■Joseph White saw an old brick wall three years ago that he liked and decided that was what he was going to have across the front of his yard at 15 Walnut St. in Northampton. It took him a year to find the bricks, clean them and make the wall. He is satisfied with the project, and so are the scores of persons who view the low, trim wall with its square planters at the ends and flanking the walk to his house.
■The Northampton Redevelopment Authority accepted the $529,000 low bid of Ted Ondrick Construction Co. of Chicopee Falls for utility and site construction for Northampton’s Industrial Park on Damon Road. The decision to accept the Ondrick bid means construction on the park could start in two or three weeks.
■Investigators probing deaths at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center are studying the role a nurse played in the care of those who died. That information comes from people close to the case, and a court affidavit filed in another legal proceeding.
■When the Warped Tour rocked this week in Northampton, some in the neighborhood roiled. By most accounts, Tuesday’s concert was well-run. But for some in the densely settled neighborhoods around the Northampton Airport, the noise and press of traffic renewed a long-smoldering resentment about entertainment events there.
■Massachusetts drivers are still sending and reading text messages, despite a statewide ban on texting behind the wheel. State officials and safety groups say it’s too soon to know if the threat of tickets is stopping drivers from texting. Between the Sept. 30 start of the ban and the end of May, 733 citations for sending texts have been issued by police.
■David Pakman, whose twice-weekly program is heard on radio and watched on television, podcasts, YouTube videos, iPhone, and Android apps and via satellite on the Direct TV and Dish Network, is moving his studio from Northampton to Greenfield. Pakman is believed to be the youngest talk show host in the country.