The Berkshire Argus

09/02/2025

In this week's Argus Eye, some background on a Democratic primary challenger for longtime Rep. Richard Neal, info on new "junk fees" regulation, and The Argus on WAMC to discuss reporting on Berkshire Health Systems.

In this edition of The Argus Eye, news of what may be an interesting race for Congress in western Massachusetts next year.

08/22/2025

In the latest Argus Eye newsletter, a look at documents acquired this week by The Argus that provide new details -- and raise many questions -- about a data breach at Berkshire Health Systems.

Even as it acknowledged a decade of improper access to patient data by a “rogue employee,” the largest employer in Berkshire County—and provider of health care to most residents—claimed a full audit would be an “undue burden.”

08/09/2025

From the latest Argus Eye newsletter: A Massachusetts Department of Public Health study of PCBs and cancer in Pittsfield and the Housatonic River region that began in 2021 has been delayed again. Promised last fall, then last winter, then this spring, the final report remains "under review," according to D.P.H.

The state’s Department of Public Health has again pushed off release of a Housatonic Region cancer study it began in 2021.

07/11/2025

07/11/2025

Something is coming soon to Great Barrington…

07/08/2025

Is Amazon Prime Day a religious holiday?

As the skies darkened with drones and carts overflowed, the people awaited judgment—not by faith, nor deed, nor heart, but by purchase history.

06/18/2025

In January 2021, concerned about links between PCB exposure and cancer, members of the Pittsfield City Council asked the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for an updated cancer-incidence study. After more than four years, they're still waiting. Read the Argus's in-depth story, "The Uncertainty Machine," about PCBs, cancer-cluster investigations, and the sometimes-maddening limits of science. The story includes an accompanying video timeline chronicling the wait for D.P.H.'s "screening-level review" of cancer in Pittsfield, Lenox, Lee, Stockbridge, and Great Barrington. Full story: https://www.berkshireargus.com/the-uncertainty-machine/

Concerned about links between PCB exposure and cancer, in January 2021 members of the Pittsfield City Council asked the Massachusetts Department of Public He...

04/01/2025

Our gold-plated ship has come in!

From scrappy little newsletter producing in-depth journalism to something ... different.

03/31/2025

Following the arrest of Tufts graduate student Rumeysa Öztürk—apparently for co-authoring an op-ed in the student newspaper—today I joined fellow Tufts alumni journalists in signing a letter urging the university’s president to make an unequivocal statement in support of free expression and a free press. (During my time at Tufts, I was a columnist, news editor, and later opinion-page editor at The Tufts Daily.)

No one should be arrested or deported for publishing an op-ed.

03/25/2025

For those following this year's budget deliberations in Great Barrington: The GB Select Board and Finance Committee are meeting tonight at 5:00pm to consider substantial budget cuts proposed in a memo issued last Friday by the interim town manager, Chris Rembold, to avoid a Proposition 2 1/2 override. The proposed cuts include eliminating lifeguards and other youth services at Lake Mansfield and the downtown skate park this summer and eliminating nearly $45,000 in funding that has, for many years, paid for costs and lease expenses for the Housatonic VFW/American Legion and the Great Barrington VFW.

Also proposed is closing the town's Transfer Station to the public ("citizens would be required to use private haulers.")

The cuts would redirect some of the saved funds to fully meet the requested subsidy of $304,909 for the Southern Berkshire Ambulance Squad.

See the links below in comments for Rembold's memo and rationale for the proposed adjustments. The meeting is being held in person at Town Hall and via Zoom (link below in comments). After tonight's deliberations and votes, there will be a public hearing on the proposed budget on April 8.

03/19/2025

With an all-out assault on transparency and independent oversight underway in Washington, a look at a little-known Berkshires story from the nineteen thirties that is again timely.

With government transparency and press freedom under attack in Washington, a timely look at a little-known Great Barrington story from the nineteen thirties.

03/02/2025

Some new reporting from The Argus on a little-discussed topic: Whether an unidentified person who placed pipe bombs on Capitol Hill on the eve of the January 6, 2021, attack could benefit from President Trump's pardon.

With conspiracy-minded leadership installed at the F.B.I., and federal prosecutors now broadly applying the president’s controversial pardon, will a still-unidentified bomber escape justice?