About Bill Shein

I'm a writer and journalist publishing long-form and document-driven reporting, accountability stories, annoyingly persistent follow-ups, informed comment, and other tales from the Berkshires and beyond.

My newsletter, Field Notes & Evidence, brings together reporting, observations, and tidbits that might deserve a closer look. (Sign up here.)

RGM’s name comes from the phrase “Humor is reason gone mad,” long attributed—incorrectly, as it turns out—to Groucho Marx. More than two decades after I first used it as the title of my former Berkshire Eagle column, it still works as a spot-on description of the present moment—one whose starting point you’re free to choose for yourself.

Both the Reason Gone Mad website and my newsletter also include lighter and creative takes on the increasingly bizarre, often unreasonable, sometimes misguided but still-beautiful world we live in.

You may have noticed there's no paywall and no advertising: my reporting and writing are supported entirely by readers.

A few ways to support this work:

1. Monthly or annual paid subscriptions: Currently $6/$60, $10/$100, or $25/$250; cancel anytime.
2. One-time contributions: Any amount, no recurring commitment.
3. Tax-deductible gifts to the RGM Investigative Fund: Administered by the nonprofit Alternative Newsweekly Foundation, the fund supports those in-depth reporting projects that can take weeks or months. (Gifts from donor-advised funds are also accepted: click here.)

If you’re already a paid subscriber or supporter, thank you! Every story on this website exists only because you made it possible.

Examples of what you’ll find here:

Hundreds of millions of dollars are flowing into the Berkshires as part of the Pentagon's multi-trillion dollar “nuclear modernization” project. But there's been almost no discussion or news coverage that explores the scope or what it means.

Welcome to the (Nuclear) Berkshires

In Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the rebuilding of America’s nuclear arsenal is bringing a surge of money and jobs—and little public discussion.

Reason Gone MadBill Shein

Is Donald Trump's postmaster general laying the groundwork for a Trump postage stamp? I reported from a global stamp expo held this year in Boston and interviewed Postmaster General David Steiner following his controversial remarks.

NOTED: A Trump Postage Stamp?

The United States Postal Service has long avoided putting living people—including presidents—on stamps. Last week, Trump’s postmaster general suggested that rule may no longer “match the moment.”

Reason Gone MadBill Shein

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) uses an armored vehicle manufactured in the Berkshires in its high-profile immigration-enforcement raids. The company that builds it, Pittsfield's Lenco Industries, was the largest Massachusetts recipient of new ICE spending in 2025.

The BearCat Next Door: Built in the Berkshires, Deployed by ICE

A high-profile tool used in federal immigration enforcement is manufactured in Pittsfield, Massachusetts—in the heart of deep blue Berkshire County. Few seem eager to talk about it.

Reason Gone MadBill Shein

In 2024, I spent several months riding along with a local ambulance company to tell an immersive story about the challenges facing rural EMS.

Doing the Job: Paramedics, EMTs, and the Crisis in Rural EMS

Complex funding and staffing challenges have hampered rural EMS for years. Will elected officials finally step up to help those doing the job?

Reason Gone MadBill Shein

I spent months on a deep dive into the history—and shortcomings—of the public-health response to General Electric's PCB contamination in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and across Berkshire County.

The Uncertainty Machine: A Story of PCBs, Cancer, and Doubt

Concerned about PCB exposure and cancer, in January 2021, members of the Pittsfield City Council asked the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for an updated cancer-incidence study. After more than four years, they’re still waiting. But when results are finally released, will they even matter?

Reason Gone MadBill Shein

A Berkshire County town helped a developer of luxury apartments secure a million-dollar state grant—and then never told anyone about it. Meanwhile, on the edge of town, low-income residents go without safe sidewalks.

In Great Barrington, a tale of two sidewalks

Without the Select Board’s knowledge, town officials secured a million-dollar state grant to aid a developer’s struggling luxury housing project and pay for a landscaped “pedestrian walkway.” Meanwhile, across town, safe sidewalks for low-income residents remain elusive and unfunded.

Reason Gone MadBill Shein

Editorial independence & transparency

Financial support does not influence story selection or editorial content. Subscribers, whether free or paid, do not assign, review, or edit coverage, and accepting financial support does not imply endorsement of any donor, product, service, or viewpoint.

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