■Russell W. Carrier today formally announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the School Committee from Ward 1. No newcomer to politics, Carrier was elected as a delegate to the 1972 Democratic Convention pledged to Sen. George McGovern. He also served as chair of the McGovern-Shriver campaign for the Hampshire Franklin Senatorial District.
■The recent outbreak of equine encephalitis in southern New Hampshire and southeastern Massachusetts is expected to have little effect on horse racing at the Three County Fair over Labor Day weekend, due to the nature of the disease and state requirements that racehorses be vaccinated.
■Boy Scout Christopher Ware has constructed a wooden play shed at the Hampshire Community Action Commission’s day care center on Vernon Street as part of an Eagle Scout project. Ware attended the center as a child.
■City residents do not have to worry about the price of trash disposals going up — for now at least. A proposal to raise the per bag price for trash disposal from $1 to $1.25 has been buried. To push for the measure, which faced heavy opposition from city councilors, would have been difficult, conceded Health Agent Peter McErlain.
■A mixed-use building containing retail stores, offices and apartments is being proposed for land owned by W.D. Cowls Inc. in North Amherst. Called the Trolley Barn and designed by Kuhn Riddle Architects, plans for the three-story, 14,256-square-foot building at 68 Cowls Road were submitted this week to the Planning Department.
■As the city investigates whether to use Roundup herbicide as it develops new recreational fields in Florence, an effort by Look Park to go organic on part of its expansive campus is getting mixed reviews. William Hildreth, the park’s maintenance director, said the expense of converting to organic methods has been a tough hurdle to clear and the grass in the areas where the park is using such methods is not as lush and aesthetically pleasing as it has been in the past.