fun, putting Punxsutawney on the map since 1887, a remarkable public relations achievement for a rodent long despised for its ability to eat a row of green beans in a night.

The Department of Agriculture is cracking down on organic pretenders for cheating the system by selling chemically treated crops, labeled organic — as welcome a development as universal background checks would be for gun sales.

When Nancy Pelosi became speaker of the House in 2007, she banned smoking in most of the House spaces in the Capitol. With Republicans back in control of the House, members are again allowed to smoke inside the building.

Why hurry to remove ornaments from the tree? It's a process that jolts memories of years of travels and traditions.

Becket artist Joe Wheaton has added a whole new dimension to Shaker manipulation of light, with his projections dancing through Hancock Shaker Village on a series of nights in December.

A twist on the poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas" from columnist Ruth Bass is a tip of the Santa hat to Ukrainians struggling through the Christmas season under the fog of war.