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02/28/08
The Last Hurrah
It was only a matter of time before local daily newspapers - the ones we used to count on for being a complete, accurate archive of essential community information, like the records of births and marriages and deaths - would realize that there's a pile of money to be made on death and dying and grief.

06/15/06
Parents to District Attorney: Why?
Fourteen years ago, 52-year-old Joseph Mechare and his wife Sharon had a dream. Just married and living in Millerton, New York, where Joe had grown up in a working class family - his father was a carpenter and he had been trained in autobody repair - they wanted to start a new life together.

03/24/06
DA Capeless: Zealot or tough cop? You decide.
In Berkshire County, Massachusetts, reputed rock-ribbed bastion of enlightened lifestyles, you can go to jail for two years for an offense that's the equivalent of a speeding ticket, especially if you are a foolish teenager, and have never had another offense.




The Disappearing Newspaper Blues, or Why I Love Those Inky Fingers
To the delight of newshounds and newspaper junkies everywhere - an endangered species -- The New York Times published last month a collection of its front pages from 1851 through 2008, 300 in all in a handsome volume.


Advice to a President: Don't Adopt Massachusetts Health Care Model
Dear President-elect Obama:
It is certainly refreshing that you have placed universal health care for Americans as one of the top priorities of your administration.


Lament for a Fallen Bookstore
This week, the exquisitely intelligent and charming Stockbridge Booksellers on Elm Street is having a going out of business sale, preparatory to closing its doors after a four-year attempt to create a unique literary community.

The ICE-men Cometh: Local Skirmishes in the War Against Illegal Immigrants
At dawn on Saturday morning, Sept. 27, 2008, men in jeans, flannel shirts and workboots were getting into old cars and battered pickups outside what is known by the Hispanic population in Valatie, N. Y., as the


The Brooklyn of the Berkshires? Pittsfield's Push for a
When more than a thousand people turned out on the streets of downtown Pittsfield on a rainy Thursday evening in June for a celebration of the arts, music and culture, the city


Regional Passenger Rail Projects Await Green Light
Late on a summer's day in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, Jack Fitzpatrick, former state senator and owner of the Red Lion Inn, likes to pace the platform of the Stockbridge rail station he bought 10 years ago for $150,000.

©2009 David Scribner

Starving Artists Detective Agency
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Pittsfield, Massachusetts 01201