The hike in Altamont’s tentative budget for next year is driven by increases in each of the three funds that make up 2023-24’s first-draft spending plan: general, water, and sewer.

Christopher Laviano is proposing the 8,500-square-foot structure be built adjacent to his 1871 Western Ave. liquor store. The building would have office and retail space on the first floor and four residential apartments on the second. 

In her Jan. 3 ruling, Justice Margaret Walsh lowered from $72.8 million to $43.2 million the collective assessed values of five parcels in the Northeastern Industrial Park. The town of Guilderland is challenging the decision. 

Bruce W. Dearstyne, Westmere

Andrew Genovese, Guilderland

A Guilderland man was told by a fast-food worker after he left a credit-card tip that the money goes to the restaurant owners, not workers, bringing up questions about tipping in the modern age. 

GUILDERLAND — Arrests in December and again in January led to a Feb. 21 arrest of a Guilderland man for three felonies: two counts of predatory sexual assault against a child, four counts of first-degree rape, and four counts of first degree sexual abuse.

John Brower, Summerville, South Carolina