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Brad Gordon is the Executive Director and staff attorney for the Berkshire County Regional Housing Authority. In 2019, he described the region’s housing situation as in crisis. Now, with the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havoc on the economy, Gordon says the situation could only intensity. He spoke with WAMC.

Meteorologist Jason Caterina delivers the Midday Weather Summary for Wednesday, July 8, 2020.

Berkshire County’s second city – North Adams – will see one of its biggest draws, sprawling contemporary art museum MASS MoCA, reopen on Saturday. The museum has been shuttered since March because of the pandemic, which is impacting many aspects of life in northern Berkshire County. WAMC spoke with Mayor Tom Bernard about how the city is preparing, as well as how North Adams is weathering the pandemic and planning its 2021 operating budget.

Swimming is much more than an Olympic event. According to 2017 data 27 million Americans swim for fitness. Similar data is reported from English cities where more than 4 million men and women's swim at least once a month. USA Swimming, the national governing body for the sport in the United States, has 400,000 members and 2800 teams in the country.

Howard Means has just authored the new book "Splash: 10,000 Years of Swimming."

Will President Trump’s taxes be released before his re-election bid in November?

In today’s Congressional Corner, Massachusetts Congressman Richard Neal continues his conversation with WAMC’s Alan Chartock.

This interview was recorded July 1st.

    The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond.

Today's panelists are WAMC’s Alan Chartock, Times Union Columnist Chris Churchill, Communications Faculty member at SUNY New Paltz & R.P.I. and former NYS Senator Terry Gipson, and Vice President for Editorial Development at the New York Press Association Judy Patrick.

SUNY Orange is the latest college in the Hudson Valley to announce its plans for the fall semester.

WAMC's Dr. Alan Chartock discusses reports that a coalition of reform groups is calling on the New York Legislature to limit Governor Andrew Cuomo's emergency powers during the coronavirus pandemic. 

WAMC's David Guistina speaks with Miles Reed of The Daily Gazette about new footage from a Monday arrest in Schenectady, New York that shows a city police officer repeatedly punching a man in addition to placing his knee on the man's neck.  

Here is Meteorologist Jason Caterina's WAMC Regional Forecast: 

Partly sunny, hot and humid today, with highs in the low-to-mid 80s. Scattered showers and thunderstorms likely, especially in the afternoon. Some may be on the strong to severe side, with gusty winds and torrential rain.

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson has apologized after backlash for sharing anti-Semitic posts on social media over the weekend. In a video posted on Instagram, he said his post "was definitely not intended for anybody of any race to feel any type of way, especially the Jewish community," He added that he "just probably never should have posted anything Hitler did, because Hitler was a bad person." 

With the Mid-Hudson region in Phase Four of reopening Tuesday, the Westchester County executive delivered his final daily coronavirus briefing Monday. Democrat George Latimer discussed the Chappaqua COVID cluster along with Phase Four questions for the state.

The new superintendent of the Burlington, Vermont School District laid out his “100 Day Entry Plan” this morning. It includes his initial plan for the district and pandemic reopening for this fall.

A coalition of government reform groups say the New York state legislature should consider limiting some of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s emergency powers gained during the pandemic, and return, at least remotely, to meeting in session to set policy for New York.

In Albany Tuesday, officials hailed the completion of Phase One of the South End Connector, which links two popular bike trails.

Meteorologist Garett Argianas delivers the evening weather forecast for Tuesday, July 7, 2020.

Joe Donahue: Amity Gaige's new novel “Sea Wife” is a swift and thrilling literary page turner about a young family who escaped suburbia for a year-long sailing trip that up ends all of their lives. "Sea Wife" is told in dual perspective. Juliet's first-person narration after the journey, as she struggles to come to terms with the life-changing events that unfolded at sea. And Michael's Captain's log which provides a slow motion account of these same inexorable events, a dialogue that reveals the fault lines created by personal history and political divisions. Amity Gaige is the author of three novels, "O My Darling", "The Folded World", and "Schroder", which was shortlisted for the Folio Prize in 2014.

A fire in Pittsfield, Massachusetts left a woman dead Monday night.

Prompted by claims of racism on campus chronicled on an Instagram account called “Black At St. Rose,” interim president Marcia White is promising to hire a Director of Diversity and Inclusion for the private Albany college.

It's another birding show with our avian expert Rich Guthrie! WAMC's Ray Graf hosts. 

TROY – This time last year, community concerts like Albany’s Live at Five, Troy’s Rockin’ on the River and Saratoga’s On the Roof at the Tang Museum were just a few of the free concerts available almost any night of the week and in every town. Free music was abundant, fun and it united communities.

Meteorologist Garett Argianas delivers the Midday Weather Summary for Tuesday, July 7, 2020.

In President Trump's campaign against what he calls "Fake News," CNN Chief White House Correspondent, Jim Acosta, is public enemy number one. From the moment Mr. Trump announced his candidacy in 2015, he has attacked the media, calling journalists "the enemy of the people."

In his book, just out in paperback, "The Enemy of the People: A Dangerous Time to Tell the Truth in America," Acosta presents a damning examination of bureaucratic dysfunction, deception, and the unprecedented threat the rhetoric Mr. Trump is directing has on our democracy.  At Mr. Trump's most hated network, CNN, Acosta offers a never-before-reported account of what it's like to be the President's most hated correspondent. Acosta goes head-to-head with the White House, even after Trump supporters have threatened his life with words as well as physical violence. Acosta will be taking part in an online conversation with Berkshire Eagle Executive Editor Kevin Moran for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Berkshire Community Collegeon Thursday, July 9th at 7pm via Zoom. The program is titled: The Enemy of the People: One Year, One Impeachment and One Pandemic Later.

    This week's Book Picks come from Connie Brooks of Battenkill Books in Cambridge, NY.

List:
"The Party Upstairs" by Lee Conell
"Survivor Song" by Paul Tremblay
"Rotherweird" by Andrew Caldecott
"The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America’s Wildlands" by Jon Billman
"Weird: The Power of Being an Outsider in an Insider World" by Olga Khazan
"The Mermaid, the Witch and the Sea" by Maggie Tokuda-Hall
"A Peculiar Peril" by Jeff VanderMeer

No matter where you live, cuts are probably coming.

In today’s Congressional Corner, New York Congressman Paul Tonko, a Democrat from the 20th district, wraps up his conversation with WAMC’s Alan Chartock.

Amtrak is back at the drawing board with plans for a fencing project along the Hudson River. Railroad officials say the project is to improve safety and will include preserving public access to the river. Elected officials and environmentalists are concerned about just how much access will be included, and what it will look like.

  The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond.

Today's panelists are WAMC’s Alan Chartock, investigative journalist and UAlbany adjunct professor Rosemary Armao, The Empire Report’s J.P. Miller, and former Associate Editor of The Times Union Mike Spain.