■Northampton’s new leaf eater-upper began operating yesterday, with workmen vacuuming up piles of leaves. City officials said, however, that many homeowners were placing their leaves on the tree line, not in the gutter as required.
■Lawrence H. Bean, 16-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bean of Lone Oak Farm, Florence, and a sophomore in the agricultural department at Smith Vocational High School, recently returned from the North American Dairy Show in Columbus, Ohio, where his registered Ayrshire heifer, Meredith Roland’s Georgia, was awarded first place ribbon in the junior yearling class, as well as a large trophy donated by the New York State Ayrshire breeders Association.
■In what might offer a preview of Tuesday’s voting on a controversial local ballot question, students at the JFK Middle School yesterday approved — by just two votes — a proposed new fire station.
■Following a four-month search, the Northampton Center for the Arts has named Olwen O’Herlihy Dowling as its new director. Dowling, 49, has been with the center since 1989, overseeing business and management. She served as associate director for most of her tenure and has been acting director since September.
■Utility crews made significant progress in a massive power restoration effort on Tuesday, but that was little comfort to the thousands of people in the region who spent another night in the dark. As of Tuesday evening, power had been restored to all but about 25,700 customers in Hampshire County.
■Robert Caret was formally inaugurated Tuesday as the 26th president of the University of Massachusetts in a ceremony attended by more than 400 people, including representatives of colleges and universities from across the country. Caret has previously served as president of Towson University in Maryland, and of San Jose State University in California.