| News and events in Pittsfield, Mass.
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Pittsfield Talks Hazard MitigationBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
05:17AM / Thursday, April 10, 2025 | |
 PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city's updated Hazard Mitigation Plan is headed towards final review.
On Monday, community members and public officials mulled disaster preparedness at the Ralph J. Froio Senior Center. Pittsfield's 2019 plan is due for an update so the city stays eligible for grant funding and, of course, prepared.
"Mitigation planning is the foundation for establishing where the city would like to direct its risk reduction efforts, how it would like to build community resilience through the whole breadth of natural hazard events that it is at risk to. It brings people together and organizations to develop strategies, to build ideas for projects, to do
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Pittsfield Celebrates Jazz Art Contest WinnersBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
05:39PM / Wednesday, April 09, 2025 | |
Mayor Marchetti with contest winners Maso Casucci and Kayleigh Capitanio. PITTSFIELD, Mass. — For the month of April, Pittsfield High School students' jazz-inspired works bring color and design to the corridors of City Hall.
Kayleigh Capitanio secured the first-place award for the Berkshires Jazz Student Art Contest with a vibrant work depicting a guitar, piano, and music notes. The piece was created in art teacher Lisa Ostellino's classroom while listening to the music that inspired it. "I didn't think that idea was going to be good until I started drawing," Capitanio explained. "And then I think what really helped was that we were listening to
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House of Polish Opens in LenoxBy Breanna Steele, iBerkshires Staff
12:34PM / Wednesday, April 09, 2025 | |
An example of nail art by Casey Christopher from her Instagram. LENOX, Mass. — Mother and daughter duo Paula Mlynarski and Casey Christopher have a passion for art and they are expressing their creativity together through nail design. They opened House of Polish, a nail studio, last month on Housatonic Street. Mlynarski has been a licensed cosmetologist since 2006 and worked as a nail technician at Nails by Silvia and at Evergreen Salon in Pittsfield. Christopher says she always had a passion for art and got her manicurist license through the Monarch School of Cosmetology. Mlynarski says she convinced her daughter to go to nail school last 0 Comments
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BCC and Partners to Present Berkshire State of Work Summit | 08:00AM / Wednesday, April 09, 2025 | |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Community College (BCC), in partnership with 1Berkshire, MassHire, the Berkshire Innovation Center and the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, will hold "From Hiring to Thriving: A New Era of Workplace Culture," a Berkshire State of Work Summit, on Wednesday, June 18 from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. at BCC's main campus, located at 1350 West Street, Pittsfield. Tickets are $75 and are available for purchase at www.berkshirecc.edu/worksummit. Designed to address the workforce challenges facing all Berkshire employers, the State of Work Summit one-day conference will focus on the process of attracting the talent to 0 Comments
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Pittsfield School Officials Making Budget Recommendations Wednesday By Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
05:36AM / Wednesday, April 09, 2025 | |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The School Committee will make recommendations for the district's fiscal year 2026 budget on Wednesday.
This follows a workshop on April 2, where principals and district leaders presented their facility's breakdown with a 2.15 percent reduction to meet costs and a public hearing on Monday, which garnered no participation.
The $87 million budget proposal includes an $18 million city contribution and more than $68 million of anticipated Chapter 70 funding. It is a $3,765,084 increase from FY25.
Superintendent Joseph Curtis reported on several outreach efforts to maintain transparency during this budget season, including "much more communication"
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Pittsfield Council Files 'Median Safety' PetitionBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
05:30AM / Wednesday, April 09, 2025 | |
Mayor Peter Marchetti tells the council that he has been 'pretty beaten up' over the median proposal. PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The City Council put a controversial petition that triggered a protest and dozens of public speakers to rest.
On Tuesday, it filed a proposed "median safety" ordinance that would have banned pedestrians from obstructing a median or traffic island and require 5 feet between people and motor vehicles at five city intersections, including Park Square. The measure is widely seen as a way to stop panhandling but could also affect protests. "We need to continue to work together, and we all need to take care of all of us and we always have.
