■Black students from Amherst College, the University of Massachusetts, Smith and Mount Holyoke College took over four Amherst College buildings early this morning and have distributed mimeographed sheets urging a student strike. The students said they were occupying the buildings to emphasize their rights for self-direction and self-determination and demonstrate the action concept of the black community.
■A Northampton resident is the new operations and training officer of the Massachusetts National Guard. Col. Daniel J. Manning Jr. of 311 Prospect St. was recently promoted to his present rank and assigned to state headquarters in Boston.
■The Pioneer Valley welcomed “the best of the big city” over the weekend — packing the Academy of Music yesterday and providing temporary homes for faculty and performers of the Harlem School of the Arts Friday and Saturday nights. Darryl S. Durham, executive director of the Harlem School of the Arts, praised the area yesterday during the third performance of the Four Sundays in February series.
■As part of its grand opening celebration Jan. 21, Kidsports Family Fun and Fitness Center of Hadley raised $2,500 for the Helen Mitchell Family Outreach Project of Amherst, an agency which helps low-income families achieve stability and self-sufficiency.
■Sam’s Outdoor Outfitters, the Brattleboro store specializing in sporting goods, clothing and camping equipment, plans to open a branch on Route 9 in Hadley this fall. The store will be at 227 Russell St., former site of Amherst Drop Zone, which closed in October 2007.
■A federal law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman forces Massachusetts — the first state in the country to legalize gay marriage — to discriminate against same-sex couples, state Attorney General Martha Coakley argues in court papers. In papers filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday, Coakley asked a judge to deem the law unconstitutional without holding a trial on the lawsuit.