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Preliminary data shows a decrease in the number of national overdose deaths for 2023. In Berkshire County, an all-hands effort to increase naloxone availability and outreach has spurred local improvement, but advocates say it must continue.
Hoosac Valley High School prom was held at Berkshire Hills Country Club in Pittsfield on Saturday, May 18. Purchase photos of the event here.
Stephanie Zollshan
Photojournalist
First noticed in Becket, missing storm grates also have been reported in Dalton, Hinsdale and Washington.
Jane Kaufman
Community Voices Editor
The Select Board approved all-alcohol restaurant license for the new establishment, Yao, expected to open in about two months.
Latest News
New Ashford voters will be asked to approve a $700,822 budget for fiscal 2025, a decrease of $64,570 or 8.43 percent from last year’s spending plan.
Voters will decide whether to spend $4.5 million for a freestanding Town Hall annex, and adopt a short-term rental bylaw as well as a $6.78 million operating budget.
The feasibility study of North Adams' flood management system has acquired the last portion of its funding and is ready to move forward, according to U.S. Rep. Richard Neal.
Stephen B. Deloye won a seat on the Select Board Saturday in a race against Keith J. Sharp 88-20 in an election that drew 120 voters.
Voters took their time at Saturday’s annual town meeting, as they approved the town's budget, restored stipends for the Select Board and opting to repair rather than replace an aging ambulance and a dump truck.
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LOCAL NEWS
In the only contested race in Alford, Bruce Schreiber is challenging Peggy Rae Henden-Wilson for a seat on the Select Board.
Jane Kaufman
Community Voices Editor
Homeowners can rent their properties by right for 31 days or less for a total of 80 days per calendar year, but a longer rental period will require a special permit.
Beth Pearson, 61, the president and co-founder of Pearson Wallace Insurance, was found Saturday morning after the Pittsfield Police Department issued a missing person alert for her.
Jane Kaufman
Community Voices Editor
Dalton police to begin administering Opvee, a new drug that reverses the effects of opioid overdoses
The Dalton Police Department received 108 units of Opvee, a long-acting drug that reverses the effects of opioid overdose, last week. Its officers will carry both Opvee and naloxone to respond to overdoses.
Matt Martinez
News Reporter
In the hours before a fatal shooting in 2019, two cars circled the block in downtown Pittsfield.
Amanda Burke
Cops and Courts Reporter
Gabriel Rios-Leon failed to appear for arraignment at Southern Berkshire District Court on criminal charges of identity fraud as well as breaking and entering in the daylight.
Two more Miss Hall’s School alumnae say top school leadership appeared to brush aside their concerns about a longtime teacher's relationships with students.
Heather Bellow
Reporter
It will feel like early summer as daytime highs hit the 70s and approach or even top 80 early next week. Whether Memorial Day weekend remains rain-free is up in the air at this point.
The Country Club of Pittsfield could face major fine if it doesn't replant and repair wetlands around its golf course.
Meg Britton-Mehlisch
Pittsfield Reporter
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The “Majesty of the Berkshires Pride Pageant” is back for a second year at the Adams Theater, with six local drag queens competing at 7 p.m. May 31.
Aaron Simon Gross
Arts & Entertainment Reporter
'All of Me' premiered at Barrington Stage Company in 2022. It just celebrated its Off-Broadway debut
The New York premiere of Laura Winters’ "All of Me," which premiered at Barrington Stage Company in 2022, is running at The Pershing Square Signature Center, in a production by The New Group, through June 16.
Aaron Simon Gross
Arts & Entertainment Reporter
At 5:30 p.m., daily, from Memorial Day until Labor Day, residents and visitors alike can listen to 30 minutes of familiar, family-friendly melodies — nursery rhymes, folksy favorites, patriotic songs, even some classical works — as countless others have enjoyed for almost 150 years before them.
Sharon Smullen
Eagle Correspondent
If you're traveling on I-90 next week, expect some changes to your regular commute. Roadwork is slated for these Berkshire towns.
Michelle Kavanaugh, owner/founder of Organize Senior Moves, understands that choosing what to keep from a lifetime's worth of possessions can feel overwhelming and will lead a free workshop on May 21 at the Stephentown Memorial Library. The library will also host a plant swap on May 25.
The Workforce Development and Community Education department at Berkshire Community College is registering for community workshops ranging from sports to music, art to mixology, and a Creative Kids Club.
Water activist, author and podcaster Leslie Gabriel will announce the launch of the OneWater Project as a part of "Splash! A Night For Water" on Tuesday, May 21, at Bondhu Restaurant and Community Space.
Local History
Incarceration rates for women rose with the creation of the first formal police forces in Massachusetts in the 1850s. Women were jailed for crimes including prostitution, drunkenness, and even "being a stubborn child."
