A Look Back, April 23

50 Years Ago

• The Massachusetts Electric Co. will make two acres of land in Williamsburg available this summer for public gardening. Land at the state hospital on Burts Pit Road in Northampton will also be used for public garden plots again this summer.
• Northampton police rounded up a pair of run-away horses on Elm Street early today, after giving change, on-and-off, for two and a half hours. Police officers Nicholas Divenere and Raymond Goulet, lassoed the horses, which had wandered from their home at 30 Hatfield Street early today.

25 Years Ago

• Local environmentalists and legislators praised Gov. Jane Swift Monday for issuing what she described as “new tough standards” governing emissions of pollutants from the state’s oldest power plants. Among targeted plants is the Mount Tom coal plant on Route 6, a 40-year-old facility that has capacity to generate 167 megawatts a year.
• Framingham State College plans to require all freshmen to own wireless computer laptops starting next year, making it the first college to test an unfunded proposal by the state Board of Higher Education mandating laptop ownership at all state colleges.

10 Years Ago

• In advance of the City Council’s final vote scheduled for Thursday on controversial water and sewer rate changes, Mayor David Narkewicz announced Tuesday that he will delay for a year new fire line fees. Those fees, ranging from $10 per quarter to $360 per quarter depending on the length of the line, were scheduled to take effect July 1.
• University of Massachusetts President Martin T. Meehan agreed Thursday to stand by protesters who are demanding the university commit to divesting from fossil fuel companies, pledging votes by the board of trustees June 15 and the UMass Foundation no later than June 22.