■University of Massachusetts officials are investigating charges that federal funds have been misused at the School of Education. The matter, which has been routinely handled through administrative channels for the past two weeks, took a dramatic turn last week when the man making the charges received a note threatening his life if he came forward with more information.
■Jill K. Conway, the University of Toronto vice president who will take over as seventh president of Smith College next July, told an audience at the college yesterday that “we will settle the question of why there are no female Leonardos or Einsteins by simply producing some.”
■Health Agent Charles J. Kaniecki, who gained a reputation in Easthampton as a no-nonsense enforcement officer, is leaving his city post after 10 years to join the state Department of Public Health as district health officer for western Massachusetts. Kaniecki, 47, will begin his new job, based in Northampton, in January.
■Roger Brown of Goshen has been named Massachusetts Volunteer of the Year by the Humane Society of the United States. On many Fridays in the past 11 years, he has left his home to walk the dogs at the Greenfield Area Animal Shelter.
■The University of Massachusetts Amherst announced Wednesday night that it has cut ties with embattled entertainer Bill Cosby amid accusations that he sexually assaulted more than a dozen women during his career. UMass joins at least two other schools that have distanced themselves from Cosby.
■Attorney General-elect Maura Healey has named two area lawyers to her transition team as she prepares to take over as the state’s top prosecutor in January. Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan and Thomas Lesser, who has a law office in Northampton, are among 20 people named to Healey’s unpaid team of advisers.