The Finance Committee and the Select Board are approaching the fiscal 2020 school budget with sharpened pencils and critical eyes, as indicated by the 88 detailed (and often repetitive) budget questions they sent to school administrators.

U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan sat in the Devens Grill last Friday listening to two prison officers from the Devens Federal Medical Center describe the plight of the 500 prison employees who are working without pay during the government shutdown.

Harvard's Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) committee has invited local agricultural landowners and other stakeholders to a first-of-its-kind workshop to examine the threat of climate changes and less predictable weather.

Residents who switched their TVs from coverage of the national trainwreck in Washington to their HCTV local cable channel Tuesday night would have been treated to a calm deliberation in upper Town Hall as Select Board and Finance Committee members began their work on the fiscal 2020 budget.

Director of Community and Economic Development Christopher Ryan has been on the job a scant three months, but already has big plans for Harvard.