■Prophylactic Brush of Florence has acquired an option to buy five acres of land near Spring Street and may build additional plant facilities on the land in the future. The land is adjacent to the company’s newest building on Spring Street, erected in 1969.
■A Cooley Dickinson Hospital spokesman said Friday evening that a diagnosis of a youth suspected of having encephalitis had turned up negative. Supervisor Dorothy Russell said the youth, whose name was not disclosed, was released yesterday afternoon.
■Girls Scouts and Boy Scouts from Florence marched down Northampton’s Main Street Wednesday evening heading to the Three County Fairgrounds in a new fair tradition, a kick-off parade. The fair opened yesterday with sparse attendance due to the rain.
■The discovery of a backpack containing 14 hypodermic needles on church steps next to Northampton High School is prompting new warnings about the prevalence of drug use in this community. Police say the backpack discovered on Wednesday by Northampton Police Officer Daniel Block belonged to two Vermont teenagers visiting friends at the high school.
■Belchertown Fire Capt. John C. Workman is in line to be the next Southampton fire chief pending successful contract negotiations. Workman started his career as a volunteer firefighter in Belchertown 24 years ago and has been second in command at the station for the last 17 years.
■Judith Glassman Daniels, a Smith College alumna who blazed a trail for women in the publishing world and became the first woman to serve as top editor of Life magazine, has died at the age of 74. John MacMillan, editorial director at Smith College, where Daniels was a longtime member of the board of directors of the Alumnae Association, called Daniels a “change-maker” who helped the next generation of women get ahead.