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| News and events in Pittsfield, Mass.
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Think You Need an Antibiotic? You Might Not Get One for Your Cold! By Dr. Lara Setti, Guest Column
10:38AM / Monday, January 27, 2025 | |
 Have a cold? Fever? Sinus infection? Your primary-care provider might not give you a prescription for an antibiotic. Here's why. In the past, antibiotics were commonly prescribed for many ailments, and sick patients were often reassured by having a prescription in hand. However, medicine is evolving, and antibiotics do not cure certain types of ailments and infections. Overexposure to antibiotics over time can cause antibiotic resistance, a dangerous condition when these medications are needed. This can mean that when you truly need an antibiotic the treatment options available may be less effective or not work at all. In fact, reducing antibiotic resistance is now a 0 Comments
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Breathe Easy Berkshires Examines Impact of Butternut FireBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
05:26AM / Monday, January 27, 2025 | |
Breathe Easy Berkshires leads group discussions to catalog the effects of the fire on the region through personal experiences. PITTSFIELD, Mass.— Environmentalists earlier this month opened the floor for reflections on the Butternut Fire, highlighting its air quality effects in Pittsfield.
Breathe Easy Berkshires, a project of the Berkshire Environmental Action Team, invited attendees to share what they smelled, saw, heard, touched, tasted, and thought during the wildfire that tore through over 1,600 acres in Great Barrington in late November.
At the BEAT headquarters, project managers Andrew Ferrara and Drake Reed led group discussions with people from all over Berkshire County.
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Berkshire Pride Announces Expansion and 2025 Event Schedule| 04:05PM / Sunday, January 26, 2025 | |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Pride has unveiled new initiatives and events aimed at fostering inclusivity across Berkshire County. Highlights include the integration of North Adams Pride, the launch of Lee Pride, and the addition of Drag Story Hour, Berkshire Chapter, as a program under Berkshire Pride. North Adams Pride, known for events like Pride Night and the Northern Lights Ball, will now collaborate with Berkshire Pride to expand resources and programming in North County. Meanwhile, the newly launched Lee Pride will focus on serving the LGBTQIA+ community in Lee and surrounding areas with events celebrating diversity and inclusion. Drag Story Hour, Berkshire 0 Comments
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Crane Museum Hosts Papermaking at Dalton LibraryBy Sabrina Damms, iBerkshires Staff
12:11PM / Sunday, January 26, 2025 | |
DALTON, Mass. — Although the Crane Museum's building is no longer accessible to the general public, residents still have the opportunity to learn about papermaking and the organization's history. In the past year, the museum has organized more than 10 pop-up events, each designed to educate the community about the significance of papermaking and the Crane's role in this process, museum docent Dennis Croughwell said. The Dalton Public Library is next. On Wednesday, Jan. 29, between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m., library visitors can drop in to learn how to make paper and watch a demonstration on how to identify counterfeit currency. "It's 0 Comments
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Downtown Pittsfield: A Taste of Downtown| 11:44AM / Sunday, January 26, 2025 | |
 PITTSFIELD, Mass. — In February 2025, Downtown Pittsfield, Inc. will present "A Taste of Downtown" – a monthlong downtown restaurant celebration. Nineteen restaurants and bars in downtown Pittsfield will be participating. "A Taste of Downtown" will feature marketing efforts to highlight downtown Pittsfield's local restaurants and restaurant owners and the Taste of Downtown Giveaway which will be an incentive for people to dine in local restaurants over the course of the month. The prize for the Taste of Downtown Giveaway will be 19 gift cards — one from each of the participating restaurants — a $500 value. Every 0 Comments
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Office of Veterans Services Launches Yearlong Acts of Service Campaign| 08:00AM / Sunday, January 26, 2025 | |
BOSTON — The Executive Office of Veterans Services launched the "2025 Acts of Service" campaign, a statewide initiative to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy and promote impactful support for veterans in need across Massachusetts. This yearlong campaign, which features digital and in-person service opportunities, will unite communities through projects that directly benefit veterans and their families, while emphasizing equity, inclusion, and unity. "Dr. King's vision for equity and service continues to inspire us all," said Secretary Jon Santiago. "At the Executive Office of Veterans Services, we regularly hear stories about incredible
