Last year, the event was held outside at Monument Mountain's track. However, four hours into the event, a microburst storm hit the track, destroying the event area. This year, event organizer Ray Gardino told The Berkshire Edge they are not taking any chances and will hold the event indoors.
Gwendolyn has done so much work to promote understanding and inclusion, to address racism, and bridge the divides that plague us to this day.”
— State Sen. Adam Hinds
This will be the third try since 2013 to get state aid for the ailing high school. BHRSD Superintendent Peter Dillon noted that “constructing a new high school is actually less expensive than renovating and adding to the new building.”
Hinds is also interested in pressuring the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to increase education funding, especially for rural schools that face unique fiscal challenges, such as being overly dependent on homeowner property taxes, compared to their urban and suburban counterparts.
Many towns and cities across the state are grappling with an array of gray areas, including whether and how to tax these short-term rentals and whether they should be held to the same zoning, building and health standards.
"While our state’s educational system is highly regarded throughout the country, our analysis found that the processes governing school regionalization and its funding are antiquated, and have not kept pace with the modern challenges facing communities."
-- State Auditor Suzanne Bump
“During a time in which our regional economy is struggling to recover from decades of dramatic economic transition, this overall rate proposal is an unacceptable burden.”
--- Jonathan Butler, president of 1Berkshire
Hinds’ amendment was adopted unanimously by the Senate by a vote of 39-0 during the course of Friday’s debate and is based on legislation authored by Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli, D-Lenox.
State farmers who are interested in growing marijuana will have to apply for a license, but lawmakers say the barrier to entry will much lower than it was for those who wanted to cultivate and sell the medical marijuana
The $300,000 Brownfields Community Wide Assessment grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will be used to perform Phase One and Phase Two environmental assessments of several properties, most of them in and around the village of Housatonic.
Following nearly four years of struggle against a powerful company (Kinder Morgan and its subsidiary, Tennessee Gas Pipeline) backed by laws and a Federal commission, it seems that now is an appropriate point to judge performances of the various participants and agencies that could have made more of a difference to avoid this calamity.
“It takes a lot of courage to be a young person today. They are growing up in a time when young people are faced daily with uncertainty in an economically, environmentally and politically precarious world.”
-- Railroad Street Youth Project Executive Director Ananda Timpane
This study would look at the potential for inaugurating rail service from Pittsfield to New York City via Amtrak’s Hudson River line rather than the southbound rail corridor through Lenox, Great Barrington and into Connecticut.
The films were all across the board in terms of genre and length. There were horror films, documentaries, comedies, and absurdist takes on the art form.
In his letter to the editor, State Rep. William 'Smitty' Pignatelli writes: "Because our parents taught us that public service is part of the responsibility of citizenship, my siblings and I followed their example all the way to the White House.
