News & Notes: Search for Vt. Plane; More Debates This Week
 |
iBerkshires
Update 11:36 p.m.: The pilot of the Cessna 172 has been identified as Chaim Weiss of Milford, N.J., an experienced but not professional pilot. Weiss apparently died on impact when the four-seater plane crashed into the woods a mile or so from Morse Airport. Investigators are trying to determine how his planned two-hour flight around Milford ended up five hours away in Bennington.
Update 1:23 p.m.: The Bennington Banner is reporting that the wreckage of a small plane was discovered at 9:15 a.m. on Whipstock Mountain by a hiker. There are unconfirmed reports that pilot died in the crash. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating and an FAA spokesman said the plane took off from Greenwood Lake Airport in Milford, N.J. It was expected to take several hours for recovery teams to make it to the site.
BENNINGTON, Vt. — The search for a small single-engine plane that reportedly went down near the William H. Morse State Airport on Sunday night was resuming this morning.
A number of people reported seeing the plane crash shortly after 7 p.m. last night near Whipstock Mountain northwest of the airport but more than six hours of searching the forested terrain had turned up nothing. A New York State Police helicopter spent several hours surveying the region, acccording to WTEN Channel 10 of Albany, N.Y., before returning to Albany late Sunday night for fuel.
The search by local and state authorities and New York State Police was called off at 1 a.m. and was set to resume at 7. The Bennington Banner reported that a man indentifying himself as the pilot called 911 saying the plan was going down.
Pittsfield Ward Debates Continue on WBEC
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The radio ward debates that began last week on 1420 WBEC's talk show "Up-Front," continue this week, beginning with Ward 4 candidates Chris Connell and incumbent Mike Ward at 11:30 on Monday.
Tuesday, it'll be Ward 6 candidates John Krol and David Murphy and on Wednesday, Ward 7 candidates J.D. Hebert and Joe Nichols. Thursday, the series of WBEC debates will feature an hourlong debate with the mayoral candidates James Ruberto and Dan Bianchi and on Friday, the at-large candidates will be featured in another hourlong debate.
Khazei Would Open Regional Office If Elected
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — U.S. Senate candidate and co-founder of City Year Alan Khazei said that if he is elected, he will open a regional office in Springfield to serve the four Western Massachusetts counties.
But since Springfield is an hour east of the real Western Massachusetts, that doesn't do Berkshire County much good. In a press release, Khazei said "people living in Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden and Hampshire counties deserve their own local office where constituent casework will be handled and where they can have direct access to me without having to travel across the state."
Khazie has only made one visit to the Berkshires, a quiet visit to Soldier On in Pittsfield and a stop in North Adams.
Dates for H1N1 Vaccine Clinics to Be Announced
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — There's no H1N1 flu vaccine available yet but the Northern Berkshire Pandemic Planning Group said dates for public and school-based clinics will be announced as soon as it is. There are no public H1N1 vaccination clinics currently scheduled in Massachusetts.
Providers who serve high-priority groups will receive vaccine first. High-priority groups include pregnant women, children and those with a chronic illness.
Delays in the delivery of the vaccine has not deterred local collaboration efforts for public and school-based clinics for Northern Berkshire County and community education. The Northern Berkshire Pandemic Planning Group has been working for several years to plan for such an emergency and is conducting education sessions with area Councils on Aging and the Berkshire Food Project and will hold a flu information night at the North Adams Public Library on Thursday, Oct. 29, at 6:30 p.m.