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Letter: Say No to Constitution PipelineLetter to the Editor,
06:00PM / Tuesday, April 08, 2025 | |
 To the Editor:
From 2014-2016, residents of Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, and Connecticut successfully blocked construction of the Kinder Morgan/NED and Constitution pipelines due to their environmental destruction capabilities and irresponsible use of eminent domain. Residents of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New York defeated the Constitution pipeline in 2016, a decision supported by the courts in 2020. In January 2025, Donald Trump and his secretary of energy called for the resurrection of the Constitution pipeline, citing three falsehoods as the rationale: All Northeast governors want the pipeline It would be built in less than a year It would significantly lower 0 Comments
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BHS Appoints Chief Nursing Executive| 08:03AM / Monday, April 07, 2025 | |
 PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Health Systems (BHS) has announced the appointment of Brenda Cadorette, MSN RN,?NEA-BC, as Chief Nursing Executive (CNE), overseeing nursing across Berkshire Health. Cadorette has served as Vice President of Acute Care and BMC Chief Nursing Officer for the past 11 years. "Brenda has been an exceptional nurse leader at Berkshire Medical Center for decades," said Darlene Rodowicz, Berkshire Health Systems President and CEO. "This new nursing leadership structure will support the alignment of best practice nursing standards and ensure that professional practice, growth, and development are consistent across the 0 Comments
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ServiceNet Warming Center Hosted 126 People This WinterBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
05:46AM / Monday, April 07, 2025 | |
ServiceNet manages the warming shelter next to the church. PITTSFIELD, Mass. — ServiceNet's warming center has provided more than heat to unhoused individuals over the last four months and will run to the end of April.
It opened on Dec. 1 in the First United Methodist Church's dining area, next to ServiceNet's 40-bed shelter The Pearl. The agency has seen 126 individuals utilize the warming center and provided some case management to regulars.
While this winter was a success, they are already considering next winter.
"I've been on this committee many years now. There's probably only a few months out of the year that I don't talk about winter,
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PHS Warmed by Updated Heating SystemBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
05:17AM / Monday, April 07, 2025 | |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A new climate control system has brought Pittsfield High School into the 21st century.
On Tuesday, Building Maintenance Director Brian Filiault reported that the building's new gas powered steam boilers are a far cry from the former 1930s converted locomotive engines. The about $3 million replacement began in June 2024 and was completed by the end of the year.
"They have full power capacity, but we're probably using 30 percent of what they can actually produce right now," Filiault told the School Building Needs Commission.
The following day, he and some of his staff were to be trained on how to operate the equipment, but "they are
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Veteran Spotlight: Marine/Army Lt. Col. John J. Harding IIBy Wayne Soares, Special to iBerkshires
06:35PM / Sunday, April 06, 2025 | |
 EAST LONGMEADOW, Mass. — John J. Harding II served his country with honor and distinction from 1991 to 2018 in Marine Corps and in the Army, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. He grew up in East Boston and Wilmington and graduated from Arlington Catholic High School in 1987. He would later attend Norwich University in Northfield, Vt., and graduate with his juris doctor from Mississippi School of Law. He also attended the U.S. Naval Justice School. I asked him the driving force for his wanting to enlist and he offered this: "I was well aware of the sacrifices of those who went before me ... I had to serve to honor those men and women and give 0 Comments
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Governor Extends Hybrid and Remote Public Meetings to Increase Access | 03:17PM / Sunday, April 06, 2025 | |
BOSTON — Governor Maura Healey signed An Act Extending Certain COVID-19 Measures Adopted During the State of Emergency. This legislation will permit state and local public bodies to conduct public meetings in a hybrid or remote format while also allowing participants at town meetings to participate remotely through June 2027. "This law allows everyone, no matter where they are in our state, to engage in important discussions that affect their lives and makes it easier for everyone to have their voices heard in our government," said Governor Maura Healey. "We don’t want anyone to be held back from attending public meetings because they 0 Comments
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