■Edward J. Heon has been named executive director of Riverside Industries, Inc. He replaces Robert V. Agoglia, who is planning to return to an administrative position in the area with the Department of Mental Health. Riverside Industries was formerly called the Occupational, Vocational Development Center for the Handicapped.
■A recount of ballots over the weekend has reversed the outcome of one close race in the Southampton elections held two weeks ago. Edward Youmell, who had originally lost in his bid for the board of water commissioners by a four-vote margin, was declared the winner of the race Saturday. The recount showed that Youmell topped his opponent, Jeannette T. Judge, by three votes.
■The building at 140 Main St. that once housed the Words & Pictures Museum still has no new tenant, but demolition is under way to ready the space for its next use. Workers this week began tearing down a cave that museumgoers entered on the trip through the three-floor museum started by Kevin Eastman, co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
■Northampton leaders plan to ask the state s commissioner of education for money and technical support for the Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School. This year, the Smith School is facing what leaders term a budgetary crisis, the result of declining out-of-district enrollment and the school’s unique funding structure.
■In her fiscal year 2016 budget proposal, Easthampton mayor Karen L. Cadieux cut all city funding for the Easthampton Community Center, citing an 1855 state law amendment, rewritten in 1917, that prohibits funding private nonprofits. In response, City Councilor James Kwiecinski and James Ayres, head of the Hampshire County United Way, have suggested that the city pay the Community Center after the fact for providing public services, as it would any private contractor.
■Yankee Magazine has named Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary to its annual list of New England s best travel destinations. The sanctuary, listed in the category of Best Birdwatching in Massachusetts, is featured in the magazine s Best of New England 2015 Editors Choice travel guide.