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| News and events in Pittsfield, Mass.
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Pittsfield CPA Committee Review Projects By Jack Guerino, iBerkshires Staff
11:19AM / Thursday, July 09, 2020 | |
 PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Pittsfield Community Preservation Committee reviewed a series of applications that it may recommend for funding in July. Late last month, the committee heard from five applicants looking to utilize Community Preservation Act funds for various projects. "It makes sense to have a meeting at some point in July to pool our thoughts ... and make some funding decisions," Chairman John Dickson said. Many projects were put on pause with COVID-19 halting some construction and fundraising efforts. The committee entertained not accepting applications for a year but ultimately decided to consider a few projects that may not be 0 Comments
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Pittsfield Schools Outline Some Opening Guidelines By Jack Guerino, iBerkshires Staff
04:08AM / Thursday, July 09, 2020 | |
 PITTSFIELD, Mass. — School officials have made some preliminary plans for back to school this fall even though much uncertainty still surrounds the reopening of school buildings. Superintendent Jason McCandless gave the School Committee an update Wednesday and compared known state reopening guidelines to what the Pittsfield Public Schools has tentatively planned or is expecting. "Nothing that you see here is written in stone, it is all subject to change," he said. "We share this with you as information but certainly with the caveat that this is very very likely subject to change." Although planning to fully reopen, McCandless said the state 1 Comment
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Targeted COVID-19 Testing Set for 8 At-Risk CommunitiesBy Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
02:22AM / Thursday, July 09, 2020 | |
 BOSTON — People in Western Massachusetts, and the Berkshires in particular, frequently complain the region is being ignored by a state government headquartered at the other end of the commonwealth. On Wednesday, Gov. Charlie Baker announced a new program that will impact eight municipalities — none west of I-495. But this is not the kind of list any town or city wants to make. Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito used their daily press briefing to announce that the commonwealth will offer targeted free COVID-19 testing sites in Chelsea, Everett, Fall River, Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, Marlborough, and New Bedford. All residents of those communities will be 0 Comments
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Baker Pushes Back on Federal Pressure to Open SchoolsBy Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires.com
02:30PM / Wednesday, July 08, 2020 | |
 BOSTON -- Gov. Charlie Baker Wednesday said he does not think it “makes sense” for a one-size-fits-all approach to reopening the nation’s public schools but stopped short of directly criticizing a presidential tweet pressuring states to open the schoolhouse doors in the middle of a global pandemic. Baker was asked in his daily press availability about President Trump’s Tuesday Twitter statement that indicated his administration “May cut off funding if [schools] not open!” The Republican governor, not for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic, found himself having to argue against his party’s leader while trying to not get into a 1 Comment
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Early EEE Detection in State Points to Need for Vigilance this SummerBy Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
01:53PM / Tuesday, July 07, 2020 | |
 PLYMOUTH, Mass. — For nearly four months, Gov. Charlie Baker has addressed the media almost daily about a disease first discovered last year. On Tuesday, he switched gears to remind residents of a more familiar deadly threat: eastern equine encephalitis. "I know I speak for the lieutenant governor and myself when I say how much we appreciate the opportunity to speak about something other than COVID," Baker joked during an appearance at the headquarters of the Plymouth County Mosquito Control Project. But things turned serious as Baker and other other officials talked about EEE, a mosquito-borne illness that infected 12 Bay State residents and killed six 0 Comments
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Pittsfield Woman Dies After Structure Fire| 12:46PM / Tuesday, July 07, 2020 | |
 PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A city woman died Monday night at Berkshire Medical Center after a fire in her home, according to a statement from the district attorney's office. Pittsfield Fire Department responded to the structure fire on Chickering Street shortly after 10 p.m. Firefighters located Frances Lysonski, 74, on the second floor after what they described as an extensive search. Emergency medical services transported her to BMC, where she later died at approximately 11:20 p.m. A city firefighter sustained non-life-threatening injuries after falling from a ladder while trying to locate the woman. EMS transported him to Berkshire Medical Center, where he was treated 0 Comments
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Berkshire Theatre Group to Present 'Godspell' Outdoors| 10:23AM / Tuesday, July 07, 2020 | |
 PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Theatre Group will produce "Godspell" this summer – the first musical in the United States to be approved by Actors' Equity Association in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The show will be presented outdoors in an open-air tent adjacent to The Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, and is scheduled to run Aug. 6 through Sept. 4. Tickets will be available for purchase Tuesday, July 7, at noon. "We could not bear the thought of a Berkshire summer without live theater to support our community, so we jumped through every hoop to create a safe way to make this happen," said BTG Board of Trustees Co-President Lee Perlman.
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Managing Withdrawals Carefully Can Protect Retirement IncomeSubmitted by Edward Jones,
10:00AM / Tuesday, July 07, 2020 | |
 Throughout much of your working life, you contribute to your 401(k), IRA and other investment accounts to help ensure a comfortable retirement. However, once you do retire, you will need to shift your focus somewhat from building these investments to using them – in other words, you will have to start withdrawing from your portfolio to meet the costs of living. How can you be sure you are not taking out so much that you risk outliving your resources? First of all, you need to establish a proper withdrawal rate – the percentage of your portfolio's value needed for one year's worth of retirement expenses. Ideally, if you were to stick with this rate, your portfolio would
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Downtown Pittsfield's Ambassadors Ready to Assist | 02:25AM / Tuesday, July 07, 2020 | |
Melvin Wright and Amarie Starr visit Lee Bank, one of the program sponsors, last year. PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Friendly pairs of downtown ambassadors have been in Pittsfield since July 1, offering approachable sources of directions, information, and assistance for residents, visitors, business owners, and the general public during the summer. This year, thanks to the sponsorship of the program by the City of Pittsfield, Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, Lee Bank, and Pittsfield Garden Tour, Downtown Pittsfield Inc.'s ambassadors will be on the streets at peak times for visitors, through Labor Day. The Downtown Pittsfield Ambassador Program is a 2 Comments
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Mount Greylock Names Putnam Interim SuperintendentBy Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
06:22PM / Monday, July 06, 2020 | |
 WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School Committee on Monday voted to offer an interim superintendent position to the former superintendent in the Central Berkshire and Adams-Cheshire Regional school districts. Chair Christina Conry announced after the committee met in executive session for 38 minutes that Superintendent Kimberley Grady is on an indefinite medical leave. Pending the successful negotiation of a contract, the district is hiring longtime Berkshire County educator Robert Putnam. Putnam taught for 13 years in the Berkshire Hills Regional School District before moving into administration. He was the director of teaching and learning in 1 Comment
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PCTV Documentary Finds Pittsfield Parade Dates Back to 1801| 11:42AM / Saturday, July 04, 2020 | |
 PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Pittsfield Community Television's recently released documentary "Fighting For Independence: The History of the Pittsfield Fourth of July Parade" has traced the first Pittsfield Fourth of July Parade back to at least 1801. An article in the Pittsfield Sun from July 7, 1801, says that "at 12:00 o’ clock at noon a Procession was formed consisting of the Militia of the town." Previously the Pittsfield Parade Committee acknowledged that the parade dated back to 1824. "This was a fascinating discovery, as we researched to put this documentary together," said Bob Heck, PCTV’s coordinator of advancement and
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Fourth of July: The Declaration of Independence| 11:06AM / Saturday, July 04, 2020 | |
 A reminder what today is really all about: The adoption of a (literally) revolutionary document that stated the grievances of the colonists against England and their resolve to pursue a course of self-determination — without the bindings of hereditary rule.
The Unanimous Declaration
of the Thirteen United States of America
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent 7 Comments
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