North Adams Man Charged with Murder in 2017 Stabbing

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A North Adams man has been charged with murder after the death of a man he stabbed seven years ago. 
 
Travis T. Perras, 31, was indicted last week on a charge of first degree murder in the death of Charles Sauer of North Adams. He entered a plea of not guilty before Judge John Agostini on Thursday and was ordered held without bail. 
 
Perras pleaded guilty in 2018 of stabbing Sauer, then 51, the year before. 
 
Sauer worked for Domino's Pizza in North Adams and was delivering a pizza to a Union Street address called in by Perras on the night of July 14, 2017, when he was attacked and stabbed multiple times in an attempted robbery. He was found in his vehicle after calling 911 and taken to Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield in critical condition. 
 
He identified Perras, who was arrested a few days later. Perras was sentenced to four to six years in prison for armed assault with intent to rob and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon; an intent to murder charge was dropped.
 
Sauer, a Mount Anthony Union High graduate, died Feb. 16, 2023, at age 55.
 
The grand jury's indictment reads that Perras' assault and intent to murder Sauer "did kill and murder him (upon his death on 02/16/2023)."
 
A pretrial hearing for Perras has been scheduled for Dec. 17. 

Tags: murder,   stabbing,   

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North Adams Updated on Schools, Council President Honored With 'Distinction'

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff

Superintendent Timothy Callahan gives a presentation on the school system at Tuesday's City Council meeting. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council got an update on what's up in the school system and its president was inducted into the mayor's Women's Leadership Hall of Fame.
 
Mayor Jennifer Macksey, as the city's first woman mayor, established the Hall of Fame in 2022, during March, Women's History Month, to recognize local women who have had a positive impact on the city. Past inductees have included the council's first woman president Fran Buckley, Gov. Jane Swift and boxing pioneer Gail Grandchamp. 
 
She described President Ashley Shade as a colleague and a friend and a former student. 
 
"Ashley is known not just for her leadership, but for her compassion, her ability to listen, to understand and to stand up for those whose voices are often gone unheard," the mayor said. "She has been a tireless advocate for the LGBTQ plus community and marginalized communities at both the local and national level here in North Adams."
 
Elected in 2021, Shade is the first openly transgender person to hold the role of council president in Massachusetts. She also leads the first-ever woman majority council in the city's history. 
 
The McCann Technical School graduate also has served on boards and commissions, "always working to make our city more inclusive, equitable and welcoming," said the mayor. "Ashley not leads not only with strength, but with a heart, and our community is a much stronger place because of it."
 
Shade, wearing her signature pink suit, was presented with a plaque from the mayor designating her a "woman of distinction."
 
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