Students on the Simon's Rock campus gather at the library in preparation for the Bard Queer Leadership Project. Press photo courtesy of Bard College at Simon's Rock

News

Here are the Hill Country Observer’s news articles, listed from newest to oldest. The Hill Country Observer covers town events, local government, community stories and more — from public health to housing to education and freedom of mind in New York, Vermont and Western Massachusetts.

  • Issue:

    Honoring black history in the Berkshires

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    Group aims to transform former church into visitor, cultural center Beth Carlson and Wray Gunn Sr. stand in front of the former Clinton A.M.E. Zion Church in Great Barrington. Carlson and Gunn both serve on the board of a 2-year-old nonprofit group that hopes to transform the building into a visitor and cultural center celebrating read more

    Honoring black history in the Berkshires
  • Issue:

    Blue wave moves north as Delgado wins

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    After defeat of Faso and others, Stefanik urges GOP changes By FRED DALEYEditor   When Antonio Delgado flipped a Hudson Valley congressional district from red to blue on Nov. 6, he set the stage for another likely battle in two years that will test how much the region’s politics really are shifting. Delgado, a Harvard-educated read more

    Blue wave moves north as Delgado wins
  • Issue:

    Election 2018: Results from three states

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      MASSACHUSETTS   GOVERNOR AND LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR* Charles Baker and Karyn E. Polito (R) 1,781,341 (66.8%) Jay Gonzalez and Quentin Palfrey (D) ….. 885,770 (33.2%)   U.S. SENATORShiva Ayyadurai (i) …………………………………… 91,710 (3.4%)Geoff Diehl (R) ……………………………………. 979,210 (36.2%)* Elizabeth A. Warren (D)…………………. 1,633,371 (60.4%)   ATTORNEY GENERAL * Maura Healey (D) …………………………. 1,874,209 (70.0%)James R. read more

    Election 2018: Results from three states
  • Issue:

    Saving a country crossroads in Craryville

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    Gas station proposal draws backlash, spurs test of a town’s newvision for development A proposal for a large new gas station and convenience store in the vacant lot across from the Craryville United Methodist Church, above, has set off a controversy in the town of Copake, N.Y. The project’s developer announced in late October that read more

    Saving a country crossroads in Craryville
  • Issue:

    In the Berkshires, preparing for legal marijuana sales

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    Mass. retailers get set for legal marijuana sales, raising questions for N.Y., Vermont Theory Wellness opened the Berkshires’ first medical marijuana dispensary, above, in Great Barrington two years ago. Now it’s one of the first four retailers in Berkshire County that are expected to begin selling to anyone over 21 after the state’s voters backed read more

    In the Berkshires, preparing for legal marijuana sales
  • Issue:

    School radio station plans for rebirth

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    Pittsfield’s WTBR, begun as school project, will have broader mission Shawn Serre, the executive director of Pittsfield Community Television, shows off the new home of radio station WTBR-89.7 FM, which temporarily suspended broadcasts in June. Susan Sabino photo   By JOHN TOWNESContributing writer PITTSFIELD, Mass. A local FM radio station that got started in 1969 read more

    School radio station plans for rebirth
  • Issue:

    Election 2018: A preview of local ballots

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    Here are the candidates and referendum questions on ballots for the Nov. 6 federal and state elections across the region. Because of space limitations, uncontested races are not included. A guide to political party abbreviations is at right. Incumbents are marked with an asterisk (*). Polls are open on Election Day from 7 a.m. to read more

    Election 2018: A preview of local ballots
  • Issue:

    A closer look at a toxin’s trail

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    New studies find more cancer, wider contamination from PFOA Judith Enck, a former regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Bennington College professors Janet Foley and John Hultgren went door to door in Hoosick Falls, N.Y., to gather information for a community healh survey as they researched the effects of PFOA. David Bond read more

    A closer look at a toxin’s trail
  • Issue:

    From blue Berkshires, a push for Faso’s defeat

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    Mass. activists target N.Y. congressman in ad campaign A billboard along Route 20 west of New Lebanon, N.Y., this summer cast U.S. Rep. John Faso, R-Kinderhook, as Pinocchio for his vote last year on health care reform. The ad was paid for by the Catskills Freedom Network, a group organized by activists from across the read more

    From blue Berkshires, a push for Faso’s defeat
  • Issue:

    Strengthening a city in transition

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    Pittsfield project fosters new ties in ‘civic infrastructure’ Alisa Costa is the director of Working Cities Pittsfield, a grant-funded initiative that seeks to bring together local people from a wide range of backgrounds in helping the former industrial city to reinvent itself. Susan Sabino photo   By JOHN TOWNESContributing writer PITTSFIELD, Mass. When researchers for read more

    Strengthening a city in transition