■A state official last spring found that more than $36,000 was apparently improperly spent at a School of Education program at the University of Massachusetts, the Gazette has learned. The official, James P. Martyn of the Governor’s Committee on Criminal Justice, documented in two letters last May and June that federal funds were spent by School of Education personnel on matters unrelated to the funded program.
■Ward 4 City Councilor William P. Nagle Jr. today submitted his resignation from the council “to devote my full attention to my duties as Representative.” Meanwhile several people have reportedly expressed an interest in Nagle’s seat, including Mary McColgan, who confirmed today that she intends to seek the Democratic nomination.
■A new quarter with the Massachusetts Minuteman on the tail side will soon be showing up as pocket change. Gov. Paul Cellucci unveiled the 25-cent piece at a Faneuil Hall ceremony Tuesday, as a 20-piece Minuteman Fife and Drum Corp. and representatives of the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution watched.
■The new director of Casa Latina is leading the non-profit agency’s return to its roots by helping low-income Latinos. Jossie Valentin was named Casa Latina’s program manager in October, a position that had been vacant while the non-profit agency’s Board of Directors regrouped and refocused the 31-year-old organization.
■Stu Miller, the only major league baseball player to hail from Northampton, died Sunday at his home in Cameron Park, California, at age 87 after a brief illness. Miller’s career began in 1948, when scouts from the St. Louis Cardinals held an open tryout at Kearney Field in Northampton.
■A restaurant specializing in northern Italian and other Mediterranean-style dishes will open next to the Amherst Cinema in February. Vespa, owned by Jonathan Welch of Amherst, will be in the space most recently occupied by the Arise Farm to Table Pub & Pizzeria, which closed in November.