50 Years Ago
- A list of 13 members for a committee to evaluate the Academically Talented (AT) program in the Northampton school system has been tentatively approved by the teachers committee of the school board. The evaluators are supposed to report to the school board by Dec. 1, so that their recommendations can be considered during discussions about next year’s budget.
- The oldest house in Northampton, the Parsons House on Bridge Street, is getting a facelift and a fresh foundation. The house, built in 1658 and maintained by the Northampton Historical Society, is being painted, and reconstruction of the original foundation is nearly completed.
25 Years Ago
- Education Week, a major national education magazine, has selected the Amherst Regional Middle School as an outstanding example of middle school education. “That’s pretty remarkable,” said Principal Mary Cavalier, who has led the transformation of the former junior high into a middle school in the past three years.
- Scientists at the University of Massachusetts have cracked the genetic code of a prehistoric micro-organism so hardy it can survive conditions 10 times saltier than seawater and possibly even the stress of interplanetary travel. The Halobacterium genetic-mapping project, in conjunction with the Institute of Systems Biology in Seattle and ten other universities, is the first genome-mapping project to be completed at UMass.
10 Years Ago
- A divided Planning Board in Hadley on Tuesday rejected a proposed 74,000-square-foot Five Colleges Inc. library annex on vacant farmland between North Maple Street and Rocky Hill Road. However, a building nearly twice as large might be approved if the decision is appealed in court.
- Springfield-based Pride stores hopes to start construction on a convenience store and gasoline station on the former Aqua Vitae site next spring, according to Robert Bolduc, an adviser to the company. “We’re proposing the gas station be on a corner that is two acres, and the entire parcel is well over four acres,” he said.
