Stories - Reason Gone Mad (Page 2)

THE ARGUS EYE: Unexplained delays continue to hold up PCB cancer study

The state’s Department of Public Health has again pushed off release of a Housatonic Region cancer study it began in 2021.

By Bill Shein

/ 9 Aug 2025

THE ARGUS EYE: Unexplained delays continue to hold up PCB cancer study

Prime Day: The Final Segmentation

“No, Amazon Prime Day is not a religious holiday. It’s an annual sales event created by Amazon for its Prime members. While it’s become a major shopping event,

By Bill Shein

/ 8 Jul 2025

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?

By Bill Shein

/ 18 Jun 2025

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

Argus acquired for $1 billion in stunning all-cash deal

From scrappy little newsletter producing in-depth journalism to something ... different.

By Bill Shein

/ 1 Apr 2025

Argus acquired for $1 billion in stunning all-cash deal

Taking a stand for free expression and the free press

No one should be arrested or deported for publishing an op-ed.

By Bill Shein

/ 31 Mar 2025

Taking a stand for free expression and the free press

NOTED: Advancing storm clouds darken ‘Sunshine Week’

With government transparency and press freedom under attack in Washington, a timely look at a little-known Great Barrington story from the nineteen thirties.

By Bill Shein

/ 19 Mar 2025

NOTED: Advancing storm clouds darken ‘Sunshine Week’

Will Trump’s January 6ᵗʰ pardons absolve a pipe bomber?

With conspiracy-minded leadership installed at the F.B.I., and federal prosecutors now broadly applying the president’s controversial pardon, will a still-unidentified bomber escape justice?

By Bill Shein

/ 2 Mar 2025

Will Trump’s January 6ᵗʰ pardons absolve a pipe bomber?

NOTED: Lee activists take their fight against a PCB dump to Boston

As plans for a PCB landfill in Lee, Massachusetts reach a critical stage, a group of Berkshire County residents rallied in Boston—near the headquarters of General Electric, the company responsible for dumping PCBs into the Housatonic River.

By Bill Shein

/ 28 Feb 2025

NOTED: Lee activists take their fight against a PCB dump to Boston

At the Pentagon, reality likely to trump rhetoric on climate change and national security

Even as the Trump administration rolls back climate-related initiatives, current and former Pentagon officials told The Argus that work related to climate and national security is likely to continue.

By Bill Shein

/ 7 Feb 2025

At the Pentagon, reality likely to trump rhetoric on climate change and national security

NOTED: A few words from an 'enemy of the people'

Organizations that protect journalists here and abroad are concerned about Trump's attacks on the press as he prepares to take office again. Labeling reporters "the enemy of the people" also recalls specific threats made against Massachusetts journalists in 2018.

By Bill Shein

/ 8 Jan 2025

NOTED: A few words from an 'enemy of the people'

EXCLUSIVE: MassDEP fines Housatonic Water Works $10,205 for withholding test results

A previously unreported penalty-assessment notice sent to the company in November called the facts “undisputed” and the company’s violations “willful.” The penalty was revealed in a response to a public-records request filed by The Argus.

By Bill Shein

/ 12 Dec 2024

EXCLUSIVE: MassDEP fines Housatonic Water Works $10,205 for withholding test results

In race for state rep, Mitts and Davis navigate choppy waters of ‘Rest of River’ debate

As developments in a major Housatonic River remediation project accelerate, two candidates for state representative confront a challenging issue—and its sticky politics.

By Bill Shein

/ 3 Nov 2024

A graphic of the Rest of River map overlayed with photos of Marybeth Mitts and Leigh Davis.