■Northampton and 19 surrounding communities will receive an estimated $23.33 million to be raised under the one-cent gas tax hike which goes into effect today. Massachusetts motorists will now pay an additional penny in state taxes for each gallon of gasoline bought.
■The idea of whether or not Hampshire County records more than 80 years old should be microfilmed was discussed yesterday at a meeting of the Hampshire County Commissioners. Commissioner Edward M. O’Brien of Easthampton questioned whether the microfilming process could reproduce old records accurately enough to be of use.
■Jessie’s House has created a new position for someone to teach job skills to residents at the shelter. The new job, for which a search is under way, is part of a restructuring effort. Jessie’s House, located on West Street, is a shelter for homeless families.
■A group of young people that congregates downtown is forming a club — the result of a series of meetings with Main Street merchants and the Northampton Police Department. The first item on the agenda of the new group — the Do It Yourself Club — is to be a punk-rock concert at the First Churches set for July 21.
■On July 10, Northampton’s principal Assessor Joan C. Sarafin had an unwanted visitor in her Chesterfield Road home. A big, fat turkey smashed a window in her kitchen and ran amok for most of a day in her household.
■A longtime parishioner’s gift of some $720,000 to the Bishop of Springfield for the “use and benefit” of St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Northampton is on hold, due to an ongoing appeal of the bishop’s 2009 decision to close the church. When Irene S. Kuzontkoski died in 2009, she believed that the value of all she owned would go to her spiritual home.