■The district attorney and a federal official in Washington told the Gazette today that they are prepared to investigate allegations of misuse of funds at the University of Massachusetts School of Education. Hampshire-Franklin Dist. Atty. John Callahan said this morning that “based on the evidence in the Gazette this week I think there should be an investigation.”
■The Northampton School Committee and the Northampton Teachers’ Association reached final agreement last night on a new two-year contract, ending more than a year of negotiations. The new contract will give teachers a 6.2 percent raise in pay this year and a 7 percent raise next year.
■Residents opposed to Wal-Mart’s plan to have its tractor-trailers use Hatfield Street and Cooke Avenue to reach the back of the former Caldor store plan to make their case at the Planning Board’s meeting Thursday. Their words may fall on sympathetic ears, as several Planning Board members have already asked Wal-Mart to propose alternative truck routes to the store.
■Educators, parents and others concerned with public education in Hampshire County are invited to a meeting Monday that is part of an effort to establish a network of people statewide who are opposed to the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests. MCAS opponents plan to petition state legislators to suspend the MCAS tests immediately and replace them with a variety of assessment tools.
■The decision by the Northampton Planning Board to grant a site plan and by the Central Business Architecture Committee to approve a permit for Valley Community Development Corp.’s $20 million affordable housing project on the former Northampton Lumber site have concluded a public hearing that lasted more than four hours over two days.
■The owners of seven Northampton restaurants will be called before the License Commission next month to explain why their establishments allegedly sold alcohol to minors under 21 during a compliance check. This is the first time that any of the seven restaurants have been called before the License Commission for any violation.