The Berkshire Edge On-Air - Wednesday July 31, 2019

The Berkshire Edge LLC is a locally owned, regional publication. Our goal is to provide – regularly and in depth – content that truly reflects the life, interests and aspirations of this unusually rich and vibrant community.

Guided by respected journalistic standards, the principle of fairness, the quest for truth, a commitment to social, economic and environmental justice, and an abiding admiration for the independent spirit of the Berkshires, The Berkshire Edge offers in-depth local news reports and features, perspectives on the arts, wide-ranging commentary, and a comprehensive calendar of events – all written, illustrated, and, in some cases performed, with wit, intelligence, insight and humor.

1.  Great Barrington planners and selectboard take stock of “surplus” properties and lack of affordable housing, and conclude these are two areas that are impeding the town’s economic vitality. Now, what to do about it:
https://theberkshireedge.com/buttigiegs-call-to-service-plan-is-a-healthy-policy-in-more-ways-than-one/

2.  On the impeachment front, Berkshire Democrats — or at least, the progressive wing, has urged Congressman Richard E. Neal to support impeachment of the president:
https://theberkshireedge.com/berkshire-democrats-urge-u-s-rep-neal-to-support-trumps-impeachment/

3.  Here’s a story that makes you proud to be in this region, and represents the generous spirit of America that we wish our president and his ilk would adopt : A partnership of organizations is collaborating on supporting two immigrants from West Africa. 
https://theberkshireedge.com/our-golden-doors/

4. Sheffield videographer Ben Hillman has produced a moving Edgecast about the demonstration against immigrant detention in concentration camps along the southern border:https://theberkshireedge.com/close-the-camps-lights-for-liberty-protest/

5. The Southern Berkshire Regional School District is in crisis, with plummeting enrollment, and a school committee that is reluctant to consider merging with its northern neighbor, the Berkshire Hills Regional School District. The southern district’s member towns, however, feel no such reluctance, and are demanding the school committee consider a merger:https://theberkshireedge.com/member-towns-might-override-south-berkshire-school-districts-reluctance-to-pursue-merger/

6.  The cultural season is in full swing, and we have lots of reviews and previews of plays, concerts, dance performances. Of note were the two day performance at Tanglewood of Richard Wagner’s ‘Die Walkure’ and, remarkably, three reviewers agreeing that Lucy Kirkwood’s ’The Children’ at Shakespeare & Company was a terrific play (so it must be good?) Dan Dwyer, of Connecticut fame, for instance, and not one to pull punches, called it "engrossing and disarming:"
https://theberkshireedge.com/review-die-walkure-at-tanglewood-featured-brilliant-performances-punctuated-by-serendipitous-weather/