No Gilded Gramaphone This Year

 

Local hopes were high that Pittsfield native Matt Cusson would bring home a Grammy on Sunday but it was not to be. 

 

Cusson had been nominated for his arrangement of the Bee Gees' "How Deep Is Your Love" for a cappella group Kings Return. He lost to John Beasley, who was nominated for his arrangement of Charlie Parker's "Scrapple from the Apple."

 

This was Cusson's first nomination and he was up against prior Grammy nominees and winners. He told iBerkshires that it felt surreal to get his first nomination. 'I'm glad, obviously, beyond glad it happened win or lose," he said.

 

 

Special Guests

 

Gov. Maura Healey will be attending Tuesday's State of the Union as the guest of U.S. Rep. Richie Neal. 

 

"Governor Healey has been a steadfast advocate for the people of Massachusetts throughout her career in public service, and I look forward to welcoming her to Capitol Hill on Tuesday evening," Neal said in a statement.

 

Healey, former attorney general, was sworn in a month ago.

 

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has invited Eugénie Ouedraogo of Taunton, whom she met in 2021 at a roundtable about affordable child care. Ouedraogo is on the policy council of Triumph Inc., whose federally funded child care and early education programs have made it possible for her to pursue a degree in nursing. 

 

U.S. Sen. Edward Markey is bringing Kate Dineen of Boston, who has advocated for codifying reproductive health rights and ensuring access to abortion. Dineen was forced to travel out of state and incur thousands in medical bills to terminate a fetus that suffered a catastrophic stroke late in her pregnancy. Her advocacy would aid in the passage of last year's abortion rights law in Massachusetts.   

 

Warmer Already

 

The deep freeze on Friday and Saturday swung almost 50 degree by Sunday. The National Weather Service in Albany, N.Y., reported temperatures of minus-14 in North Adams and minus-16 in Pittsfield at 5 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 4. By 11 a.m. the next day, it was 30 in North Adams and 28 in Pittsfield, differences of 44 degrees. The change was in more impressive, NWS reported, in Old Forge, N.Y., in Herkimer County, which went from minus-32 to 29 — a 61-degree difference in 31 hours. Wind chills over this frigid weekend ranged from between minus-30 to minus-40.