The Berkshire Edge On-Air - Wednesday June 26, 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. An effort is afoot to rename Monument Valley Regional Middle School after civil rights activist and scholar  W.E.B. Du Bois, who was born in Great Barrington, and graduated from Harvard.. Among other achievements, he founded the NAACP and wrote The Souls of Black Folk. The attempt to honor Du Bois in his hometown has been a struggle:https://theberkshireedge.com/looking-back-and-ahead-efforts-to-name-a-school-after-the-legendary-w-e-b-du-bois/
2.  Just in time for the height of the season, Great Barrington Selectmen are planning to close a section of the access road to Lake Mansfield, site of a popular town-owned beach and playground:https://theberkshireedge.com/in-a-nod-to-reality-great-barrington-selectmen-vote-to-close-lake-mansfield-road/
3. The new Linde Center for Music and Learning is opening at Tanglewood:https://theberkshireedge.com/tanglewoods-linde-center-to-open-june-28/
And on Monday, Tanglewood and Boston Symphony Orchestra officials unveiled a new sculpture of TMC founding conductor Serge Koussevitzky:
https://theberkshireedge.com/serge-koussevitzky-sculpture-unveiled-at-tanglewood/

4. The Berkshire Co-op Market has finally moved into its new digs at Powerhouse Square, adjacent to its old building. Reviews are positive:https://theberkshireedge.com/rebranded-berkshire-food-co-op-opens-in-new-digs-at-powerhouse-square/

5.  If you were hoping to visit Sheffield to see a monument commemorating a close encounter of the third kind, you’re too late. At the behest of the town administrator, the granite monument has been removed from the approach to the covered bridge over the Housatonic River:
https://theberkshireedge.com/town-administrator-off-the-hook-selectmen-claim-responsibility-for-ordering-removal-of-ufo-monument/
6.  Just what Great Barrington needs. Another cannabis shop. This time in a Flying Church — appropriately. https://theberkshireedge.com/great-barringtons-flying-church-buried-treasure-and-maybe-a-cannabis-store/

7.  Finally, we interviewed Jim Murphy, for the past 20 years the spokesperson for Region 1 of the Environmental Protection Agency that oversaw the cleanup of PCBs from the Housatonic River, dumped there by General Electric from its transformer manufacturing facility in Pittsfield. Murphy has retired, and he reflects on the future of the EPA under Trump:
https://theberkshireedge.com/long-time-epa-community-coordinator-veteran-in-housatonic-river-cleanup-steps-down/