A Look Back, Jan. 5

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Calling upon the citizens of Northampton to participate in the process of change while holding to the traditions of the past, David W. Cramer became the city’s new mayor today. Speaking to an audience of city officials and the general public at Northampton High School, Cramer, 46, struck a Bicentennial theme, calling upon Northampton, like the nation, to continue to develop through “change built on the experience and tradition of the past.”
The Postal Service is beginning to worry about competition from electronic communication systems which threaten to make mailmen obsolete. “We are being by-passed technologically, and these new developments have a potential impact on the bread-and-butter part of our business, first-class mail,” said a senior assistant postmaster general.

As the deadline for the high-stakes MCAS exams approaches, the Cellucci administration is planning help for those likely to be hardest hit by the test: special education students. The governor’s office is expected to announce on Thursday a plan to let special ed students earn “certificates of completion” for finishing high school, even if they can’t pass the exam.
The estimated 25 percent increase in health insurance costs expected to begin July 1 will have dire consequences on the fiscal 2002 budget, Finance Director John Musante said. The estimated 25 percent rise in health care costs comes on the heels of a 31 percent rise over the last two years.

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders drew a crowd estimated at 3,400 to the University of Massachusetts on Saturday afternoon for his first rally of 2016, calling the new year a pivotal moment in the nation’s history. “There is profound anger and disgust at the status quo,” said the independent senator from Vermont. “People want change.”
Hadley has a chance to replace its 110-year-old Goodwin Memorial Library with partial state backing, but some are concerned it will come at the expense of the senior center next door. Library trustees back a plan to tear down the former Hooker School, the home of the senior center, to build a new library.