■Two representatives of the city’s consulting firm defended their proposed Route 9 relocation before a hostile audience of 650 at a Planning Board hearing last night. In the three-hour presentation only one Northampton resident backed the proposal to put a new four-lane Route 9 south of the city. The highway would traverse every floodplain the city, opponents say.
■At its recent annual meeting, Richard Pickett, president of Northampton Junior College, was elected president of the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce. A native of Brockton, Pickett has been president of the junior college for 23 years.
■Health officials plan visits to the city’s two known body-piercing salons, as part of a plan to create industry guidelines. Admitting they know little about the practice, board members decided Wednesday that a fact-finding mission was required before they could begin writing regulations or guidelines.
■One of two racquetball courts at the Hampshire Regional YMCA will temporarily become a cardiovascular exercise room — in an effort to keep and satisfy members. The Board of Directors has approved the change, based on surveys of members and those who have not renewed their memberships. The racquetball court will revert to its original use once the YMCA constructs a planned addition.
■A town flag designed by renowned Hatfield illustrator Barry Moser could soon be flying in the Great Hall of Flags at the Statehouse in Boston. After nearly two years of discussing how to come up with an acceptable official flag for Amherst, the Design Review Board and Historical Commission Tuesday agreed to recommend to the Select Board one of nine designs provided by Moser.
■A previously uncounted vote on Shutesbury’s contentious library question has been ruled valid and has tipped the balance in the project’s favor. That means the town, by a 523-522 margin, approved borrowing $1.4 million as its share of the new $3.5 million building.