Year in Review. The Indy by the Numbers. Most Read Articles in 2024

Below you will find listings of our most-read articles in 2024 by category.

Since its inception on February 25, 2019, the Indy has published 6094 articles by 421 unique contributors producing 8,039 accepted reader comments. All of this supports our aspiration to be a project of, by, and for the Amherst community.

The most-read article in 2024, was my piece, Proprietors of Two New Amherst Restaurants Fined More Than $500,000 for Violations in Plymouth and Boston which received 18,861 page views, the most of any Indy article since our inception.

The Indy received 691,926 page views in 2024 in 337,870 unique sessions, suggesting that our readers are reading an average of 2+ articles, each time they visit the Indy. Indy readership averaged just under 58,000 page views per month in 2024, an increase of 9000 average page views per month from 2023. We recorded a low of just under 37,000 page views for a 30 day interval in late August of 2024 and a high of just under 85,000 page views in mid-May.

Look here to check out Indy by the numbers for 2023, 2022 and 2021.

TOP SIXTEEN NEWS STORIES IN 2024
1. Proprietors of Two New Amherst Restaurants Fined More Than $500,000 for Violations in Plymouth and Boston by Art Keene
2.UMass Faculty and Librarians Vote No Confidence in Chancellor Javier Reyes by Art Keene
3. Fate of Big Y Plaza Uncertain Following Hearing on University Drive Overlay District by Maura Keene
4. Report on the Meeting Between Student Negotiators and UMass Amherst Administration, May 7, 2024 by Kevin A. Young
5.  Second Educator Departs Amherst Schools Amid 51A Furor by Art Keene
6. Updated: UMass Faculty and Librarians Call for the Resignation of Chancellor Javier Reyes by Art Keene
7. School Superintendent Responds to Anonymous Accusations by Art Keene
8. Union Questions Spate of Child Abuse Investigations Launched by District Against School Staff by Amherst Pelham Education Association
9.New Downtown Housing Development to Become an Amherst College Dorm by Maura Keene
10. Hate Speech Invades Town Meetings by Maura Keene
11. School Construction Delayed Due to Complaint Against Construction Firm by Maura Keene
12.Lone Library Project Bid Soars $7 Million over Budget by Maria Kopicki
13. E. Xiomara Herman Selected as New School Superintendent by Maura Keene
14. Repeated Rejections of Library Funding From State Historic Commission Were Hidden From Town Council and the Public by Maria Kopicki
15. Jones Library Consultant Amps Up the Vitriol by Jeff Lee
16. Town Leaders Silent as Library Misses First Payment of $2M by Art Keene

TOP SIXTEEN OPINION PIECES IN 2024
1. Opinion: Where Did Jim Lescault Go? by Jim Lescault
2. Opinion: I Was Present at the UMass Police Action and It Was Disgraceful by Amber Cano-Martin
3. Opinion: American History And The Return Of Pluto by Dinah Kudatsky
4. Opinion: UMass Chancellor Reyes’ Police Action Was Unnecessary and Unprecedented. A Brief History of Dissent At UMass Amherst by Art Keene
5. Opinion: Resolution in Support of Ceasefire in Gaza en Route to Amherst Town Council [updated] by Josna Rege
6. Opinion: Sunrise Amherst Finds Proposed Town Budget Errors Topping $2 Million  by Amherst Sunrise Movement
7. Opinion: Things I Have Not Said  by Jena Schwartz
8. Opinion: To Progressives Who Are Not Supporting Kamala by Russ Vernon-Jones
9. Letters: Six Letters and Public Comments in Support of Fired ARMS Science Teacher Erin Lawler by various authors
10. Opinion: I See No Reason to Hope That the Jones Expansion Project Will Become Affordable by Robert Pam
11. Opinion: The Jones Library Question No One Asks by Jeff Lee
12. Opinion: Sensational Hampshire College Articles Need Context by Jonathan Podolsky
13. Letter: US Munitions Produce Horrific Death and Destruction in Palestine by Gerry Weiss
14. An Open Letter to U.S. Representative Jim McGovern Regarding the Jones Library Project by Jeff Lee
15. Opinion: Councilors Steinberg and Ryan Declare War on the Public by Art Keene
16. Opinion: The Jones Library is Eating the Schools’ Lunch by Jeff Lee

