■Miss Suzanne Korpita, Easthampton’s 1972 Junior Miss, was selected first runner-up in the Massachusetts Junior Miss Pageant held in Hyannis this weekend. She was awarded a $400 Savings Bond and a gold trophy, as well as a camera.
■Saturday night’s victory over Agawam High School 220 to 140 has placed the Northampton High School team in retirement as champions on the Channel 22’s program “As Schools Match Wits.” Team members are: Doug Caldwell, Gail Duffney, Jeffrey Olmstead, and Michael Olmstead, with alternates Cynthia Simison and George Young.
■The state has rebuffed a local minister’s request to open a building at the former Northampton State Hospital to house the emergency cot program. “We’re disappointed but we’re not shocked,” the Rev. Peter Kakos, pastor of Edwards Church in Northampton, said yesterday.
■Springfield resident Patricia Clark, who has worked with elders for the past 10 years, says she’s ready to make the transition to family-oriented health care as the new director of the Hilltown Community Health Centers. Clark was hired last month to oversee health centers in Worthington and Huntington, and will serve as a liaison between the health centers’ staff and board.
■A surprise “visit” from a nationally known figure added some celebrity flavor to a roast Monday night for former Northampton mayor Clare Higgins. MSNBC political talk show host Rachel Maddow credited Higgins with creating and sustaining a vibrant downtown that has inspired competition for real estate mogul Eric Suher.
■A suspicious letter and envelope discovered in the Hampshire County Courthouse Monday prompted the evacuation of the building and briefly delayed a trial. A letter claiming that a bomb was in the courthouse was received by the district court clerk’s office about 1:15 p.m. A search of the building found nothing.