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BEAT Staying Connected Initiative Coordinator Mikael Cejtin, left, and Executive Director Jane Winn show off their locally-made stewardship awards, presented by Patricia Cramer, director of the Wildlife Connectivity Institute.

BEAT Receives International Stewardship Award

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Environmental Action Team received a stewardship award for its work protecting and re-connecting wildlife habitats in the Berkshire Wildlife Linkage area. 
 
The award was presented June at the International Conference on Ecology and Transportation.
 
The local environmental organization's habitat effort is part of a larger Staying Connected Initiative: a partnership of many conservation organizations that work together to maintain landscape connectivity across the Northern Appalachians in the Acadian Region of the United States and Canada.  

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Mexican Eatery's License Clipped for Underage Service

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Licensing Board imposed a two-week liquor license suspension on Iztac Mexican Restaurant after police submitted photographs that appear to show underage patrons drinking. 

Formerly Pancho's Mexican Restaurant, the eatery has been in front of the board for several incidents over the last few years. Pancho's had its liquor license suspended for one week in 2023 and its hours reduced twice

"This is serious, and they have a history, and I think we owe it to this community to do something a little heavier," Chair Thomas Campoli said on Monday after a five-day suspension was proposed by board member Jon Lifvergren. 

Reports of underage drinking and fighting from September 2025 and earlier this year were presented. 

Gabriel Columna purchased the business in 2022. Last year, the board approved a name change from Pancho's Mexican Restaurant to Iztac, still operating under Columnna LLC.  

In January, Capt. Matthew Hill received a call from an upset parent about her 19-year-old daughter patronizing Iztac at night and being served. He is familiar with the parents and family over the course of his time on the force, and the mother reported that her daughter had been served on "multiple" occasions, offering to obtain photos. 

The mother said her daughter has been drinking, and it has become "an issue in the household." In one of the pictures, it appears she had a wristband on. 

Hill agreed, and at the end of January, he was sent five different photos and one video of the daughter and a friend with what appeared to be a mixed drink. The pictures were printed and presented to the board with faces blurred; the reporting party wishes to remain anonymous along with her daughter and friend, and she was unable to attend the hearing. 

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