50 Years Ago

■Local real estate agents handling the McCallum’s department store property say that they have “a few very good prospects” for buying the building and retaining it as a department store. McCallum’s, which had operated on Main Street for 102 years, closed its doors because of poor business earlier this month.

■Peter W. MacConnell, a graduate of Suffolk Law School in Boston, has recently joined the Northampton law firm of William E. Dwyer and Francis Collins Jr. MacConnell, son of Prof. and Mrs. William MacConnell of Amherst, is also a graduate of Mt. Hermon School in Northfield and the University of Vermont.

25 Years Ago

■James Dostal, a School Committee member and former longtime Department of Public Works employee, is running for an At-Large City Council seat. Dostal, 62, said he took out nomination papers for the post Friday. Rebecca Macauley also took out papers to run for a Ward 4 City Council seat currently held by Michael R. Bardsley.

■The Northampton School Committee voted last week to buck a state law and not include as a permanent record the MCAS scores of students who took the test last spring. John Bollard, a member of the Northampton High School Council, asked the committee to not make the scores part of students’ permanent record.

10 Years Ago

■Members of committees, boards and other governmental bodies in Northampton will be able to participate in meetings remotely when needed under new rules authorized by Mayor David J. Narkewicz earlier this month. Members will be able to participate remotely if the chair of the committee determines that physical attendance is unreasonably difficult.

■When Northampton Police Lt. Dorothy Clayton officially steps into her new role as captain next month, it will be the latest in a series of firsts for her. Clayton’s promotion makes her the first female police captain in Northampton. She was also the department’s first female lieutenant and its first female sergeant, according to Northampton Police Capt. Joseph Koncas.