■Construction on the Hampshire Regional High School, going up in Westhampton, is progressing. The school open in September 1971 and will serve several towns in the area.
■The Rev. R. Leroy Moser has been appointed by Bishop James K. Mathews as the new pastor of the First United Methodist Church, Elm Street, Northampton. Mr. Moser was recently interviewed by the Pastor-Parish Relations Committee of the local church and arrangements have been made for his family to move into the parsonage at 15 Massasoit St.
■The state Department of Education awarded a contract this week to a New Hampshire company to develop skills assessment tests, a product of the 1993 Education Reform Act, that could become a graduation requirement in 1999. Assessment tests will be administered in Grades, 4, 8, and 10.
■A parachutist took a dunk in the Connecticut River yesterday after his main chute failed to deploy, police say. A secondary, emergency chute did open automatically and the 41-year-old man, whom police did not identify, floated gently into the river. He was not injured.