A crowd gathers at an open house at the Plant Connector in downtown North Adams. Press photo by Kate Abbott

Jobs

Here are the Hill Country Observer’s articles about jobs, listed from newest to oldest. Questions about local economies surface in The Hill Country Observer as we follow movements in co-ops, small businesses, nonprofits and sustainable ways to make a living in our rural communities and support kinds of work that fulfill workers and local needs.

  • Issue:

    ‘We’re going to come back’

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    Recovery starts to take shape in a town slammed by Irene By EVAN LAWRENCE Contributing writer WILMINGTON, Vt.On a drizzly day in late September, downtown Wilmington was full of activity, but not the usual bustle of tourists and locals. Some storefronts along the two main streets had been gutted down to the timbers. Others were read more

    ‘We’re going to come back’
  • Issue:

    Faster path for wind power?

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    Mass. weighs bill to streamline development process By CRAIG IDLEBROOK Contributing writer HANCOCK, Mass.When 10 windmills atop Brodie Mountain began generating electricity earlier this year, the Berkshire Wind Power Project became the largest commercial wind farm in Massachusetts. But some say the $65 million project, first proposed back in 1998, offers a cautionary tale about read more

    Faster path for wind power?
  • Issue:

    The landscape is the inspiration

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    By STACEY MORRIS Contributing writer CAMBRIDGE, N.Y.The open fields and rolling hills of Rensselaer and Washington counties have provided inspiration to artists for generations, and every October for the past 10 years, local artists have banded together to give something back. The annual Landscapes for Landsake art show and sale, scheduled this year for Oct. read more

    The landscape is the inspiration
  • Issue:

    Study backs restoring trains to Berkshires

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    Service would boost tourism, attract more young adults, economist says By DAVID SCRIBNER Contributing writer PITTSFIELD, Mass.In 1971, when the last passenger train from New York City creaked into the nearly deserted Pittsfield terminal, the price of gasoline was 36 cents a gallon. For the most part, people at that time who traveled to metropolitan read more

    Study backs restoring trains to Berkshires
  • Issue:

    Digital age leaves small post offices endangered

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    But inside, a notice next to the post-office boxes warns that the U.S. Postal Service may soon shatter the idyllic scene. The Rupert post office, like more than 3,600 others across the nation and at least a half-dozen around the region, is under study for possible closure. Besides the post office, the center of this read more

    Digital age leaves small post offices endangered
  • Issue:

    Saratoga line puts tourist trains to test

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    Ambitious new operation creates a link to the Adirondacks By EVAN LAWRENCE Contributing writer SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. For the first time in 55 years, regularly scheduled passenger trains started running last month between Saratoga Springs and the Adirondack village of North Creek. The tourist trains, following a scenic route along the upper Hudson River, have read more

    Saratoga line puts tourist trains to test
  • Issue:

    Markets with a mission

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    Food co-ops expand their reach – and goals – around the region They did far better than that. By the time of its official grand opening on July 23, the co-op, with its old-fashioned barrels of bulk goods and signature 1950s appliances, had signed up 213 members. Those members paid either an annual $20 fee read more

    Markets with a mission
  • Issue:

    The second-home economy

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    Some see double-edged sword in region’s growth as rural getaway By NED OLIVER Contributing writer GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. Chris Martin and Anita Hotchkis spent a recent weekday morning tending the ever-evolving garden that surrounds their waterfront home in Great Barrington. The couple finished building their home overlooking Round Pond last year, but they still spend read more

    The second-home economy
  • Issue:

    Pushing the frontier of wine making

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    Local flavors are priority for vintners in Columbia County By NED OLIVER Contributing writer GHENT, N.Y. Carlo DeVito’s first experience making wine wasn’t exactly encouraging. “My first batch was undrinkable,” he recalled. But from that inauspicious beginning, DeVito and his wife, Dominique, kept tinkering and tweaking to become award-winning vintners. They founded Columbia County’s first read more

    Pushing the frontier of wine making