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.”

The Harvard Select Board added its voice Tuesday night to the growing chorus of local leaders and politicians calling on Gov. Maura Healey and her administration to save Nashoba Valley Medical Center, scheduled to close Aug. 31.

Hundreds of health care workers, first responders, state and local officials, and residents filled the main ballroom of the Devens Commons Center in Devens last Thursday night, Aug. 15, to attend a standing room only public hearing.

With just days to go before the new school year starts Aug. 28, preparations are in high gear at both the Bromfield School and Hildreth Elementary School. 

Every dawning school year brings about some change, but the Bromfield Middle School has seen more than its fair share over the past few years. The 2024-25 academic year is no exception.

The $7 million project to connect town water to the Devens water supply began a few weeks ago when silt fences and straw wattles were installed along sections of Depot Road. 

When former Town Administrator Tim Bragan and former Assistant Town Administrator Marie Sobalvarro both announced they would resign as of June 30, leaving little institutional knowledge of town administrator duties for their successors, the town wondered how that might play out. So far, so good, according to new Town Administrator Dan Nason, whose first day on the job was Aug. 5.

During Fivesparks’ music festival in June, toilets stopped flushing and water began backing up in the furnace room of the old library, which has been the community arts collaborative’s home for the past seven years. Since then, the restrooms have been closed, temporarily replaced with a portable toilet just outside the building.

Among the bills that failed to make it out of the Legislature this session was Gov. Maura Healey’s economic development bond bill, which in both the House and Senate versions contains measures to boost housing at Devens.

The state’s fiscal 2025 budget, signed into law by Gov. Maura Healey July 19, held few surprises for Harvard’s financial planners.