■It’s on to Akron, Ohio and the nationals for Skip Kosior of Williamsburg, winner yesterday of the seventh annual Gazette-Kiwanis Soap Box Derby. Skip emerged the winner, gaining the right to represent Hampshire County in the All-American Soap Derby, after more than three hours of races down the gentle Locust Street hill.
■Cheron Louise Green, of Oak Street, Florence, recently completed 10 weeks of basic training in the U.S. Navy WAVES at the Recruit Training Command for Women, in Bainbridge, Md. Seaman Apprentice Green, a 1970 graduate of St. Michael’s High School, spent a 14-day leave with her family before reporting to her present duty assignment at the Naval Air Station, Little Creek, Va., where she will train and work in the one of the Navy’s administrative career fields.
■The political fight over whether to get state money into Hampshire County coffers isn’t over, Gov. William F. Weld said yesterday during a visit to Northampton. Weld agreed to have his staff meet with county officials to talk about ways to restructure county government and possibly avert the layoffs of 36 workers that could begin on July 26.
■Sovereign Hill Software, a company formed to market the INQUERY information retrieval software developed by computer scientists at the University of Massachusetts, announced yesterday that it had secured venture capital funding from Blue Rock Capital L.P. of Wilmington, Del., and Zesiger Capital Group of New York City.
■Once home to a bank, a jail and a juvenile court, the historic James House on Gothic Street has been recast as a community learning center with two anchor tenants providing adult education and workforce training programs. The Center for New Americans and the Literacy Project have found permanent homes under one roof to advance overlapping yet distinct programs geared toward expanding educational and economic opportunities for immigrants and refugees, while helping people obtain higher levels of education and self-sufficiency.
■Homes at Easthampton Meadow, a new $12 million development at the foot of Mount Tom, will combine affordable prices and “green” design when ground is broken on the first two units in August.