■Edward Seymour of Florence, the winner of Northampton’s Soap Box Derby, was honored at the Hotel Northampton last night during the Northampton Kiwanis Club meeting. The derby, held Sunday, was sponsored by the Daily Hampshire Gazette and the Kiwanis Club.
■The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield will adopt a “Due Process” procedure by Sept. 15 for redress to anyone having argument with institutions of the Diocese. The Boards of Conciliation and Arbitration will be staffed by two priests and a lay person appointed by Bishop Christopher J. Weldon.
■Nearly 2,000 people felt right at home this weekend, as they spent three days in the city for the 6th Annual Northampton Lesbian Festival. According to organizers, the festival attracted between 1,500 and 2,000 women — and a few men — to downtown Northampton.
■Medical emergencies brought on both by heat and the loss of electricity in homes sent many over the weekend to the emergency department at Cooley Dickinson Hospital. Many elderly people sought treatment on Saturday, after the storm downed trees and knocked out electricity to many communities.
■The Pioneer Valley Transit Authority is planning to introduce automated bus-tracking and paratransit notification systems over the next two years. New technology will allow elderly and handicapped users of public buses to be able to pinpoint precisely when their bus will show up.
■An agreement to clean up soil off Route 10 means cyclists could be riding through the site to Southampton on a bike trail by next summer. The long-awaited cleanup of asbestos at the former W.R. Grace Plant, which stalled work to extend the Manhan Rail Trail to Southampton, is slated to begin this fall.