Eagle Archives, May 20, 1974: The lowly penny, bottom rung on the country's coin scale, has suddenly achieved financial prominence in Pittsfield. The penny is now worth more than one cent.
Eagle Archives, May 18, 1957: Joseph S. V. Ouelette claims Ernie was driving Ouelette's car when it crashed into two others. Ernie who? Ouellette doesn't know. Neither does anyone else.
Curtis Woods, near what is now the Morningside neighborhood and Springside Park, was a favorite for church picnics, hikes, bird watching, foraging and wildflower picking. It was also a favorite spot for young couples to engage in other interactions that benefit from seclusion.
On the evening of Saturday, Oct. 31, 1986, the narrow metal highway bridge that spanned what is now the CSX rail freight line — known as Junction Bridge — was irretrievably destroyed in an instant.
Eagle Archives, May 17, 1954: The largest musical procession ever led by veteran parade marshal, J. Bruce McIntyre, was the high spot of the Western Massachusetts Music Festival and Armed Forces Day celebration.
Eagle Archives, May 16, 1962: In the seven years that John S. Patnode has been a rock collector, he has collected about 1,400 big rocks and a thousand little rocks.
Arts and Culture
The “Majesty of the Berkshires Pride Pageant” is back for a second year at the Adams Theater, with six local drag queens competing at 7 p.m. May 31.
'All of Me' premiered at Barrington Stage Company in 2022. It just celebrated its Off-Broadway debut
The New York premiere of Laura Winters’ "All of Me," which premiered at Barrington Stage Company in 2022, is running at The Pershing Square Signature Center, in a production by The New Group, through June 16.
The festival, which last happened in 2019, will have performances on each of Barrington Stage Company's stages, May 23-25.
At 5:30 p.m., daily, from Memorial Day until Labor Day, residents and visitors alike can listen to 30 minutes of familiar, family-friendly melodies — nursery rhymes, folksy favorites, patriotic songs, even some classical works — as countless others have enjoyed for almost 150 years before them.
Business
The question I am asking myself is now that we are above yearly highs on several indexes, are we jumping the gun here? Do you think the Fed is going to abruptly change its stance on one cooler inflation number?
Catering is in her blood, the posthumous gift of her father, John “Jake” Brennan, who died when she was just a year old. He was the proprietor of the Dalton Restaurant and Brennan’s Restaurant.
With scams and identity theft, criminals use a variety of techniques to convince an unwitting person to part with money and information, which can be used repeatedly.
Memorial Day weekend sales feature discounts on a number of summer items, from clothing to barbecue grills to outdoor gear. And mattresses, too.
North Adams SteepleCats manager Paul Procopio says his team is getting ready for the summer season.
Alongside Mount Greylock's team title, Monument's Amelia Desilets and Lily Haskins-Vaughan, Lenox's Alice Culver, Wahconah's Adelyn Furlong and Hoosac's Taylor Garabedian all won Western Mass. crowns.
Pittsfield 4x400 relay team highlights 12 boys titles at Western Mass. Track and Field Championships
In addition to Greylock's team titles, Elijah Harewood, Andrew Peprah, Everett Pacheco, Oliver Berkowitz, Payton Shippee and the PHS 4x400 crew all won Western Mass. titles on Friday.
Two wins a piece from Quinn McDermott, Katherine Goss and Maggie Nichols bolstered a pair of monster Western Mass. titles for Mount Greylock track and field.
Foster care is not a monolith. Perhaps nothing better exemplifies this than the great racial divide in the system that is well documented, but there are few easy solutions to.
Behind photo ops, financial leaders from both countries met behind closed doors to devise secret strategies to maintain China’s exports of dual use materials to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
I’m jealous of those journalists that scored tickets to the Trump hush money trial rolling toward a conclusion in Lower Manhattan, but not necessarily for the reasons one might think.
When Mayor Peter Marchetti brought his first spending plan to the City Council this week, he called it a "compromise." It's also a lesson in fiscal reality and the importance of prioritizing tax base growth for the Berkshires' biggest community.
"Thing you might have a gambling problem?" For some in Massachusetts the answer was yes, but not to the kind of problem the gambling hotline is meant to serve.
The judicial front in the long-running battle over Uber and Lyft's treatment of Massachusetts workers has been a flurry of paperwork for nearly four years. That's about to change.
Campus police arrested 135 pro-Palestinian protestors at the University of Massachusetts Amherst late Tuesday night, hours after students established their second encampment this semester to demand the university divest from organizations connected to the defense industry and Israel.
Gov. Maura Healey voiced her support for how police were deployed to clear recent pro-Palestinian encampments at Northeastern University and Emerson College.