■An Afro-American studies department at the University of Massachusetts, named for the noted black scholar W.E.B. DuBois, was approved yesterday. The department if designed to offer an undergraduate major in Afro-American studies and courses in black humanities for non-majors.
■Numbers of Easthampton youngsters went on a cleanup rampage yesterday in an Earth Day effort which turned up bag after bag of trash which they amassed in the town park for collection. Passers-by were heard to remark that they had seldom seen the Easthampton Common look so tidy and beautiful.
■In opening a new restaurant, Chandler’s Tavern, Yankee Candle Co. president Michael Kittredge has proven once again that he is the man with the Midas touch. Though the restaurant did not officially open until last Saturday, it has been doing a brisk business for two weeks, said manager Gary Betters.
■Mysticals, Magicals and Rituals, a new store located on Cottage Street in Easthampton, offers an array of magical supplies including crystals, candles, incense, tarot cards and books. Owner Dale Platenkik describes his business as “a little occult shop with a vast array of magical supplies and mystical services.”
■A dozen people were hospitalized and treated for severe intoxication when they became sick during a dance party at the University of Massachusetts Saturday night into Sunday morning. The influx of patients put a strain on Cooley Dickinson Hospital, which was forced to close its emergency room to new patients shortly after midnight, according to staff members.
■Area residents seeking tips and advice on how to live a more “green” lifestyle descended on Pulaski Park Sunday afternoon for the city’s first celebration in several years of the four-decade-old Earth Day. The Northampton event was one of several with a similar theme held around the Pioneer Valley over the weekend.