■Three train crewmen were killed, and six other persons injured yesterday as a Boston & Maine Railroad freight train struck a halted Central Vermont Railroad freight train head-on, on tracks not far from the Belchertown State School.
■Selectmen and the Regional School Committee last night appointed David W. Dewey, 22, of Haydenville to the Hampshire Regional School Committee to fill the unexpired term of Ronald Schuster, who resigned.
■Given a spate of underage drinking — both on- and off-campus — University of Massachusetts Chancellor David K. Scott says he wants to initiate a “campuswide discussion” about the risks and consequences of alcohol abuse. It is not clear whether the university will attempt to discipline students for off-campus misbehavior — a move Amherst town officials seek.
■U.S. Rep. John Olver was expected to bring word to Easthampton today that federal money will allow the town to buy the old post office on Union Street and convert it into a senior center. The funding, estimated at half-a-million dollars, is included in an appropriation that had not yet won final approval as of this morning.
■A Northampton nonprofit hopes a new website will bring its message about media literacy, particularly the manipulation of facts by the powerful, to audiences outside classrooms. “Exploded View, Consuming Culture” is the name and mission of the site, created by the Media Education Foundation.
■Despite a slightly soggy beginning, the 33rd annual Hilltown Junior Olympics was well attended by 150 athletes from six Hilltowns along with hundreds of loyal fans. This year’s event was held in Chesterfield on the fields of the New Hingham Elementary School.