■Richard S. Holden is retiring as chairman and chief executive officer of the Northampton National Bank. He came to Northampton 24 years ago when he took over as bank president, but he had previously been stationed in town as an instructor at the Naval Reserve Midshipman’s School for WAVES at Smith College, during World War II.
■Everett W. Ladd Jr. was re-elected president of the Northampton National Bank Tuesday at the organizational meeting of the board of directors. Ladd joined the bank as an assistant cashier in 1963. He had formerly headed the South Deerfield office of the Farm Credit Associations.
■The 16th annual Darts Across the Atlantic telephone match will take place at Moose Lodge #614 on Cooke Avenue on Sunday. The event features a competition between darts players in Northampton, Mass., and Northampton, England. Ten men and three women will shoot various matches to see which community will win a trophy.
■Northampton firefighters will not be able to smoke in either city firehouse, starting March 1. By a 7-1 vote, the City Council has adopted revised Fire Department rules and regulations, without the provision that had previously allowed firefighters to smoke inside the Masonic Street and Florence fire stations.
■For the past several weeks, something remarkable has been taking shape on the third floor of Northampton High School: a six-wheeled, motorized robot named Paul, designed to shoot baskets and do other moves in a hands-on challenge called The Rebound Rumble. The 17 students who have been working on this feat of engineering are all members of the school’s new robotics team.
■Gov. Deval Patrick has nominated Beth A. Crawford of Haydenville for a judgeship at Hampshire Probate and Family court. Crawford is slated to fill the position left vacant by the retirement last May of Gail L. Perlman.