50 Years Ago

■The opening next month of a new alternative passenger run from New York to Montreal via the Hudson Valley is not expected to cut into Amtrak’s current New England route through Northampton. The new stop here is expected to be completed sometime next month.

■Saying that he does not want the legislature to adjourn for the year without “strong action” on the gun control issue, Gov. Francis W. Sargent returned a gun bill to the House and Senate Friday because he said it did not go far enough. The bill requires a one-year jail term for persons convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm.

25 Years Ago

■Tonight, an off-beat landmark in downtown Northampton will disappear after the seven-year-old Words & Pictures Museum allows the public to wander its colorful exhibits of comics, cartoons and other “sequential art” one last time before its doors close forever.

■City firefighters may soon have mementos of a passing era, when each is given one of the familiar red street fire alarm boxes that dotted city streets for the better part of this century. City Council President Mary Clare Higgins said, “We really felt strongly that the firefighters should have a memento of the era that they just left.”

10 Years Ago

■After 10 years of planning, the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School in South Hadley has secured financing for the construction of an 8,000-square-foot addition to be used for performances, assemblies and classes. It will be the only indoor facility on campus that will be large enough to hold all staff and students, numbering 400 from 60 towns, said Head of School Scott Goldman.

■A woman walking with her two children in downtown Northampton Monday was shot in the shoulder by a pellet gun, police said. The woman was not badly hurt and police have no suspects but are continuing to investigate.