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North Adams Police Personnel Commended for Life-Saving Actions

Mayor Richard Alcombright and Police Director Michael Cozzaglio present commendations to Officer Ben Austin, acting Sgt. Jason Wood and dispatcher Arthur J. Filkins.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Three members of the Police Department were publicly commended at Tuesday night's City Council meeting.

Officers Ben Austin and acting Sgt. Jason Wood and dispatcher Arthur J. Filkins were recognized for their actions in saving the life of an 85-year-old woman.

"In a time where we see a lot of negativity surrounding police and surrounding law enforcement, I think this is just a great time to bring testimony to some of our officers that I think have done something quite extraordinary, along with our dispatcher," said Mayor Richard Alcombright.

Guided by Filkins' understanding of the urgency of the situation, the two officers responded to the scene ahead of the ambulance to find the elderly woman choking. They immediately performed the Heimlich maneuver and were continuing to remove the food blockage when ambulance personnel arrived.

According to North Adams Ambulance Service's Amalio Jusino, "the quick actions of dispatcher Filkins, Officer Austin and Sgt. Wood immediately contributed to saving this individual's life. ... although we were responding, this was a prime example of how seconds count when saving a life."

Healey, Driscoll Talk Transportation Funding, Municipal Empowerment

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:56PM / Friday, January 24, 2025

The governor talks about a transportation bond bill filed Friday and its benefits for cities and towns.

BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll were greeted with applause by municipal leaders on Friday as they touted $8 billion in transportation funding over the next decade and an additional $100 million in Chapter 90 road funds. 

 

Those were just a few of the initiatives to aid cities and towns, they said, and were based what they were hearing from local government

 

"We also proposed what, $2 1/2 billion the other day in higher education through investment in campuses across 29 communities statewide," the governor said. 

 

"Really excited about that and with those projects, by the way, as you're talking to people, you can remind them that that's 140,000 construction jobs in your communities."

 

The governor and Driscoll were speaking to the annual Massachusetts Municipal Association's conference. Branded as Connect 351, the gathering of appointed and elected municipal leaders heard from speakers, spoke with vendors in the trade show, attended workshops and held their annual business meeting this year at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

 

Healey and Driscoll followed a keynote address by Suneel Gupta, author, entrepreneur and host of television series "Business Class," on reducing stress and boosting energy, and welcomes from MMA Executive Director Adam Chapdelaine, outgoing MMA President and Waltham councilor John McLaughlin, and from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu via her chief of staff Tiffany Chu.

 

"We know that local communities are really the foundation of civic life, of democracy. We invented that here in Massachusetts, many, many years ago, and that continues to this day," said Healey. "It's something that we're proud of. We respect, and as state leaders, we respect the prerogative, the leadership, the economy, the responsibility of our local governments and those who lead them, so you'll always have champions in us."