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Berkshire-Based Murder Mystery Video Game ReleasedBy Jack Guerino, iBerkshires Staff
07:21AM / Sunday, January 26, 2025 | |
Creator Matthew Myers spent some time in Berkshire County. PITTSFIELD, Mass. — For centuries, the Berkshires have inspired art in every form: painted on canvas, lined into poetry, and written into novels. And now, rendered in pixels "Murder Is Game Over: The Blackinton Curse" is the fourth game in a series of stand-alone murder mystery games developed by Matthew Myers of HitherYon Games. Although not a Berkshire native, Myers spent three years in Berkshire County which influenced the latest entry in his 2D whodunit. "The mix of cultural and historical tourism, the rust-belt vibes, and the mountain 0 Comments
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Reid Student Is Levine Spelling Bee Champion| 04:54PM / Saturday, January 25, 2025 | |
 PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Top spellers from Herberg and Reid Middle Schools competed in the 2025 Jonathan Levine Middle School Spelling Bee at the Berkshire Athenaeum. Spellers went 10 rounds to crown this year's victor: Emily Escalon-Brizuela, from Reid Middle School. In the last round, Emily inched out Averi Olds, the top Herberg speller. Last year, these same two spellers battled it out, with Averi taking home the 2024 trophy. "It was a lot of intensity. I was very impressed by the poise," said judge state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier. Both Emily and Averi (as the top spellers from their respective schools) will advance to regionals in an 0 Comments
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1Berkshire Launches Pilot Program to Support Immigrant Entrepreneurs| 02:46PM / Saturday, January 25, 2025 | |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — 1Berkshire has announced a two-year pilot program aimed at supporting immigrant entrepreneurs in the Berkshires, funded by a one-time earmark from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Berkshire Immigrant Entrepreneurial Support Program consists of four key initiatives: Collaborative Partner Resource Allocations - These pre-identified funding allocations will help launch, sustain, or complete programs, projects, or efforts that add new capacity. 1Berkshire's support to Berkshire Community College's ESOL program for Spring and Fall 2025 is one such investment being made through this program. Future allocations will be announced as they 0 Comments
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@theMarket: Markets Head Toward New Highs in FebruaryBy Bill Schmick,
12:22PM / Saturday, January 25, 2025 | |
As we step into the new year, stocks have soared in celebration as Donald Trump took the reins of office. This transition of power has brought a wave of optimism, which can continue, although a mild bout of profit-taking in the near term should be expected. A flurry of Day One executive orders kept the markets busy parsing the meaning of this one or that one. However, the enthusiasm had more to do with what President Trump did not do than what he did. The greatest fear of investors was that the president would levy 10 percent tariffs across the board on all nations. Some nations, such as China, Mexico, and Canada, were expected to get hit by even higher duties on Day One. It 0 Comments
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Pittsfield High Basketball Coach Released Without ExplanationBy Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
12:15PM / Saturday, January 25, 2025 | |
 PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Joe Racicot has given four decades of his life to coaching basketball and spent the last 14 years at Pittsfield High. That career came to an abrupt end in late November, and Racicot says he did not get a good explanation why. "I feel like I'm cheated because I didn't get an opportunity to discuss this," Racicot said recently. "For somebody to come in and make a decision and just make a phone call the Friday before the season starts … "I never really got a reason other than: The administration wanted you gone, and we wanted to go in another direction." What Racicot did get, and what may have 0 Comments
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Williams PTO Plans $330K Playground ImprovementBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
05:21AM / Saturday, January 25, 2025 | |
PITTSFIELD, Mass.— The Williams Elementary School Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) has launched a $330,000 initiative to revamp its playground
"The current playground, there's a lot of issues with it. The equipment is out of date, a lot of safety concerns with play surfaces, age of equipment, accessibility, and kind of inclusion of play with the current setup that they have," PTO member Joseph Simon explained.
"So the new playground looks to kind of address a lot of those issues with modern, new equipment, looking to try to have an inclusion area that will be accessible from the school so that way we can accommodate all students and there would also be some
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