Taconic Cancels Activities Over Sewer Backup

03:16PM / Tuesday, February 10, 2026Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A sewer backup forced the closure of Taconic High School on Tuesday afternoon and canceled all afternoon activities.

According to a message sent to the school community by Principal Matthew Bishop, plumbers working at the school removed a drain cap at about 1:50 p.m., which allowed sewage to spill into the Career Technical Education hallway.

Students were taken to the gym and auditorium, and then released from the building at about 2:25 p.m., a few minutes earlier than normal.

All activities were canceled, though the girls' basketball team will still meet at the school at 3:30 p.m. to take the bus to the game at Putnam Vocational in Springfield.

Bishop said crews were being coordinated to clean the building overnight with the expectation the school will reopen on time Wednesday morning.

The school community will be updated if there are any changes.

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Lanesborough Settles With Mall Owners to Dissolve Baker Hill Road District

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
03:10PM / Tuesday, February 10, 2026

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Select Board has decided it is time to say goodbye to the Baker Hill Road Road District.

On Monday, the Select Board unanimously approved a settlement with the Berkshire Mall's owners that pays the town $1.1 million for the dissolution of the district through a home-rule petition. This will require approval at town meeting and a special act of the Legislature.

Owners JMJ Holdings will have to provide a signed development and purchase agreement 30 days before the town meeting.

"I think it's time. There's been a lot of controversy around this, and I think that we're at a point in time where the town needs this to be resolved, and we need the mall property to be developed, and this is the first step to do this, to develop this property," Select Board member Jason Breault said.

"If we keep going on and on with this whole thing, we're never going to see this being developed. We're never going to see this progress. So I think if we do this, we dissolve this, we get this moving, I think it will be positive for the community, it will be positive for taxpayers, it will be positive overall."

The Berkshire Mall closed more than five years ago and has sat vacant since. The road district filed a suit against JMJ for unpaid taxes for the Route 7/8 Connector Road; dissolving the district will forgive that debt.

The intent is to get the state to take over the Connector Road.

Chair Deborah Maynard feels this is a "giant" win for the town and stands wholeheartedly behind the agreement developed by herself, Town Administrator Gina Dario, town counsel, and representatives from JMJ. She said the decision is not taken lightly by Select Board members.

"I'm really hoping that people at the town meeting will see that this is good," she said.

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