■Northampton firefighters were called yesterday at 9:35 a.m. to rescue a dog which was stranded on an island in Paradise Pond. A boat was borrowed by the men from Smith College but when they went out after the animal, it swam back of its own accord.
■The Northampton Fire Department’s four new deputy chiefs who were appointed by Mayor Sean M. Dunphy at a City council meeting recently are William J. Driscoll, James V. Brennan, William R. Shea, and Jeremiah P. Driscoll.
■As spring arrived yesterday, Northampton officials were reflecting on their decision to purchase “snow insurance,” a gamble that — so far — has not paid off. Who would have figured after last year’s walloping 85 inches of snow, that this winter would turn out so dry?
■The advisory committee in charge of finding a site for a new Northampton fire station last night approved a preliminary plan for a $2.4 million building. The proposed building would sit on a two-acre site anywhere within a one-mile radius of the central business district.
■Building Commissioner Anthony L. Patillo is demanding a copy of an engineering report upon which the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield based its decision to close St. Mary of the Assumption Church late last year. Patillo said he is troubled by conflicting information swirling about the scope of the repairs needed at the church.
■Platterpus Records will close up shop at the Hampshire Mall in Hadley at the end of the month, making it the latest in a long line of local record stores to shutter its operations within the last year. Dynamite Records in Northampton called it quits after 27 years in business last August.