The Berkshire Argus
@berkshireargus.com
A nonprofit digital newsmagazine featuring in-depth news, profiles, humor, and more. https://www.berkshireargus.com
The Berkshire Argus has transitioned to Reason Gone Mad and The RGM Dispatch newsletter—same independent reporting and storytelling, with more room for creative projects and experiments.
Going forward, get updates via @billshein.bsky.social and subscribe to newsletter at this link.
Going forward, get updates via @billshein.bsky.social and subscribe to newsletter at this link.
Reason Gone Mad
Investigations, field notes, and other projects from writer Bill Shein.
www.reasongonemad.com
December 19, 2025 at 10:54 PM
The Berkshire Argus has transitioned to Reason Gone Mad and The RGM Dispatch newsletter—same independent reporting and storytelling, with more room for creative projects and experiments.
Going forward, get updates via @billshein.bsky.social and subscribe to newsletter at this link.
Going forward, get updates via @billshein.bsky.social and subscribe to newsletter at this link.
Reposted by The Berkshire Argus
The times -- and my website/newsletter -- are a-changin': Same deep-dive investigations and storytelling, wider lens, more irreverence. Come along for the ride, peeps!
A new chapter for this work
The Argus is becoming The RGM Dispatch—same mission, broader scope, new possibilities.
www.berkshireargus.com
November 22, 2025 at 3:24 PM
The times -- and my website/newsletter -- are a-changin': Same deep-dive investigations and storytelling, wider lens, more irreverence. Come along for the ride, peeps!
Reposted by The Berkshire Argus
On Thursday I’m interviewing Mariah Blake about her terrific book, “They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals.” At Ralph Nader’s American Museum of Tort Law in Winsted, CT. Should be an interesting conversation; many parallels to the story of PCBs in the Berkshires.
Free Event: A Conversation with Mariah Blake
This Thursday at the American Museum of Tort Law, a conversation with investigative journalist Mariah Blake about her gripping new book, “They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever ...
www.berkshireargus.com
October 22, 2025 at 3:03 AM
On Thursday I’m interviewing Mariah Blake about her terrific book, “They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals.” At Ralph Nader’s American Museum of Tort Law in Winsted, CT. Should be an interesting conversation; many parallels to the story of PCBs in the Berkshires.
Latest newsletter…
THE ARGUS EYE: Rep. Neal gets a challenger, junk fees get a spotlight, and The Argus gets on WAMC
In this edition of The Argus Eye, news of what may be an interesting race for Congress in western Massachusetts next year.
www.berkshireargus.com
September 3, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Latest newsletter…
Had a good conversation with Josh Landes of @wamcradio.bsky.social about this Berkshire Argus story and some of the interesting questions surrounding data privacy and Berkshire Health Systems.
Berkshire Argus founder and editor Bill Shein breaks down his investigation into data leaks at Berkshire County’s largest employer and healthcare provider
An interview with Bill Shein, founder and editor of The Berkshire Argus.
www.wamc.org
August 29, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Had a good conversation with Josh Landes of @wamcradio.bsky.social about this Berkshire Argus story and some of the interesting questions surrounding data privacy and Berkshire Health Systems.
NEW: Previously undisclosed documents obtained by The Argus shed new light on a data breach at Berkshire Health Systems—and its response, which raise questions about its data-privacy practices and auditing.
Berkshire Health Systems told regulators it can’t afford a full investigation of decade-long data breach
Even as it acknowledged a decade of improper access to patient data by a “rogue employee,” the largest employer in Berkshire County—and provider of health care to most residents—claimed a full audit w...
www.berkshireargus.com
August 23, 2025 at 2:01 PM
NEW: Previously undisclosed documents obtained by The Argus shed new light on a data breach at Berkshire Health Systems—and its response, which raise questions about its data-privacy practices and auditing.
