■They’ll be singing the national anthem at the University of Massachusetts graduation Saturday after all. Originally it had been voted by the Commencement Task Force at UMass to lower the flag to half-staff and not play the national anthem. The move stirred considerable protest.
■Miss Katherine M. Finn is retiring this year form her position as a teacher at the Vernon Street School after 40 years’ service. She was one of nine teachers who are retiring and were honored at a Northampton Teachers Association banquet at the Whale Inn in Goshen last week.
■Several Northampton schools are sending teams to participate in the 10th Annual AIDS Pledge Walk in Boston on June 4. Students from Northampton High School, Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School and Smith College are forming teams of five people who will register in advance, set a team goal and raise money.
■Jeslyn Hargraves and Meredith Bertrand combined on a no-hitter as the Northampton High School softball team downed South Hadley 13-1 yesterday in a Valley Wheel game. Hargraves struck out four and walked six before yielding to her cousin in the sixth.
■When Mark’s Meadow Elementary School in Amherst closes next month, the building will undergo a renovation and become offices, classrooms and studio space for the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at the University of Massachusetts.
■Local residents will add their voices to rallies planned around the country today to protest a controversial Arizona law that instructs local and state law enforcement to request proof of U.S. citizenship if there is “reasonable suspicion” they are undocumented. A rally is planned for noon Saturday at City Hall in Northampton.