Lucas Willard

On Monday, in the western Massachusetts town of Greenfield, state Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Rick Sullivan announced a new statewide grant program that will assist communities in investing in electric vehicles and infrastructure.

WAMC's Berkshire Bureau Chief Lucas Willard spoke with Secretary Sullivan about the new strategy to reduce the state's reliance on fossil fuels.

Secretary Sullivan and other state officials will also join residents in the town of Chelmsford to mark the launch of the program.

Caroline Webster, a resident of Williamstown, was staying with friends in Somerville on Friday, when the Boston area was put into lockdown.

Police are still searching for one of the suspects believed to be in connection with the bombings at the Boston Marathon on Monday. Violence erupted overnight in a shootout that left one of the suspects and an MIT  police officer dead.

Caroline Webster spoke with WAMC's Lucas Willard.

As news continues to unfold on the manhunt underway in Boston for a suspect in connection with Monday's bombing attacks at the Boston Marathon, Brooke Mead, Program Coordinator at the Berkshire Immigrant Center, offers her opinion.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the suspect at large, is believed to be an immigrant from an area of Russia near Chechnya.

Brooke Mead spoke with WAMC's Lucas Willard.

The town council of Greenfield, Massachusetts has voted to approve a 14-month moratorium on industrial biomass power generators and all waste-to-energy projects until September, 2014.

It’s believed that the 14 month moratorium on industrial size biomass burning and all waste to energy projects in Greenfield is the first of its kind in Massachusetts.   Eleven members of the 12-member town council approved the moratorium, with one member abstaining.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Officials at several Connecticut sporting events are taking another look at security measures in response to the explosions at the Boston Marathon.

The state's largest event is the Travelers Championship PGA golf tournament in Cromwell, which draws more than 200,000 fans a year. Tournament Director Nathan Grube says safety is a top priority every year, but he expects to hold more discussions about security because of the Boston blasts. This year's tournament is set for June 20 to 23.

John Wheeler, President of the Berkshire Count Mycological Society,  is searching for volunteers to assist in an effort to catalog species of wild mushrooms. 

For more information:

John Wheeler

413-528-5039

myco260@adelphia.net

Local clergy met with members of the Pittsfield community at the Lichtenstein art gallery to hold a candlelight vigil to pay tribute to victims of the bomb attacks at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Three were killed and more than 170 were wounded in the attacks.

The public joined an interfaith prayer service to remember those lost.

Quentin Chin, Interim Pastor at the South Baptist Church in Pittsfield, led songs and prayers.

"This is an opportunity really for all of us to find some sort of expression in ritual action," said Chin.

Newton, Massachusetts resident Abigail Kienbaum was in Boston for the marathon on Monday. A promotional staffer, she was working just blocks away from the site of the explosions at the finish line.

A detailed report documenting a top-to-bottom investigation of a police department in the Berkshires has been made public, and the town is now in the beginning stages of taking the report’s recommendations.

A full investigation of the Egremont Police Department was ordered by the town’s select board in early March, after seven of the small town’s unionized police officers came forward in February describing among many issues a “hostile work environment” with Police Chief Reena Bucknell.

Sunday, April 14 marks the beginning of National Work Zone Safety week. WAMC's Berkshire Bureau Chief Lucas Willard spoke with Frank DePaola, Highway Administrator for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, who shared information about a public awareness campaign in the commonwealth, and how drivers can protect themselves and others.