PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Police arrested an unarmed robbery suspect in under an hour over the weekend after a woman had her purse snatched.
On Sunday, a 77-year-old Pittsfield resident entered the police station and reported that she had just been forcefully robbed of her purse while walking on the 200 Block of North Street.
She was uninjured from the incident.
Patrol officers initiated an investigation that focused on a Hamlin Street residence and within one hour, they located the victim’s belongings and arrested 30-year-old Felix Rios.
Police did not say what time of the day the event occurred.
Rios is expected to be arraigned on Tuesday in Central Berkshire District Court on one count of unarmed robbery of a person older than 60 (aggravated.)
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BRTA Extending Free Rides to Non-ADA Communities
By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Regional Transit Authority is extending fare-free rides to non-ADA communities.
BRTA Advisory Board on Thursday voted to let non-ADA communities participate in fare-free rides through June.
"The advantage of fare-free is to introduce more citizens to the services," said member Douglas McNally.
The request was brought up earlier this month to the finance committee, which recommended the extension.
Last year, BRTA was awarded $699,733 from the state for fare-free service from Jan 1, 2025, through Sept. 30, 2025. The funding was provided in the fiscal year 2025 budget signed by Gov. Maura Healey in July and builds off two years of successful pilot programs.
The fare-free initiative was for fixed routes and ADA paratransit services.
Transit to Pittsfield for non-ADA communities would cost as much as $25 for a trip, which could be hard for some riders.
"There could be a pent-up demand that we realize financially it could cause you to not go to your doctor's appointment because you couldn't afford to take a $25 trip one way to go to the doctor's and then go home," Administrator Robert Malnati said.
The BRTA had about $7,000 in the budget to put toward this initiative.
"This way here it opens the door to know what we're about, how can we help them, in utilizing funds that are still there and just expanding the other service so it made sense," said Malnati.
Residents in 17 communities will now have the opportunity. The communities being Alford, Becket, Clarksburg, Egremont, Florida, Hancock, Monterey, Mount Washington, New Marlborough, Otis, Peru, Richmond, Savoy, Sheffield, West Stockbridge, Washington and Windsor.
Malnati believes this was a good step to get people to know what the BRTA does.
"I think it's a step in the right direction… We are the whole Berkshire region so why are we only limiting it to 13 communities? Why can't we open it to everybody, so we will," he said.
The Eagles Community Band's stage band is bringing a concert to the community on Saturday, April 5, at 3 p.m. at First United Methodist Church on Fenn Street. click for more
More than 300 community members attended the 40 Under Forty Awards celebration on Thursday, recognizing individuals who are dedicated to improving the quality of life for those in the Berkshires. click for more
Kim and Ryan want to make sure Cello is a place of hospitality and fun. They enjoy getting close to the customers and hope it's a destination they want to come back to.
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The Vogel brothers, Eric and Tim, presented and answered questions about their almost 20 years of experience and investigations into bigfoot, or sasquatch, a hairy folklore creature said to inhabit dense forested areas.
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