■Soon there will be only the narrow level railroad bed left of the bankrupt N.Y., New Haven & Hartford tracks between Easthampton and Williamsburg, ending an era that at its peak saw dozens of freight and passenger trains chugging up and down the track daily. The tracks are ready to be dismantled and removed for salvage and the ties will be shipped to the coast for use as pilings.
■A community recycling center for newspapers and glass containers is slated to open in Northampton on Saturday in the parking lot of the Department of Public Works on Locust Street. The area is expected to provide a place where materials can be collected and prepared for re-use.
■A vote on whether to build a new high school for Northampton or renovate the existing one was on the agenda for the School Committee last night, but was indefinitely postponed, at the recommendation of Superintendent Bruce E. Willard. The committee’s consultant, Edwin Harrington, has told the board it is unlikely the state would provide a 70 percent subsidy for building a new school for an estimated $24.5 million.
■Young Cortney Tetreault of Hatfield found herself amid distinguished company yesterday. The fifth-grader at the Dorothy M. Breor Elementary School in Hatfield won second place in the state for a national poster-making contest for National Arbor Day, which is today.
■NASA astronaut and Shelburne Falls resident Catherine “Cady” Coleman will be the main speaker at the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s undergraduate commencement next month. Coleman, who has been on the International Space Station since December, will offer congratulations via a videotaped address to the 4,300 graduates at the May 13 ceremony.
■With the likelihood that the upcoming weekend will be the last opportunity for local college students to let loose before the semester ends, Amherst police are working with University of Massachusetts officials to keep problems at bay. “We are planning for the worst, but hoping for the best,” said Amherst police Capt. Chris Pronovost.