■Miss Carole Hambley, Easthampton’s Junior Miss, has flown to London, England, aboard a 747 jet to visit the two English boys, Martin Cox and Steven Daultrey, who visited her for nine days a year ago. Miss Hambley will also visit Jennifer Wright, her pen pal for the past seven years.
■Another upset of major proportions in yesterday’s election was scored by Charles P. Gleason Jr. of 111 Pine St. who defeated 16-year school committee veteran Mrs. Dorothea Doherty for the Democratic nomination for Ward 6 School Committee member by a vote of 1,903 to 1,144.
■A local Internet service provider closed nearly 300 accounts temporarily as a precaution after a hacker attempted to break into the system earlier this month — just one of several such incidents on computer systems in this area and elsewhere. An increase in hacking — the unauthorized access to supposedly secure computer systems — has accompanied the growth of the Internet.
■Concerned about the piles of cigarette butts found on one section of downtown sidewalk, merchants have pooled money and bought three sand-filled receptacles. Ward 1 City Councilor Judith Fine said three three receptacles will be placed strategically along Main and Center streets in an attempt to persuade smokers to use the urns — and not the sidewalks — to dispose of their cigarette butts.
■Northampton is holding its first-ever reuse rally aimed at keeping items out of its rapidly filling-up landfill on Glendale Road. The Salvation Army will be on hand to collect clothing; the Pedal People and Bikes not Bombs are lined up to take bicycles; and volunteers from the reuse committee will be working to take in the bulky plastic items.
■An effort to promote Hampshire County as a tourist destination is expected to receive a boost today, when state officials are due in Amherst to announce additional funding for the newly created Hampshire County Regional Tourism Council. The council was formed last year and financed by a $24,000 grant from the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism.