2nd Street: How to Seal, Expunge A Criminal Record

08:09AM / Thursday, May 07, 2026Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — 2nd Street, together with Community Legal Aid, will hold a free clinic on how to seal or expunge a criminal record on Thursday, May 14 from 1-2:30 pm.

The clinic will be held at the 2nd Street offices, located at 264 Second Street, Pittsfield. Private consultations will be available.

Community Legal Aid attorney Annie Maurer will lead the clinic, which will cover legal rights with respect to housing and employment for those with a criminal record, as well as sealing and expungement of such records. Maurer will explain the four types of sealing/expungement: sealing by mail, sealing by court, age-based expungements and reason-based expungements.

The clinic is particularly designed for those who have either never been found guilty of a charge or who have fulfilled the requirements of a guilty plea or verdict. Such persons often have difficulty finding or keeping housing or employment due to their Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) report, which landlords and employers commonly use for background checks. Legal experts will be on hand to help decode CORI and determine if eligible charges may be sealed or expunged.

Community Legal Aid (CLA) provides free civil legal services to low-income and elderly residents of Central and Western Massachusetts. To learn more, visit www.communitylegal.org.

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15 People Displaced in Pittsfield Home Fires

Staff Reports11:35AM / Sunday, October 11, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Fifteen people were displaced after 2-alarm home fires this weekend on Springside Avenue and Elaine Drive.

On Friday evening, the Fire Department responded to a structure fire at 209 Springside Ave., which took a four-hour battle to extinguish and resulted in a partial roof collapse. The next day, on Saturday evening, crews knocked down a fire at 121 Elaine Drive in about an hour.

The garage and part of the single-family home on Elaine Drive were gutted to the frame, along with a vehicle parked in the driveway. On Springside Avenue, the top level and porch of the multifamily were burned through.

A GoFundMe has been started for the family of the Elaine Drive home, which includes several young children. The fundraiser, with a $5,500 goal, explains they lost their home and all of their belongings. (iBerkshires.com does not confirm or endorse fundraisers; they are provided as information only.)

There were no civilian or firefighter injuries, and both incidents are under investigation. One dog was rescued on Springside Avenue.

On Oct. 10, around 6:15 p.m., PFD responded to the Springside Avenue home for a reported structure fire and saw a 2 1/2-story wood frame multifamily with a heavy blaze showing from the second-floor front porch, extending out.

The building suffered a partial roof collapse, which prolonged extinguishment. The fire was brought under control after about four hours.

“An aggressive offensive attack was mounted by first arriving crews stretching hose lines into the building as well as primary searches that proved negative. Ladders were placed around the structure to provide access as well as escape if needed. An off-duty Fire Captain had also been on scene early in the incident to help evacuate the structure and rescue a dog,” PFD wrote in a press release.

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