Pledge a thorny issue in Amherst

AMHERST - Superintendent Alberto Rodriguez and the School Committee would much rather deal with educational issues than get tangled up in the question of whether teachers have to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every day.

Hearings set for Meadow St. plans

AMHERST - Plans for constructing a three-story, climate-controlled storage facility and a two-story office building on Meadow Street are coming back before the Planning Board for site plan review.

Area Police News

Technology helps nab suspect in laptop theft

AMHERST - Modern technology that included the use of surveillance cameras and an anti-theft device for a computer assisted University of Massachusetts police locate a man who stole a laptop and an iPod from a dorm room earlier this month.

Former Not Bread Alone director plans Amherst center for poor, homeless

AMHERST - A breakfast drop-in center to help poor and homeless individuals find housing, employment and social services is expected to open in downtown Amherst in the near future.

Area Police News

 · Latoya Diana Smith, 24, of 114 N. Whitney St., was arrested Thursday at 2:47 a.m. at the intersection of North Whitney and Main streets on charges of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and failure to stay within marked lanes, police said.

Colleges' safety chief moves to Princeton

SOUTH HADLEY - Paul L. Ominsky, director of public safety at Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith colleges, will leave the Valley in January to head up the public safety department at Princeton University.

Veterans flock to UMass: Campus on track to meet new needs

AMHERST - The number of veterans at the University of Massachusetts grew by almost 35 percent this year, a gain driven in part by improved education benefits. To accommodate these new students - who come to campus with different needs - UMass is implementing a host of programs.