■Recycled money in the form of a check for $263 was presented to Charles Lyons, chairman of the city’s Solid Waste Management Committee, by members of the John F. Kennedy Science Clubs. Part of the $403 earned on the last recycling day was used to pay the printing costs for launching the center. The club used the rest of the funds for bird feeding stations for Hampshire County Hospital and tree plantings at the school.
■Northampton received word Monday that Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Vincent Brogna has ruled that the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals had no right to deny a building permit to Pioneer Home Sponsors for a 150-unit apartment complex on Baker Hill. Opponents of the development immediately indicated that they may appeal the case to the Superior Judicial Court.
■Kathleen Sheehan has been honored with the Paul Harris Award and lauded for her community work by both Mayor Mary L. Ford and the Northampton Rotary Club. The local club cited Sheehan’s work on the new fire station, and her work with the Hampshire Community United Way, the Dollars for Scholars group, and beautification efforts in Northampton and Florence. Sheehan is the retired principal of the Leeds Elementary School.
■A large green garbage truck worth $167,000 was ripped apart this morning when its open tailgate caught the Interstate Route 91 overpass on Damon Road. The Duseau Waste Industries truck flipped over onto its side, careened into a cement pillar, and skidded about 120 feet before coming to a stop.
■A company that runs recycling centers all over the country has researchers in UMass’ biofuels program thinking trash can to gas can. ReCommunity Recycling has committed $635,000 to the Institute for Massachusetts Biofuels Research at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in hopes of developing microbes that digest household trash and turn it into fuel.
■Following six months of renovations, the Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society’s Franklin County branch reopened its doors May 15, and old friends of the property on Montague Road as well as new visitors have kept up a steady traffic. “There’s a lot of curiosity about what it looks like, even from people who know us well,” said Leslie Harris, the executive director at Dakin.