TOP SIXTEEN FEATURES IN 2024
1.Indy Rewind: Almanac: Black Squirrels by Stephen Braun
2. Photos of the Week: A Gallery of Amherst’s Decaying Infrastructure compiled by Art Keene
3. Understaffing and Inadequate Facilities Are Chronic Problems for Amherst Fire Fighters by Art and Maura Keene
4. Amherst’s Historic Trolley System: Our Gains and Losses [revised] by Hetty Startup
5.. Almanac: Mind Of A Squirrel by Stephen Braun
6.. Adventures of a Native Plant Gardener: Scilla in the Spring by Laura Quilter
7. The Railways in Amherst by Hetty Startup
8. Jumping Worms! The Worm That Is Taking Over Gardens Everywhere And How To Control Them In Yours by Amherst Indy
9. The Original Drake bt Hetty Startup
10. Poem: The Giant Black Walnut Tree by Lauren Mills
11. A Better World is Possible: How to Nationalize Minnesota’s Universal Breakfast Bill by Torsheta Jackson
12. Photos of the Week: Town Celebrates Improvements to North Amherst Library by Maura Keene
13. Amherst’s Neighboring Towns: Pelham, Massachusetts, (1 of 10) by Hetty Startup
14. Amherst’s Neighboring Towns: Shutesbury by Hetty Startup
15. Almanac: Gentle Giants by Stephen Braun
16. Political Cartoon: Parts of a Library by Darcy DuMont

TOP TEN ISSUES & ANALYSES
1. Lynnfield Demonstrates Danger of Juggling Building Projects by Jeff Lee
2. Two January Property Sales Illustrate How Family Housing in Amherst is Increasingly out of Reach by Jeff Lee
3. The Selling of the Jones Library Project in 12 Quotes by Jeff Lee
4. What’s Law Got to Do With It? How Amherst’s Disregard of Historic Preservation Law Has Already Forfeited $1,800,000 and Jeopardizes Millions More in Federal Grants by Sarah McKee
5. Overcommitting to an MBLC Library Expansion — A Cautionary Tale from Westford by Jeff Lee
6. Belmont Shows How to Constrain Library Project Costs by Jeff Lee
7. Council President Withheld Information From Colleagues. by Maria Kopicki
8. Friends of the Jones Library Wield Power Without Public Accountability by Jeff Lee
9. Granby’s Plan To Repurpose Old Elementary School Suggests Possibilities for Amherst by Art Keene
10 Amherst, A Rental Market of over $100 Million Dollars a Year? by Michael Burkart

TOP TEN ARTICLES RECEIVING THE MOST READER COMMENTS IN 2024

1. Letter: US Munitions Produce Horrific Death and Destruction in Palestine by Gerry Weiss
2. Repeated Rejections of Library Funding From State Historic Commission Were Hidden From Town Council and the Public by Maria Kopicki
3. Opinion: Where Did Jim Lescault Go? by Jim Lescault
4. Lone Library Project Bid Soars $7 Million over Budget by Maria Kopicki
5. Town Leaders Silent as Library Misses First Payment of $2M by Art Keene
6. Opinion: Resolution in Support of Ceasefire in Gaza en Route to Amherst Town Council [updated] by Josna Rege
7. Photos of the Week: A Gallery of Amherst’s Decaying Infrastructure compiled by Art Keene
8. Town Manager to Explore Moving $53M Library Project Forward by Jeff Lee
9. Letter: Inspections Mandated by New Bylaw Violate Renters Rights by Dinah Kudatsky
10. Council President Withheld Information From Colleagues by Maria Kopicki and Amherst, A Rental Market of over $100 Million Dollars a Year? by Michael Burkart