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Pittsfield Resident Earns Spot in USA Special Olympic Games

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BOSTON -- Pittsfield's Shannon Cowell is among 16 Bay State residents who earned the right to represent the commonwealth at the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games.
 
Cowell will compete in track and field, one of four disciplines in which Massachusetts athletes will participate, along with powerlifting, tennis and aquatics.
 
Cowell qualified for the national games by winning a gold medal at the 2025 state games at Harvard University last month.
 
More than 4,000 athletes from around the country will compete at the USA games, schedueled for June 20-26 in Minneapolis.
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Dalton Finance Makes Reserve Fund Transfers

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
DALTON, Mass. — The Finance Committee made two reserve fund transfers last Wednesday night. 
 
The reserve fund balance is currently $60,000. This is the first reserve fund transfer the town has made this fiscal year, committee clerk Karen Schmidt said. 
 
A transfer to the vocational education tuition account for $16,000 was approved. The original appropriation was $605,020 and the present balance is $4,527. 
 
It had been previously demonstrated that setting the budget for this account can be challenging due to the uncertainty about how many students will choose to attend vocational education programs.
 
The vocational education account was reduced by $90,000 during a September special town meeting; however, a spot opened up at a vocational program, so a student decided to transfer after the start of the second quarter. 
 
A transfer for the employee fringe benefits account was approved for $10,000. The original appropriation was $64,180. 
 
The present balance is $4,412.77 and is not sufficient to cover the vacation payouts and sick buy backs of the six employees who left this year. 
 
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