Jim Bridgman

50 Years Ago

  • Absenteeism continues to plague city schools, apparently due to the flu, local administrators said today. The highest percentages of absentees were recorded at Northampton High School where 336 students out of a total enrollment of 1,073 did not report today.
  • A ruling by the state Board of Education last week requires public school systems in certain circumstances to provide free breakfasts only for children from low-income families. In Northampton, the decision would make free breakfasts mandatory in all schools except South Street, D.A. Sullivan and Feiker, according to figures supplied by the school lunch program.

25 Years Ago

  • Though representatives from two large-scale chain stores continue to be closemouthed, it appears there are plans in the works to locate Borders Books and Staples stores in the soon-to-be-developed Hill and Dale Mall. Preliminary plans for the redevelopment of the mall on King Street include a rendering of a building with storefronts showing the names of the two major chain stores.
  • The Lilly Library in Florence will learn in June whether a plan that would more than double its existing space will be among the projects funded by the state s library commissioners. The plan was submitted in January to the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners as part of a grant application to pay for building the addition.

10 Years Ago

  • The Mercantile, a longtime gift store often described as a hippie boutique, and a fixture on Main Street since 1982, will have its final day of business Saturday. And when owners Dan and Elizabeth Neville of Amherst shutter The Mercantile in Amherst, sometime before March, it will close the book on a business that first opened in 1973.
  • The Montessori School of Northampton is launching a middle school program in September, one that will emphasize independence, outdoor education and community service. In addition to taking math, language arts, science and history courses, students will go on field trips, do service projects, participate in internships and collaborate to run a small business.