*checks bank account*
July 13, 2025 at 8:15 PM
*checks bank account*
Reposted by The Berkshire Argus
Something—someone?—is coming to Great Barrington soon…
July 11, 2025 at 2:49 AM
Something—someone?—is coming to Great Barrington soon…
On this #PrimeDay, Behold the Shroud of Bezos! www.berkshireargus.com/prime-day-th...
July 9, 2025 at 5:13 PM
On this #PrimeDay, Behold the Shroud of Bezos! www.berkshireargus.com/prime-day-th...
May you be showered with blessings and amazing deals on this Prime Day... www.berkshireargus.com/prime-day-th...
July 8, 2025 at 5:43 PM
May you be showered with blessings and amazing deals on this Prime Day... www.berkshireargus.com/prime-day-th...
Is Amazon Prime Day a religious holiday?
Prime Day: The Final Segmentation
As the skies darkened with drones and carts overflowed, the people awaited judgment—not by faith, nor deed, nor heart, but by purchase history.
www.berkshireargus.com
July 8, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Is Amazon Prime Day a religious holiday?
Back in March, this was just going to be a quick sidebar. But it needed a deep dive. Dozens of interviews and months of research and reporting later, it tells an important story.
An in-depth look at PCBs, cancer, environmental-health investigations, and the history of Pittsfield. www.berkshireargus.com/the-uncertai...
The Uncertainty Machine
Concerned about links between PCB exposure and cancer, in January 2021, members of the Pittsfield City Council asked the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for an updated cancer-incidence study...
www.berkshireargus.com
June 25, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Back in March, this was just going to be a quick sidebar. But it needed a deep dive. Dozens of interviews and months of research and reporting later, it tells an important story.
Reposted by The Berkshire Argus
Mamdani won with a plan to make housing and life in NYC more affordable for working people. So let’s give some props to the man who first made that case 15 years ago—also against Cuomo.
[ORIGINAL] The Rent is Too Damn High!
YouTube video by renttoodamnhigh
m.youtube.com
June 25, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Mamdani won with a plan to make housing and life in NYC more affordable for working people. So let’s give some props to the man who first made that case 15 years ago—also against Cuomo.
An in-depth look at PCBs, cancer, environmental-health investigations, and the history of Pittsfield. www.berkshireargus.com/the-uncertai...
The Uncertainty Machine
Concerned about links between PCB exposure and cancer, in January 2021, members of the Pittsfield City Council asked the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for an updated cancer-incidence study...
www.berkshireargus.com
June 18, 2025 at 2:47 PM
An in-depth look at PCBs, cancer, environmental-health investigations, and the history of Pittsfield. www.berkshireargus.com/the-uncertai...
BIG news in the local journalism space!
Berkshire Argus acquired for stunning $1 billion in all-cash deal
From scrappy little newsletter producing in-depth journalism to something ... different.
www.berkshireargus.com
April 1, 2025 at 6:49 PM
BIG news in the local journalism space!
Among the Massachusetts' delegation, only Reps. Richard Neal (MA-1) and Bill Keating (MA-9) declined to sign a letter demanding due process and transparency in the arrest of Tufts graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk. www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/do...
March 29, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Among the Massachusetts' delegation, only Reps. Richard Neal (MA-1) and Bill Keating (MA-9) declined to sign a letter demanding due process and transparency in the arrest of Tufts graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk. www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/do...
With an all-out assault on transparency and independent oversight underway in Washington, a look at a small-town #Berkshires story from the nineteen thirties that is again timely. #SunshineWeek
NOTED: Advancing storm clouds darken ‘Sunshine Week’
With government transparency and press freedom under attack in Washington, a timely look at a little-known Great Barrington story from the nineteen thirties.
www.berkshireargus.com
March 19, 2025 at 7:08 PM
With an all-out assault on transparency and independent oversight underway in Washington, a look at a small-town #Berkshires story from the nineteen thirties that is again timely. #SunshineWeek
Reposted by The Berkshire Argus
📈 POPULAR NOW
Massachusetts-based company launches program to fund community solar projects
Massachusetts-based company launches program to fund community solar projects
Massachusetts-based company launches program to fund community solar projects
With the federal dollars for renewable energy slowing to a trickle or stopping altogether, a company based in Cambridge called Solstice is looking to provide some funding to community solar projects in...
buff.ly
March 15, 2025 at 11:02 AM
📈 POPULAR NOW
Massachusetts-based company launches program to fund community solar projects
Massachusetts-based company launches program to fund community solar projects
Reposted by The Berkshire Argus
A reminder that just about every story is often more complicated — and more fascinating, and more human — than what headlines and day-to-day news coverage suggest.
