Jim Bridgman

50 Years Ago

  • A group of area young men and women, with varying backgrounds in the creative arts, mainly dance and music, is interested in forming a music and movement center based in Northampton. The center would offer workshops in music and movement, and provide a place for interested individuals to work on their own.
  • Sen. Edward M. Kennedy will attend a fund-raising dinner in his honor tomorrow night at the Portofino Restaurant in Leeds. About 80 Democrats are expected to attend the $25-a-ticket dinner, according to Mayor Sean M. Dunphy, who is coordinating the sale of ticket to the affair.

25 Years Ago

  • Women at the Easthampton Senior Center on Union Street have organized a knitting circle they named Knit Wits. The group will meet a couple of times a month and create small projects where the only expense will be bringing in a household item to use in the knitting project.
  • Northampton schools overspent last year’s budget by $299,309, the largest amount in at least a decade, prompting a call for better accounting methods from Mayor Clare Higgins. Associate Superintendent Joseph P. Misterka, who takes responsibility for the late notification, has put together a plan that would use City Council money to fill the deficit.

10 Years Ago

  • As bicyclists, state and local officials gathered Wednesday to celebrate the completion of the $3.2 million overhaul of the Norwottuck Rail Trail, they lauded the 11-mile strip as more than just a place for a leisurely cruise. “This is not just a bike path, it’s an economic engine,” said state Rep. Peter V. Kocot, D-Northampton.
  • Massachusetts voters could get a chance to decide whether to legalize the recreational use of marijuana if any of several proposed pro-pot questions filed with the state attorney general’s office Wednesday reach the 2016 ballot.

Chad Cain has been Gazette's managing editor since the summer of 2022. He joined the Gazette in 2007 as a staff writer and has also served as special sections editor, night managing editor and in other...