■More than 2,000 parents, relatives and friends filled the Smith College quadrangle Sunday to witness the 94th commencement and the graduation of 540 seniors from the class of 1972. The cloudless sky and deep green foliage of the quad provided the perfect setting for the event.
■Atlantic salmon will be restored to the Connecticut River by 1980, if plans in the four-state river basin move ahead as hoped. U.S. Rep. Silvio O. Conte announced that agreements have been reached with three power companies owning dams along the river to install necessary fish passage facilities that will restore spawning grounds to the long-absent species.
■While the protracted congressional battle over a ban on “partial birth abortions” has moved some on an issue that sometimes seems beyond compromise, U.S. Reps. John Olver and Richard E. Neal stuck to their positions on abortion in the House’s vote on the procedure. While the two congressmen, both Democrats, vote similarly on many issues, Olver is staunchly pro-choice, and Neal is anti-abortion.
■A one-tenth scale version of the USS Constitution, made by the Northampton St. Patrick’s Association, made its way down Main Street yesterday during the Memorial Day parade in Florence. The float won an award for the association in the Holyoke St. Patrick’s Parade.
■Fire Chief Brian P. Duggan was taken by ambulance to Cooley Dickinson Hospital Wednesday after suffering smoke inhalation from a basement fire in Florence. Duggan was injured when he ventured down into the bulkhead at the rear of 43 Fox Farms Road.
■It’s Memorial Day weekend and our national obsession with the price of gasoline is in focus once again. At a nationwide average Friday of $3.67 per gallon, gasoline is far cheaper in the U.S. than much of the rest of the world, thanks to relatively low taxes.