NORTH ADAMS — Northern Berkshire residents won't be getting their news from Jack Williams and Sara Underwood on WBZ4 anymore — the long-standing Boston channel will be disappearing from the Time Warner line-up in the next month. "We've always had WBZ out of Boston," Mayor John Barrett III said Tuesday afternoon. "North Adams was one of the first to have cable in this area and we've had WBZ for something like 50 years. Time Warner is making this move to make their systems unilateral and they are doing it without caring about the viewers."   Full Story

Bush defends Iraq policy; proposes energy conservation
WASHINGTON — A politically weakened President Bush implored a skeptical Congress on Tuesday night to embrace his unpopular plan to send more U.S. troops to Iraq, saying it represents the best hope in a war America must not lose. "Give it a chance to work," he said. Facing a political showdown with Democrats and Republicans alike, Bush was unyielding on Iraq in his annual State of the Union address.   Full Story

Students ready for concerts, state auditions
As the county lingers in a gray limbo between seasons, students from two North Berkshire high schools are speeding toward the year's most climactic events (at least for them): the winter concert and the Massachusetts All-State Music Festival auditions, which take place on Saturday at Littleton High School. The Mount Greylock Regional concert will begin in the auditorium tonight at 7:30; Drury High School's is next month.  Full Story

ADAMS — Financial Committee Chairman Donald Sommer said he could bring much-needed "new blood" to the Board of Selectmen come May. He took out papers to run for a three-year term on the board Tuesday. Sommer, who served six years on the committee, said he would bring a "wealth of experience" and a pair new eyes to the Selectmen.   Full Story

'Blazers nearly pick off Vikings
NORTH ADAMS — The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts women's basketball team has proven they can play with the top teams in the MASCAC. Now it just needs to beat one of them. Salem State was the latest conference foe to find itself in a tussle with the new and improved Trailblazers this season.   Full Story

WILLIAMSTOWN — By this point in the season, it may be too late for transformation, so just accept the Williams College men's basketball team as a squad with an identity that revolves around the 3-pointer. The Ephs have only a slight post game and an almost complete aversion to the midrange jump shot.   Full Story

Time Warner has done it again. This time, the cable giant, which has a monopoly in Berkshire County and can do whatever the heck it wants, has decided to eliminate Boston Channel WBZ Channel 4. It apparently will give viewers a station out of Hartford, Conn., instead. Will somebody please tell these folks that Berkshire County is in Massachusetts? That's not Connecticut, and it's not even New York, where most of our network channels come from because we're considered in the "Albany market area."   Full Story