Berkshire County Arc Hires Director of Brain Injury Services

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire County Arc has hired a new director of Brain Injury Services, Amber Steele.

Steele has been with BCArc since 2011. She has worked in a variety of capacities within BCArc, including as site manager and as a senior site Manager. Most recently, she worked as a residential supervisor in the Brain Injury Services Department. Prior to arriving in the Berkshires, she worked as a residential coordinator at CapeAbilities in Hyannis, Mass.

Amber holds a certificate in Quality Management from the National Graduate School of Quality Management and will be completing her bachelor's degree from Springfield College, School of Human Services this fall.

"This is such an exciting time to be working in the human services field, especially with all the expansion of services for people with brain injury. There are more opportunities now than ever for people to find their new forever homes in the community," Steele said. "Having had the pleasure of working at BCArc for the past six years, as a part of this amazing, highly dedicated team of professionals, I can honestly say that the future for those we support looks very bright."

 


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SJC Dismisses Pittsfield Cell Tower Suit

Staff reportsiBerkshires
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Supreme Judicial Court has affirmed a lower court's order to dismiss a lawsuit over the cell tower on South Street. 
 
The court's opinion, released Thursday, found that the city had no authority to pre-empt federal legislation, specifically the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996.
 
The finding comes four years after the Board of Health issued — and then rescinded — an order for Verizon to cease the tower's operations. 
 
Six residents in the Shacktown neighborhood have been fighting Verizon over the construction of the tower and the purported health issues they've suffered from the radio frequencies emanating from it. They first sought a ruling against the Zoning Board of Appeals over the notification process, which was dismissed. 
 
They sought relief through the Board of Health, which discussed the problem for nearly a year before issuing a cease and desist to Verizon in 2022 if it did not respond to a show-cause hearing about the effects of RF radiation within seven days. Verizon, operating as Pittsfield Cellular Telephone, asked for a declaratory judgment from the U.S. District Court in Springfield against the city. 
 
The Health Board, citing fears of litigation, withdrew the order and the residents, in turn, sued the city for failing to protect them. 
 
The case was first heard in Superior Court on July 28, 2022, which dismissed the suit based on pre-emption of federal laws. The plaintiffs appealed and the Supreme Judicial Court, on its own initiative, transferred the case from the Appeals Court.
 
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