What made The Short List this week?

• A MassBenchmarks report released this week found the state’s economy is as strong as it’s been since the late 1990s. But the uptick in western Mass? Less impressive.
• A chemist at a state drug lab on Amherst may have tainted thousands of criminal cases, instead of just a few dozen. That’s the news this week as Sonja Farak’s statements to a correctional center nurse became public.
• Another awful week for comedian and Shelburne Falls resident Bill Cosby, as a judge unsealed court documents showing Cosby admitted to getting quaaludes to give women he wanted to have sex with.

To explore these stories, New England Public Radio’s Susan Kaplan sat down with Rick Hurst of the African American Point Of View and Larry Parnass of the Daily Hampshire Gazette. Hear their conversation by clicking the audio player above.