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:

    Taxing times in Vermont

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    Election results add to pressure for school funding changes   By MAURY THOMPSONContributing writer   The debate over school funding in Vermont is gaining new urgency after an election that wiped out Democratic supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature. Even as the Democratic presidential ticket was carrying the state by more than 30 percentage… read more

    Taxing times in Vermont
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    Equity project pushes to transform region’s cultural workplaces

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    Equity project pushes to transform region’s cultural workplaces Christopher Duggan photo courtesy of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival   By KATE ABBOTTContributing writer   Imagine the people who make creative work happen in an arts or cultural institution all having a stake and a voice in the organization’s operations and mission. Or imagine creative organizations clearly… read more

    Equity project pushes to transform region’s cultural workplaces
  • Issue:

    Waiting for the train — State advances study of potential North Adams-to-Boston run

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    State advances study of potential North Adams-to-Boston run State Rep. John Barrett III, D-North Adams, stands along the tracks near the Western Gateway Heritage State Park. Barrett and others are pushing to restore passenger rail service from North Adams and Greenfield east to Boston, and a new state study details options for the project. Joan… read more

    Waiting for the train — State advances study of potential North Adams-to-Boston run
  • Issue:

    Election 2024 — Public financing aids challenger in Saratoga race

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    By MAURY THOMPSON Contributing writer New York’s new public campaign finance system has given a big boost to the campaign of Democratic challenger Minita Sanghvi in the state Senate district that covers Saratoga County. The new system, which uses public money to match small-dollar contributions after certain fund-raising thresholds are reached, is intended to dilute… read more

    Election 2024 — Public financing aids challenger in Saratoga race
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    Intimate spaces, innovative shows — Region’s small theaters blaze a path through post-pandemic upheaval

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    Region’s small theaters blaze a path through post-pandemic upheaval Courtesy of Adams Theater   By KATE ABBOTTContributing writer ANCRAM, N.Y. “And there are drums on the mountain …”On a July night, Martha Redbone will come to the banks of the Sankhenak river to compose music drawn up from her own folk, blues, gospel and Native… read more

    Intimate spaces, innovative shows — Region’s small theaters blaze a path through post-pandemic upheaval
  • Issue:

    Online-betting windfall stirs debates

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    As states cheer revenue, critics point to costs of gambling addiction By MAURY THOMPSONContributing writer   Two years after New York legalized mobile sports betting, it appears the biggest winner by far has been the state government. From early 2022 through the beginning of this year, Albany raked in more than $1.55 billion from its… read more

    Online-betting windfall stirs debates
  • Issue:

    Signs of economic change

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    Region’s manufacturing takes high-tech turn as some familiar employers exit   The sign outside AngioDynamics’ medical device plant in Queensbury, N.Y., says the company is now hiring, but the factory is set to shut down at the end of 2025. Employee shortages are one reason the company has cited for its decision to close its… read more

    Signs of economic change
  • Issue:

    The museum that transformed a city — Mass MoCA turns 25

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    Mass MoCA, now 25, gave rise to North Adams’ new creative economy   By KATE ABBOTTContributing writer NORTH ADAMS, Mass. When Tom Bernard worked at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art 20 years ago, he wore his grandmother’s badge from Sprague Electric Co. clipped to his own. She worked in Sprague’s sprawling mill complex in… read more

    The museum that transformed a city — Mass MoCA turns 25
  • Issue:

    A month in the hills — Birthing center to stay open with state aid

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    The only remaining maternity ward in Rensselaer County will stay open after receiving a promise of $5 million in new state grants. St. Peter’s Health Partners announced April 29 that it will keep the Burdett Birth Center in Troy open for at least five years while the hospital system works to improve the center’s economic… read more

    A month in the hills — Birthing center to stay open with state aid
  • Issue:

    Fresh food at a farm stand for members

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    Start-up grower gives members access to produce from range of area farms Aliza Pickering, seen here at her parents’ greenhouse and garden center in Arlington, Vt., has set up a membership group that provides subscribers with fresh local produce from area farms, including her own, through a roadside farm stand in Saratoga County. Joan K.… read more

    Fresh food at a farm stand for members