■The controversial proposal for an open campus program was laid quietly to rest by the Northampton School Committee last night. The committee defeated the proposal on a 6-3 vote with no discussion. Only School Committee members Hiram Brownell, Abel Ross, and Bernard Tobin voted for the proposal.
■Trustees of the Cooley Dickinson Hospital have approved plans to construct a new $3 million addition to the hospital, containing emergency department, outpatient facilities, and a physical therapy department, hospital Administrator William T. Lees Jr. said today. Construction is expected to start in early 1973.
■The Taste of Northampton opened today, with a belief among organizers that over its four days, some 70,000 people will stroll its aisles, sample its foods and listen to a long list of musicians. Tokens, which are worth 50 cents each, are sold at special booths throughout the venue.
■With tobacco prices at an all-time high, growers in the Pioneer Valley are planting more tobacco, and some say they would be planting more if there was sufficient barn space to hang the harvested broadleaf tobacco for drying.
■In what would be the first development of its kind in town, Boston energy firm Nexamp unveiled plans to build a 2.9-megawatt solar power plant on Mill Valley Road in Hadley at Tuesday’s Planning Board meeting. The facility would generate enough electricity to power 300 to 400 homes and has an estimated price tag of $8 million to $10 million, according to a company official.
■The former vice president of King & Cushman Insurance, Jill C. Lesko, has been named president of the city firm at 176 King St. According to a statement from the company, Lesko has worked for King & Cushman for about 29 years and has served as its vice president since 1997.