Bill Shein - The Berkshire Argus

A new chapter for this work

The Argus is becoming The RGM Dispatch—same mission, broader scope, new possibilities.

By Bill Shein

/ 22 Nov 2025

Free Event: A Conversation with Mariah Blake

This Thursday at the American Museum of Tort Law, a conversation with investigative journalist Mariah Blake about her gripping new book, “They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals”

By Bill Shein

/ 21 Oct 2025

Free Event: A Conversation with Mariah Blake

THE ARGUS EYE: A long-overdue D.P.H. report on PCBs and cancer delivers no surprises

PCBs may play a role, the agency says, but the mix of diffuse exposures, data limitations, and many other cancer risk factors leaves no clear culprit.

By Bill Shein

/ 15 Sep 2025

THE ARGUS EYE: A long-overdue D.P.H. report on PCBs and cancer delivers no surprises

THE ARGUS EYE: Rep. Neal gets a challenger, junk fees get a spotlight, and The Argus gets on WAMC

In this edition of The Argus Eye, news of what may be an interesting race for Congress in western Massachusetts next year.

By Bill Shein

/ 2 Sep 2025

Photos of Rep. Richard Neal, at left, and challenger Jeromie Whalen, at right.

THE ARGUS EYE: Berkshire Health Systems told regulators it can’t afford a full investigation of decade-long data breach

Even as it acknowledged a decade of improper access to patient data by a “rogue employee,” the largest employer in Berkshire County—and provider of health care to most residents—claimed a full audit would be an “undue burden.”

By Bill Shein

/ 22 Aug 2025

THE ARGUS EYE: Berkshire Health Systems told regulators it can’t afford a full investigation of decade-long data breach

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?