■Omega Books, Northampton’s newest used bookstore, is now open for business. Its late hours make it convenient for late-night readers to scan the shelves for everything from paperback fiction to a selection of poetry. Norman Witty, 31, sole owner and keeper of the shop, accepts used books of all kinds, excluding textbooks.
■A new motorcycle shop and restaurant will open in Northampton soon. Motorcycles will be sold in an establishment called Valley Motorsports on King Street, while a common victualer license has been awarded to Beardsley’s Café Restaurant at 11 Button Street.
■Greenfield Industries Inc. announced yesterday it would lay off 150 workers over the next year as a result of reorganizing its manufacturing plant and eliminating part of its product line. The plant, located off Route 116 in Deerfield’s industrial park, employed 360 workers.
■The autumn storm that dumped sleet and freezing rain on the region came early in the day — and early in the cold season. It threw a slick shock down everywhere for area commuters, slowing traffic to a crawl along major and secondary roads. It shut all schools except Hatfield’s.
■Jack Gilbert, a former Northampton poet laureate who never cared too much for titles or fame, died Tuesday at the age of 87 in a nursing home in Berkeley, Calif. Gilbert lived for many years in the Pioneer Valley and left his mark on the local arts community, which remembered him Wednesday as a quiet, quizzical man who wrote unconventional poetry, cared nothing for the fame it brought him, and valued living a full life above all else.
■Prompted by health care reform, both Cooley Dickinson Hospital and Baystate Health are converting traditional medical practices into “patient-center medical homes,” where care is provided by a physician-led medical team under one roof, coordinated around the needs of patients.