■Young girls in Northampton are learning ballet at the People’s Institution. Viki Guten, a Smith College senior, is instructing the young dancers in the intricacies of the dance. This is Miss Guten’s third year of instructing ballet at the Institute.
■Bill Cosby, star of his own comedy television series who plans to earn a master’s degree in education at the University of Massachusetts, is expected to arrive in time to register for second semester course work. Dean Dwight W. Allen said Cosby is planning to retire from television to devote full time to studying, and that he has purchased a home in Longmeadow.
■Mayor Mary L. Ford could get a $5,000-a-year raise by Jan. 1, boosting her annual salary to $50,366, according to a proposal submitted yesterday by the Personnel Advisory Committee. Under the proposal, Ford could be earning $61,098 by Jan. 1, 1998. Her current salary is $45,000.
■The Northampton City Council last night accepted a donation of 2.5 acres of land in the Route 66-Loudville Road area, an area offering good fishing and hiking. And by a unanimous vote members approved allotting $1,000 toward the purchase price of $9,000 for a 5.5-acre parcel of land in the Fitzgerald Lake Conservation Area.
■Sally Venman, the co-founder of Valley Light Opera and recipient of a Paragon Award earlier this year, died early Saturday morning. Venman, 78, started the VLO with her husband 35 years ago, creating a company for adults to stage performances of Gilbert & Sullivan and other comic opera productions and to engage people in the work of community theater.
■Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick on Tuesday vowed to adopt the rest of an advisory panel’s immigration reform recommendations, including pushing for in-state tuition for illegal immigrant students at state colleges, during his second term.