■Northampton High School French teacher Vincent Falardeau will be one of 30 members of the American team departing from New York’s Kennedy International Airport tonight to go to the Mansville-Stokes International Wheelchair Games in London. Falardeau is a gold medal winner in swimming in previous international competitions.
■Affirming that he, the city and the Personnel Board are fully committed to negotiate with the Northampton Police Relief Association for a new wage contract, Northampton Mayor Sean Dunphy said this morning that he thinks the police deserve a pay raise, but the “35 percent demand” that they made is “unrealistic.”
■The financial turnaround of Cooley Dickinson Hospital — from near bankruptcy in 1986 to yearly surpluses and expansion by 1995 — has been recognized by a national magazine covering the hospital industry. The magazine, Hospitals & Health Networks, this week is naming Cooley Dickinson as winner of its “Great Comebacks 1995 Contest” in the mid-size hospital category.
■Springfield city councilors are considering holding a second referendum on casino gambling this November. Last year, residents defeated a casino proposal, but since then, residents of neighboring Holyoke overwhelmingly voted for casinos in their city and pro-casino groups in Springfield have begun collecting signatures to force a second vote.
■Music, food, dancing and lots and lots of hot air are in store this weekend as the Green River Festival marks its 24th year. The festival will feature about 25 bands performing on two stages, as well as a kids’ stage featuring age-appropriate music and performances.
■Northampton’s Board of Health will hold a public hearing July 22 to discuss a new range of products that give users nicotine without the smoke, and how they should be regulated in the city. E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that vaporize nicotine, which is inhaled by the user.