Last month, the Biden administration announced that it would spend $1.1 billion to provide free COVID vaccinations to uninsured Americans after the vaccines are commercially marketed.

New York State has made $5 million in grant money available for capital projects related to local meat-processing facilities, whether new or existing, in an attempt to diversify an industry currently dominated by large corporations. 

Mark Grimm, Guilderland

These local students, representing the Capital Region BOCES, are competing in the statewide SkillsUSA event held at the state fairgrounds from April 26 to 28:

— Allyson Bates, Cosmetology Senior, Cosmetology, Berne-Knox-Westerlo;

— Sophia Berlin, Fashion Design, Global Fashion, Bethlehem;

Spring turkey season opens May 1 in all counties north of the Bronx-Westchester County boundary and, new for 2023, in Suffolk County on Long Island.

ALBANY COUNTY — The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has supported a second booster vaccine against COVID-19 for people 65 and older and for people who are immunocompromised.

The Bethlehem Central School District has joined the program and, McCoy reported, for one month in Bethlehem and for the first three months of this year in the South Colonie district, fines have totaled over $700,000. The county gets 40 percent of that, or $280,000.

After the New York State Coalition for Open Government issued a report decrying the current state of open government in New York, the office of the attorney general — whom the coalition views as essential to enforcing the state’s government transparency laws, which are commonly flouted — suggested that the state is already sufficiently equipped to handle these matters. 

Because of federal pandemic aid, each United States resident received on average $8,050 more in federal expenditures on their behalf than they paid in federal taxes,says a report released this week by the state comptroller. This contrasts with 2019 and prior years, when New York and a handful of other states had a negative balance of payments with the federal government. 

ALBANY COUNTY — A new state initiative will double the purchasing power for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients at farmers’ markets across New York.