News & Notes: Diesel Prices Overtake Gas

Source: Energy Information Administration

In fact, operating a diesel-engine vehicle of any kind is more expensive then an engine using regular gasoline. Case in point, a listener pointed out that the price of diesel at XtraMart in North Adams on Monday was a whopping $4.26; it's $4.21 in Great Barrington and Pittsfield.

Besides private diesel-powered vehicles, think of how many larger trucks, tractor-trailers, school buses and even locomotive engines are powered with diesel fuel. Compared to previous months, the federal Energy Information Administration shows the price of diesel spiking sharply higher since February and more than double what it was last year.

<L2>The average price of diesel fuel was usually lower than gasoline until a few years ago, when worldwide demand began rising. In the United States, the transition to low-sulfur diesel fuel has affected production and distribution costs and federal excise tax on diesel fuel is 6 cents higher per gallon than the tax on gasoline.

According to an Associated Press report, the American Trucking Association is calling it a "crisis situation" and is asking Congress and the Bush administration to increase the availability of diesel fuel any way possible. The trucking industry is expecting to spend $135 billion in fuel costs this year, compared to $112.6 billion last year.

No wonder the cost of transportation and goods and services that use diesel-fuel vehicles are going sky high.

Northern Berkshire United Way: 1950s Sees New Name, Same Mission

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
07:01PM / Sunday, March 29, 2026

Northern Berkshire United Way is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. Each month, we will take a look back at the agency's milestones over the decades. This first part looks at its successes and challenges during the war years.

 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Frank Bond, a founding member of the community chest, had the honor of cutting a cake at the 1956 annual meeting to mark the 20 years since its establishment. 

 

The organization had successfully grown over the past 20 years and, by the end of the decade, would see its campaign drives pass the $100,000 mark and the number of agencies under its umbrella grow to 17. 

 

The community chest had also changed names, becoming a United Fund, a natural outgrowth of its establishment to bring multiple local social service campaigns under one umbrella, and would include both Clarksburg and Stamford, Vt.

 

But that impetus for its founding would continue to bedevil the United Fund as more organizations, some national, would continue to compete for local dollars. 

 

At the beginning of the decade, Executive Secretary Estelle Howard said there were still too many independent appeals and that "serious thought must be given to this problem."

 

"Competition for the contributors' dollar, for volunteer workers' time and for publicity are getting out of bounds," she said.