News

A committee of Vermont State Board of Education has been set up to do a national search for a new education secretary.

Vermont’s senior U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy met with reporters from the region at his office in Montpelier Friday morning to talk about issues facing Congress.

New York and Connecticut have already enacted new gun laws in the wake of  December’s Newtown school shooting.  The Massachusetts legislature is expected to take up a bill before the end of the 2013 legislative session. 

The point person for gun issues in the Massachusetts House says he hopes to recommend a comprehensive bill by September.  Democratic State Representative Harold Naughton of Clinton , who co-chairs the Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security said the goal is to update the state’s already strict gun ownership laws.

Dan Bianchi announced Friday that he has taken out nomination papers to run for a second term as mayor of Pittsfield.

In a statement Bianchi said that in his next term he intends to continue building his economic development program for the city. He also said that he plans to continue his work on improving the city’s schools, including strengthening career vocational programs at Taconic High School.

A funeral service with full military honors today for a Western Massachusetts soldier killed earlier this month by an attack in Afghanistan included family, friends, and U.S. and state officials.

Under a grey sky and drizzling rains in Dalton, American flags lining Main Street welcomed the arrival of the body of 24-year old Specialist Mitchell Daehling, a Dalton native who was killed, along with two of his fellow soldiers, earlier this month in an attack while serving in Afghanistan.

Meteorologist Garett Argianas delivers the weekend forecast for Friday, May 24, 2013. 

A state senator from the Hudson Valley has introduced legislation that would allow for up to seven casino licenses, three of which would be for the Catskills.

Protest marches are scheduled to take place on Saturday in close to 50 countries and more than 200 locations here in the United States.  Called “ March Against Monsanto”, the events will highlight what organizers see as a threat to the world’s food chain. Monsanto is a leading producer of genetically modified plant organisms, or GMOs.   WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill spoke with a local organizer of tomorrow’s march, Michaelann Bewsee, director of Arise For Social Justice in Springfield Massachusetts.

Newschannel 13 meteorologist Paul Caiano paints the weekend weather picture in his Midday Weather Summary for Friday, May 24, 2013. 

    The Girls of Atomic City rescues a remarkable, forgotten chapter of American history from obscurity. Denise Kiernan captures the spirit of the times through these women: their pluck, their desire to contribute, and their enduring courage.

At the height of World War II, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was home to 75,000 residents, consuming more electricity than New York City. But to most of the world, the town did not exist. Thousands of civilians--many of them young women from small towns across the South--were recruited to this secret city, enticed by solid wages and the promise of war-ending work. Kept very much in the dark, few would ever guess the true nature of the tasks they performed each day in the hulking factories in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains. That is, until the end of the war--when Oak Ridge's secret was revealed.