Berkshire Benchmarks Releases State of the County Update

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Benchmarks data team recently released a State of the County Update for 2023. 
 
This brief report builds on the Berkshire Benchmarks State of the County Report published in May 2022 and highlights notable changes in regional indicators over the past year. The berkshirebenchmarks.org website has also been updated to reflect the most current available data. 
 
The purpose of the Benchmarks initiative and report is to highlight the region's successes and challenges.
 
The 2022 Berkshire Benchmarks State of the County report provided a comprehensive overview of our region's performance across eight sectors: Economy, Education, Environment, Government, Health, Housing, Social Environment, and Transportation.  
 
In the future, the Berkshire Benchmarks team will continue to monitor these and other indicators to aid with the regional understanding of changes in these sectors and whether the work happening throughout the region is having the intended impact. 
 
Berkshire Benchmarks is a collaborative initiative managed through Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC). Our sources are publicly available data, including the U.S. Census Bureau, the American Community Survey, various Massachusetts data sets, and periodic surveys of Berkshire County residents. 
 
Berkshire Benchmarks aims to work with the community to understand priorities and help inform the region on how we are doing and if we are improving. Berkshire Benchmarks enhances the region's access to quality data and analysis. 

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Berkshire Democrats Host Candidate Forum Friday

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire County Democratic town committees and political action groups will sponsor a countywide Democratic candidates forum this Friday, April 10. 
 
The forum will be held at 7 p.m. in the Common Room at Zion Lutheran Church located at 74 First St.  
 
The event will feature elected state and federal officials, especially those running for seats in the 2026 election. Challengers for those seats will also address attendees.
 
Working in coalition with the Berkshire Democratic Brigades, Berkshire Indivisible, Greylock Together, Indivisible Berkshires, and the Rural Freedom Network, the Democratic town committees of Adams, Dalton, Great Barrington, Sheffield, and Stockbridge anticipate that this event will educate voters about candidates' positions on political issues.  
 
In addition, the forum will give voters the opportunity to network and to meet candidates and discuss legislation that will improve Berkshire County's economy, promote environmental justice, and reduce economic disparity in the region.
 
Candidates committed to attend include District Attorney Timothy Shugrue, 1st Mass congressional candidate Jeromie Whalen, U.S. Senate candidate Alex Rikleen, and 1st Berkshire representative candidate Andrew Fitch.  
 
Also speaking will be representatives from the campaigns for Edward Markey for U.S. Senate and for Maural Healey and Kim Driscoll for governor and lieutenant governor, respectively. 
 
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