Letter: Vote Markey for Senate

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To the Editor:

Recently, we learned that frequent Berkshire visitor, U.S. Senator Ed Markey, has another Democratic challenger. Last time it was Rep. Joe Kennedy. This time it's Rep. Seth Moulton. [Alex Rikleen of Acton, a former teacher, is also running.]

I'm not against primaries, but as WBUR in Boston said: "Moulton is running on age, but what else?" Joe Kennedy had the same platform — and Massachusetts voters rejected him.

It seems to me a candidate's age is irrelevant if he's doing the job, and Ed Markey is doing his job. Very well, in fact. As I said, he's no stranger to the Berkshires, and he's fighting Trump's fascist policies in Washington every single day.


He is also the Senate author of the Green New Deal, and his progressive policies have led to widespread support among young voters. The online publication The Hill has called him "an icon to Gen Z activists."

But there's another reason I oppose internecine Democratic warfare this year. The Trump administration is posing the biggest threat to our democracy and our freedoms since the Civil War, and we should be devoting our precious time, energy, and money to that fight, not expending it on primary elections where a candidate's age is the only issue.

This is a nation on the brink. We have serious problems, and we need serious people to deal with them. Senator Ed Markey is serious. That's why he has my vote.

Lee Harrison
Williamstown, Mass.

 

 


Tags: election 2025,   municipal election,   


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Mount Greylock Schools Bracing for Another Big Health Insurance Hit

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Like municipal entities across the county, the Mount Greylock Regional School District is bracing for another year of steep increases in health insurance costs.
 
It is unknown just how steep, but Superintendent Joseph Bergeron tried to prepare the School Committee at its January meeting on Thursday.
 
"The rumors, just so you hear them from me … are not confirmed, but right now, the projections are we might be close to a 20 percent increase in what's proposed in order to have premiums cover cost," Bergeron said. 
 
"We're going to see where that goes. That's not at all confirmed. But, if true, a 20 percent increase, if that needs to go all to the appropriated budget, that by itself would be a 3.6 percent increase in our assessments."
 
Those are the assessments the district makes to member towns Lanesborough and Williamstown that voters each see in the form of, effectively, a bill that gets approved each spring at the annual town meeting.
 
For the current fiscal year, FY26, the district sent the towns assessments that were up from FY25 by 6.45 percent in Lanesborough and 7.59 percent in Williamstown.
 
Those hikes largely were driven by the 16 percent health insurance hike sought by the Berkshire Health Group to cover the cost of municipal employees covered by the joint purchase group.
 
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