■School Superintendent John Buteau has been directed to “hold the line” on next year’s school teaching supplies and textbooks budget. Last year Buteau requested an 11% increase in this section of the budget and was granted permission to make a 7% increase.
■The Northampton School Department has been presented with a trust fund to start spelling contests in city schools, although Superintendent John Buteau and school committee members are not exactly enthusiastic about the fact. “There are other skills I would like to emphasize more than that,” Buteau told the Teachers Subcommittee at its meeting last night.
■The audible crossing signals planned for Northampton’s main intersection will likely be in place by the end of September. The question now is which sound to choose to make crossing the intersection easier for the visually impaired — a “peep-peep,” a “cuckoo,” one of two variations of a woman’s voice, or a customized sound created and recorded by the city.
■Amherst’s Jane Garvey, the new head of the Federal Aviation Administration, was confirmed by a voice vote in the Senate on Thursday. Garvey is the former deputy administrator of the Federal Highway Administration.
■A landmark building celebrated in the history of Northampton for its role in helping runaway slaves reach freedom was leveled Wednesday in a planned demolition to make room at the site of the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish on King Street. The longtime rectory was built in 1824, and was once home to Erastus Hopkins, an abolitionist who aided the Underground Railroad.
■Paid for almost entirely by state-sponsored green-energy programs, Northampton will soon be building eight 230-volt charging ports for electric cars to be installed in parking lots and garages for public use. The program is designed to encourage the purchase of environment-friendly vehicles.