■Strikers set up a picket line at the Philipp Manufacturing Co. in Easthampton today when negotiations broke down at midnight. The company, which manufactures tinclad and hollow metal doors, employs about 145 people. A company spokesman said he expected talks to resume.
■A strong mayor government could turn Northampton government into a dictatorship, 68-year-old Alvertus D. Morse warned the Charter Commission last night. “I don’t like the idea of a dictator at the head of the city,” Morse said. Morse, present chairman of the Board of Public Works, announced that Northampton’s present form of government is just fine.
■A new consumer group is forming to monitor the quality of care at Cooley Dickinson Hospital and to intervene, where possible, in preventing any deterioration of care. The group’s first act will be to have a “conversation forum” aimed at learning about ongoing changes at the hospital as well as the hospital’s future, said Isaac BenEzra, a retired educator and social worker who will host the forum.
■Smith College will use income from the largest single gift in its history, a $4.2 million bequest from Louise Wolff Kahn of Dallas, Texas, to expand opportunities for Smith students to work with members of the Smith faculty on scholarly projects, the college says. The money will also provide support to faculty research and field work.
■The Leverett Crafts and Arts Center is in a “regrouping phase” after the death of its co-director last month, the president of the board of trustees said Wednesday. Kiran Bhowmik, who served as co-director of the nonprofit organization on Montague Road for the last four years, died Jan. 27. The other co-director, Walter Burnham, will remain in his position overseeing the administration of the center, which opened in 1965 and now houses studios and a gallery.
■Once the source of a modest discount, Northampton’s monthly parking passes are now a hot commodity in the wake of a hike in parking meter fees and fines last summer. So much so that Mayor David J. Narkewicz is proposing doubling the price of the passes to $60 to bring them in line with other parking fees and fines.