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Sen. Edward Markey at last January's Four Freedoms rally in Pittsfield.

Senator Markey Holding Town Hall in Pittsfield

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., will hold a town hall on Sunday at Barrington Stage Company. 
 
The event runs from 5:30 to 7 p.m.; doors open at 5. The theater is located at 30 Union St., off North Street, with parking available in the Columbus Avenue Parking Garage a block south or on the other side of North Street in the Melville Parking Lot. 
 
Markey will take questions from the audience and discuss U.S. Senate action on the opioid crisis, health care, tax reform and foreign policy. The event is free and open to the public.
 
The senator has been holding town halls across the state with the most recent in Western Massachusetts in Springfield in August. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the state's senior senator, held an overflow town hall  at Berkshire Community College in July that focused heavily on the health care debate. 
 
Markey was last in Pittsfield in January for a Four Freedoms rally. 
 

Tags: Markey,   senator,   town hall forum,   U.S. Senate,   

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Dalton Man Accused of Kidnapping, Shooting Pittsfield Man

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A Dalton man was arrested on Thursday evening after allegedly kidnapping and shooting another man.

Nicholas Lighten, 35, was arraigned in Central Berkshire District Court on Friday on multiple charges including kidnapping with a firearm and armed assault with intent to murder. He was booked in Dalton around 11:45 p.m. the previous night.

There was heavy police presence Thursday night in the area of Lighten's East Housatonic Street home before his arrest.

Shortly before 7 p.m., Dalton dispatch received a call from the Pittsfield Police Department requesting that an officer respond to Berkshire Medical Center. Adrian Mclaughlin of Pittsfield claimed that he was shot in the leg by Lighten after an altercation at the defendants home. Mclaughlin drove himself to the hospital and was treated and released with non-life-threatening injuries. 

"We were told that Lighten told Adrian to go down to his basement, where he told Adrian to get down on his knees and pulled out a chain," the police report reads.

"We were told that throughout the struggle with Lighten, Adrian recalls three gunshots."

Dalton PD was advised that Pittsfield had swabbed Mclaughlin for DNA because he reported biting Lighten. A bite mark was later found on Lighten's shoulder. 

Later that night, the victim reportedly was "certain, very certain" that Lighten was his assailant when shown a photo array at the hospital.

According to Dalton Police, an officer was stationed near Lighten's house in an unmarked vehicle and instructed to call over the radio if he left the residence. The Berkshire County Special Response Team was also contacted.

Lighten was under surveillance at his home from about 7:50 p.m. to about 8:40 p.m. when he left the property in a vehicle with Massachusetts plates. Another officer initiated a high-risk motor vehicle stop with the sergeant and response team just past Mill Street on West Housatonic Street, police said, and traffic was stopped on both sides of the road.

Lighten and a passenger were removed from the vehicle and detained. Police reported finding items including a brass knuckle knife, three shell casings wrapped in a rubber glove, and a pair of rubber gloves on him.

The response team entered Lighten's home at 43 East Housatonic before 9:30 p.m. for a protective sweep and cleared the residence before 9:50 p.m., police said. The residence was secured for crime scene investigators.

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