■The gas is coming on. At 10:30 a.m. today gas lines in downtown Northampton and most of Easthampton had gas pressure. By noon today all the gas lines in Northampton should be completely pressurized, Peter Bugby of Northampton Gas Light announced late this morning.
■An apartment development “appropriate to residential Northampton” is under consideration for an 18-acre tract of land in the Jackson and Barrett streets area. Colonial design, red-brick, two-story buildings spaced in a free-form manner along a curving drive have been proposed.
■While the mayor has already chosen 16 people to help plan the renovation of Northampton High School, one city councilor says what’s missing in that mix is the students’ voice. Ward 1 City Councilor Judith I. Fine said the Northampton High School Renovation Building Committee needs to hear from the students for whom the school is being built.
■The tie, that badge of formality, has not been tossed altogether. But now there’s an option for Northampton police officers. For the first time, beat officers and their supervisors can wear turtleneck shirts as a part of their winter uniforms, a clothing change officers say will help keep them warmer and more comfortable.
■A University of Massachusetts Amherst alum best known for overseeing a compensation program for families of Sept. 11 victims and the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill is donating all of his historic papers to his alma mater. Kenneth R. Feinberg hopes the materials will give students, researchers and the general public insight into one of this country’s most unusual times of social change.
■Academy at Charlemont teacher David Perry has stepped into the headmaster’s seat and is serving as the school’s interim director during the search for a new head of school. Perry, of Northampton, is in his fifth year at the academy, where he teaches junior humanities and senior history classes.