Large Scale Power Outage Impacting North County

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — National Grid are attending to a substation after a large scale power outage through Northern Berkshire County.

According to National Grid, Nearly 3,000 customers have been impacted in North Adams and Clarksburg and over 4,000 have been impacted in Williamstown and Hancock on Friday.

Power went out around 11 am. In North Adams outages have been reported on Veazie Street, River Street, Mass Ave., Bracewll Ave, and State Road.

In North Adams Police are directing traffic where traffic lights are out.

National Grid estimates that power will be restored by between 1 and 2 pm.

Williamstown and North Adams Police took to social media asking residents to avoid calling their respective dispatches to report the outage as they are aware of the situation. 

North Adams Police recommend that If anyone has medical equipment that is affected by the outage that they reach out to their equipment provider or call NAPD and an ambulance can be dispatched to assist.

Community Hero: Noelle Howland

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
05:39PM / Saturday, November 23, 2024

Noelle Howland is committed to keeping alive the late Pittsfield ACO Eleanor Sonsini's mission of helping animals ... albeit farther north in North Adams.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — No Paws Left Behind Executive Director Noelle Howland has been selected as the November Community Hero of the Month. 

 

The Community Hero of the Month series honors individuals and organizations that have made a significant impact in their community. The series sponsor, Haddad Auto, has extended this initiative for one more month.

 

Howland breathed new life into the mission of the former Eleanor Sonsini Animal Shelter, which closed in August 2023. 

 

The shelter in Pittsfield operated under the mission established by Eleanor Sonsini, a local animal rights activist and longtime animal control officer in Pittsfield, to be a no-kill shelter committed to finding surrendered and abandoned pets new forever homes. 

 

Howland's love for animals, dedication to their well-being, and expertise in animal behavior and training and shelter management brought this mission to new heights at No Paws Left Behind, a new shelter for dogs located at 69 Hodges Cross Road. 

 

"I want people to understand that I know it's hard to surrender. So, my biggest thing is [making sure] people know that, of course, we're not judging you. We're here to help you," Howland said. 

 

When Sonsini announced its closing, Howland, who was the shelter's manager, worked to save it, launching fundraising initiatives. However, the previous board decided to close the shelter down and agreed to let Howland open her own shelter using their mission.