■The Look Park Christmas tree has been set up and the decorating is about to begin. The tree is placed in front of the fountain near the entrance and is always a spectacular sight. M. Wellington Graves, maintenance supervisor, is in charge of the annual tradition.
■Mrs. Ferne Schranz, owner of Schranz Music Center, became the first woman to be chosen president of the Easthampton Chamber of Commerce when she was named to the post at a chamber meeting this week. The new president was born in Westhampton and has operated the Schranz Music Center on Union Street since 1962.
■To help stem the spread of the AIDS-causing virus among the western Massachusetts group most likely to become infected — intravenous drug users — a Northampton health clinic today will begin exchanging clean needles for dirty ones. The needle-exchange program at the Family Planning Council of Western Massachusetts will be the first in the state outside Boston and Cambridge.
■Voters in Ward 3 tomorrow will elect someone to complete the last two years of Maria Tymoczko’s four-year term on the School Committee — and that someone assuredly will be M. Francisco Palomo. The city attorney is the only candidate on the ballot for tomorrow’s special election.
■Author, artist and gallery owner Richard Michelson of Amherst has received a nod in the New York Times — twice in the past two weeks — for his children’s book about two black brothers attending a largely white school in the 1970s, when school desegregation led to children being bused to schools outside their community.
■A no-frills food store opening Dec. 13 next to Home Depot in Hadley claims it can provide everything on a shopping list at prices up to 50 percent lower than supermarkets. The new ALDI store plans to lure shoppers to the opening with mailed discount coupons offering $10 off a $40 purchase.