A Look Back, March 17

50 Years Ago

• A 16-year-old senior at Amherst Regional High School yesterday was named the winner of the 35th annual Westinghouse Science Talent Search during ceremonies in Washington, D.C. Edward Sterl Phinney III of Leverett was chosen from more than 14,000 high school seniors across the country for designing a camera drive and magnitude determining device for photographing stars.
• Renovation work has begun on Pulaski Park. The $47,000 rebuilding project, which is being partially funded by a $15,000 grant from the state Bicentennial Commission, will involve installing new walkways, and planting trees and shrubs. Some of the old trees at the site have been removed for replanting later.

25 Years Ago

• Discarded lettuce leaves, coffee grounds and potato peels will get a new lease on life Ð enriching the soil at area farms and gardens — under a citywide effort that seeks to encourage local restaurants to turn their recyclable food waste into compost. Because food waste makes up an estimated 12 percent of the trash generated in the city, the program will reduce the waste headed to the city’s landfill.
• Pulitzer Prize winners will grace the stages of at least two of the five area colleges at graduation this year. Pulitzer novelist Toni Morrison will deliver Smith College’s commencement address, and Hampshire College will hear Edward Humes, an investigative journalist whose Pulitzer-winning military coverage included a yearlong investigation of fatal helicopter crashes linked to flawed night-vision devices.

10 Years Ago

• A former mill on Pleasant Street in Easthampton is set to host a 27,000-square-foot medical marijuana-growing operation and dispensary after the Planning Board on Tuesday unanimously approved the plan by Hampden Care Facility Inc.
• A group of 100 Massachusetts House lawmakers is urging legislative leaders to move quickly to get a key solar energy bill to Republican Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk. The lawmakers sent a letter to House leaders Tuesday urging them not to cut “net metering” credit, a key element of the bill.

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