Great Barrington Reduces License Fees

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GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The town has acted to reduce by 50 percent the license fees required of certain categories of local businesses that have been hardest hit by COVID-19.

Licenses for Restaurants, lodging establishments, entertainment licenses and movie theater license fees are among those for which licensing fees will be reduced for the 2021 fiscal year.
 
"We wanted very much to do something to help these businesses most harshly affected by Covid-19,"  Selectboard Chair Stephen Bannon said. "As we look around town, we see how very hard these business owners are working to remain in business serving customers, against tough odds."
 
Normally, the town takes in approximately $65,000 in all Selectboard-issued licenses. With these reductions, the town will reduce that take to $42,435, a reduction of $21,218. Not all businesses will receive the benefit: purveyors of retail alcohol, real estate companies requiring licenses for signage, and automobile dealers are not subject to the rebate.
 
For a list of licensees subject to the reduction in fees, click here.

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North Adams Man Indicted on Murder, Arson Charges

Staff Reports
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Darius Hazard was arraigned in Berkshire Superior Court on Thursday on two counts of first-degree murder related to deaths of his parents last November. 
 
Hazard, 44, pleaded not guilty to the charges and to a third charge of arson of a dwelling house.
 
He is being held without bail at the Berkshire County House of Correction, where he has been housed since Nov. 25. 
 
Hazard is accused of assaulting his parents, Donald Hazard, 83, and Venture Hazard, 76, on Nov. 24, 2025, and setting fire to the family on Francis Street. 
 
The bodies of his parents were discovered in the home by firefighters. 
 
North Adams Police said Hazard allegedly confessed to the assaults and the arson when he was taken into custody that day.
 
Hazard was initially arraigned in Northern Berkshire District Court on Nov. 26 and was to appear for a pretrial hearing on March 3. That hearing was postponed but he was indicted March 23 on the felony charges and his case removed to Berkshire Superior Court. 
 
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