With few days remaining before this weekend’s scheduled shuttering of Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, concerned hospital staff and residents have ramped up their protests, holding rallies this week at the hospital and State House in Boston, and calling on Gov. Maura Healey and her administration to stop the closure.

The Harvard and Ayer councils on aging, which provide services to older adults in their respective towns, had their work cut out for them in the past month.

When students returned to classes at the Bromfield School on Wednesday this week, they found changes to the building and also met several new teachers.

The Hildreth Elementary School  has six new, smiling faces in the building. The new hires were gracious enough to speak with the Press just before their students arrived for the 2024–25 academic year.

The office of Allyson Mitchell, the new assistant town administrator, is off the hallway by the back entrance of Town Hall. Being physically in the middle of things seems to reflect Mitchell’s vision for her new job.

The new assistant town clerk, Nicole Levay-O’Brien, was hired two weeks ago, and having held a similar job for two years in Hopkinton, she told the Press she has “hit the ground running.”