A Look Back, Dec. 27

50 Years Ago

■Judith J. Golub of Northampton has been appointed director of medical nursing service at the Medical Center of Western Massachusetts in Springfield. Mrs. Golub will have full responsibility for the patients and staff in one of the largest of the five departments in the Division of Nursing at the Medical center.

■The Pioneer Valley Division of the Massachusetts Dept. of Mental Health, School of Practical Nursing, Northampton State Hospital, recently graduated its last class of 15 students. The hospital had announced earlier that it was phasing out its school of nursing.

25 Years Ago

■John Lashway of Russell Street in Hadley made his own snow-making machine so that he could give his children a white Christmas. Lashway bought the gear he needed from a hardware store and rigged it to a garden hose and air compressor.

■Ice. Flu. Snow. Hypothermia. Y2K. These are a few of the reasons why regional hospitals are boosting staff and bracing for a possible repeat of a bed shortage that temporarily immobilized most emergency departments at area hospital last week.

10 Years Ago

■In the last 20 years, the Northampton License Commission has found that 15 establishments violated state law by serving alcohol to, or not verifying the ID of, underage patrons. Until this month, the stiffest sanction imposed was a one-week suspension. But the License Commission sent a message to license holders last week when it ordered a local store to give up its liquor license for two months.

■Seven Sisters Bistro in Hadley, which opened on the former Long Hollow Bison Farm in October 2012 and closed earlier this year, is scheduled to be sold at auction in February as part of a bankruptcy proceeding.