■A proposed transfer of $1,500 to prepare plans for an ambitious new recreation facility will go tonight to the finance committee and probably the full City Council for approval. The recreation area would be located on Northampton State Hospital land on Burts Pit Road. The 15-acre parcel will be leased to the city at no charge.
■Handling and delivery problems involving Sunday newspapers have led to the Sunday closing of Lizotte’s Cigar Store and Wally’s in Northampton. Both stores will be closed for the first time this Sunday.
■Superintendent Bruce Willard says he has solved the problem of large kindergarten classes at Leeds School by hiring a half-time teacher and an instructional aide. They will be used in a team to teach a new third class.
■Three of the Northampton Police Department’s top brass are in California this week attending a conference on “problem-solving policing.” Chief Russell P. Sienkiewicz, Capt. Joseph W. Koncas and Sgt. Brian C. Rust are all attending the 8th annual Problem Oriented Police Conference being held in San Diego.
■Easthampton High School senior Rachel Connell was named winner of the Distinguished Young Women of Greater Easthampton competition Sunday. Connell plans to study nursing at Elms College in Chicopee next year.
■Southampton residents will vote on a measure that would lead to the purchase of a 4.25-mile stretch of unused railbed to create a recreational trail at a special Town Meeting Tuesday. If the article passes with a two-thirds majority, it would allow the town to purchase the railbed for $340,000.