■Recent home and community service projects of Easthampton Junior Grange include making rag dolls for Belchertown State School and Valentine baskets for the children’s ward at Cooley Dickinson Hospital. Ann Parizo, chair of the home and community service committee, says that other activities include making favors for Easthampton Home for Aged Women, and serving in the local Heart Fund drive.
■Philip Sullivan, president of the Second Annual Colleen Beauty Pageant and Coronation Ball, announced today that the Ward 6 Democratic City Committee has invited the Miss Colleen 1971 and her court to attend the annual St. Patrick’s Party. Miss Colleen 1971 and her court will be chosen Feb. 27 in the Coachlight Room of the Hotel Northampton.
■Electricity costs could drop this fall for a select few in Northampton, one of four communities to take part in a pilot program to deregulate the electric utility industry. The Massachusetts Electric Co., which now offers exclusive service to Northampton, on Friday will file a restructured plan called “Choice: New England” with the state Department of Public Utilities.
■Northampton will need to invest $168,000 in the James House to convert it into a Juvenile Court, according to a memo from a city building official. The planned renovations will include development of four holding cells on the ground floor, offices on the first floor and a hearing room on the second floor.
■A supercomputer developed by researchers at the University of Massachusetts is set Monday evening to take on Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, the two “Jeopardy!” contestants with the longest winning streaks on the show. The sleek, dark “Watson,” according to IBM, is the world’s most advanced example of Question Answering technology: the ability to understand a question posed by human speech and respond with a precise and factual answer.
■Ashfield resident Ray LaMontagne on Sunday won the Grammy for “best contemporary folk album” for his album “God Willin’ & the Creek Don’t Rise,” which he recorded in his Bullit Road home. The album was released in August and features LaMontagne and his band The Pariah Dogs.