50 Years Ago
- An application for permission to build a 91-bed addition to the Pine Rest Nursing Home was filed with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health this week. The $1.5 million projected facility at the corner of Elm and Franklin streets would require the razing of two Elm Street houses — one a rooming house and the other a community residence for former Belchertown State School residents.
- An experiment in solar heating will be conducted by Massachusetts Electric Co. and two of its associated New England companies starting this fall, when 100 customers are chosen for installation of hot water heaters powered by solar energy. To be eligible for the program, a customer must have a single family house with a southern exposure free of shade trees, plants, and buildings, with sufficient space for an outside solar collector and storage tank.
25 Years Ago
- Mamie Parker has been appointed acting chief of the Northeast region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. As acting regional director of the 13-state region, Parker said she plans on using education, outreach and connections to area colleges in the mission of conserving the protecting wildlife and its habitat.
- The first video camera has been installed on the exterior of a dormitory in the Southwest residential area at the University of Massachusetts, part of a pilot project to improve security all over campus. Plans for the camera were announced in April by Chancellor David Scott, following a large weekend disturbance in Southwest during which firefighters were attacked.
10 Years Ago
- Superbowl MVP Tom Brady learned Thursday he will start the season on the field after a judge lifted the league’s four-game suspension of the star quarterback for a scandal over deflated footballs, saying he was treated unfairly by NFL Commission Roger Goodell. “Deflategate” has been a popular topic of conversation locally in the almost eight months since the Patriots were accused of illegally deflating balls in the Jan. 18 AFC Championship game.
- University of Massachusetts President Marty Meehan announced Thursday that the system will retroactively pay raises it promised to 6,500 faculty and staff in a 2014 contract. The university system’s unionized workers have lobbied the board of trustees and picketed graduations in their fight to the raises the system agreed to pay them starting July 1, 2014.