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(This event has been cancelled due to public health concerns.)

The Enterprise sat in on a rehearsal for the Berne-Knox-Westerlo Theatre Troupe’s “Flapper!,” which director Penny Shaw-Bartley described as a mad-cap tribute to the Roaring Twenties. Three performances will be held in the high school auditorium over the weekend of March 27.

NEW SCOTLAND — As Jeanne Picard Fish remains in a Valatie nursing home, several offers have been made for her property, once a popular community gathering place, Picard’s Grove, at the foot of the Helderberg escarpment.

Stewart’s Shops proposed Altamont Boulevard project got a big boost this week after the village zoning board approved variances the company needed because building a project compliant with Altamont’s code was not possible.

In what police say turned out to be a man with a cellphone, a student at Berne-Knox-Westerlo reported Friday that she saw a man with a knife or a large gun as kids were leaving for the day, prompting a lockout at the school and a mass-alert sent to emergency notification subscribers. 

The 60-year-old electric-grid infrastructure that traverses both Guilderland and New Scotland will soon be the recipient of millions of dollars in upgrades.

Acting Supreme Court Justice Denise A. Hartman heard oral arguments today concerning Berne resident Emily Vincent, who was removed from her post as full member of the town planning board before the end of her term and made an alternate. She has filed an Article 78 against the town, requesting that the decision be nullified. 

Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy announced on Friday afternoon that there have been no positive test results in the county for COVID-19. Two tests were pending and 14 households were under quarantine, the executive’s office reported on Friday evening.

By splitting the role of school business manager between its superintendent and an accountant, Berne-Knox-Westerlo is hoping to attract superintendent candidates of a higher caliber when Timothy Mundell retires from the position within the next five years. 

With the state looking to take control away from municipalities for the permitting and siting of medium- to large-scale renewable energy projects, how have local towns done enacting their own solar legislation?

A solar developer who wants to build an array on a Guilderland farm asked, at Tuesday’s hearing on the town’s proposed new solar law, if Guilderland could designate a solar overlay district.

While the risk of being infected with the novel coronavirus remains very low for Albany County residents, Albany County Health Commissioner Elizabeth Whalen said, “We are not too early to start planning … to be prepared if we need to be prepared.”

Teacher Michelle Van Patten

The second phase of Berne-Knox-Westerlo’s $15.8 million project has been completed, and Superintendent Timothy Mundell reports that, now halfway through, the project is on schedule and slightly under budget. 

Altamont’s proposed budget for next year is up about 3 percent over this year. 

Although its absentee rate is roughly half that of the state average, Berne-Knox-Westerlo’s school board is considering ways to further cut the rate of chronic absenteeism, which is when a student misses 10-percent of classes in a school year. Chronic absenteeism is one of three critical metrics for Harvard’s National Center for Rural Education Research Networks, of which BKW is a part. 

“We’ve been able to ensure every student has technology. It really levels the playing field,” said Demian Singleton, the district’s assistant superintendent for instruction.

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