He Was Once the ‘Subway Ninja.’ He Would Like to Explain.
In the lowest moment of Selwyn Bernardez’s life, he attacked a stranger with a sword. It was another transit horror story, but with a different ending.
www.nytimes.com
March 17, 2025 at 12:33 AM
A reminder that just about every story is often more complicated — and more fascinating, and more human — than what headlines and day-to-day news coverage suggest.
This is a vitally important story: With #USAID cuts almost certain to create massive suffering and millions of deaths, the Trump administration has also ended a key program that would enable the world to see and count the devastation that experts say is already well underway.
Trump Administration Ends Global Health Research Program
The Demographic and Health Surveys were the only sources of reliable information in many countries on metrics such as mortality, nutrition and education.
www.nytimes.com
March 3, 2025 at 12:13 PM
This is a vitally important story: With #USAID cuts almost certain to create massive suffering and millions of deaths, the Trump administration has also ended a key program that would enable the world to see and count the devastation that experts say is already well underway.
Some new reporting from The Argus on a little-discussed topic: Whether an unidentified person who placed pipe bombs on Capitol Hill on the eve of the January 6, 2021, attack could benefit from President Trump's pardon.
Will Trump’s January 6ᵗʰ pardons absolve a pipe bomber?
With conspiracy-minded leadership installed at the F.B.I., and federal prosecutors now broadly applying the president’s controversial pardon, will a still-unidentified bomber escape justice?
www.berkshireargus.com
March 2, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Some new reporting from The Argus on a little-discussed topic: Whether an unidentified person who placed pipe bombs on Capitol Hill on the eve of the January 6, 2021, attack could benefit from President Trump's pardon.
NEW - Our story about yesterday's trip to #Boston by activists fighting a #PCB dump in #Lee, #Massachusetts.
NOTED: Lee activists take their fight against a PCB dump to Boston
As plans for a PCB landfill in Lee, Massachusetts reach a critical stage, a group of Berkshire County residents rallied in Boston—near the headquarters of General Electric, the company responsible for...
www.berkshireargus.com
February 28, 2025 at 10:48 PM
NEW - Our story about yesterday's trip to #Boston by activists fighting a #PCB dump in #Lee, #Massachusetts.
🧵In #Boston, activists from #Lee and the southern #Berkshires challenged General Electric to "do the right thing" and advance a better cleanup of the Housatonic River: Remove more PCBs and use remediation instead of dredging/dumping a million cubic yards of PCB-tainted material in a new Lee dump.
February 27, 2025 at 10:58 PM
🧵In #Boston, activists from #Lee and the southern #Berkshires challenged General Electric to "do the right thing" and advance a better cleanup of the Housatonic River: Remove more PCBs and use remediation instead of dredging/dumping a million cubic yards of PCB-tainted material in a new Lee dump.
Just out from @berkshireargus.bsky.social: As the Defense Department begins removing climate-related information from its website, current and former Pentagon officials say you can't disconnect #climate from national security.
At the Pentagon, reality likely to trump rhetoric on climate change and national security
Even as the Trump administration rolls back climate-related initiatives, current and former Pentagon officials told The Argus that work related to climate and national security is likely to continue.
www.berkshireargus.com
February 7, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Just out from @berkshireargus.bsky.social: As the Defense Department begins removing climate-related information from its website, current and former Pentagon officials say you can't disconnect #climate from national security.