■Members of United Electrical Workers local union 259 picketed the Northampton Cutlery Company in Bay State this morning. The union’s contract with the cutlery company expired yesterday, and the 56 employees of the local firm struck today.
■Tomorrow, April 22, is Earth Day, and millions of Americans of all kinds and inclinations will be turning their thoughts and words to the ravaged American environment. Activities for the day range from Teach-In seminars, conferences, lectures, and discussions at hundreds of universities across the nation to anti-air pollution parades of non-polluting vehicles in Boston.
■Gloria J. Bisaillon, 83, remembered today as a pioneer in local girls’ sports, died Thursday at home. Miss Bisaillon had been a well-known Valley athlete in basketball, field hockey, soccer, swimming, and softball, and was a champion singles and doubles tennis player.
■Preston Horton, the Northampton police officer who founded the Gay Police Officers Action League of New England, will receive a public service award from the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association — the first officer and first western Massachusetts resident to be honored.
■The annual Extravaganja event, which promotes the legalization of marijuana, brought around 2,500 people to the Amherst Town Common Saturday afternoon, but police reported that no major incidents occurred during the festival.
■The city of Easthampton’s office workers would keep a reduced workweek, several employees would be forced to take furlough days and some vacant positions would be eliminated entirely under Mayor Michael A. Tautznik’s budget proposal for the coming fiscal year. “It’s going to be a tough year,” he said Tuesday.