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Following a water-quality crisis in January, Albany County placed a 90-day moratorium on the use of biosolid fertilizers to assess the need for regulations on the toxic substance, and extended it on April 16 for an additional 180 days.

The plan will now be folded into the town’s 2018 comprehensive plan and “used as a reference tool in the development, management, and protection of New Scotland’s natural resources, and in making future land use decisions,” the resolution adopting the plan states.

“When they got here, the roof was on fire. They knocked it down fast. Nobody was home. So everybody’s safe and sound, just property damage,” Thomas Cascone, Voorheesville’s fire chief, told the media at the scene. 

A state-and-city partnership will turn the site of the former North Albany Landfill into a small solar field, following the announcement of a 1.5-megawatt facility there. 

Students shared music, food, song, and dance from around the world at Guilderland High School’s annual cultural fair on April 11.

Altamont’s tax rate for 2025-26 is set to increase 2.25 percent, from about $2.20 per $1,000 of assessed value to $2.25 per $1,000. The corresponding tax levy will increase from $329,271 to $338,976. 

A majority of the 43 operators, laborers, and mechanics in the potential bargaining unit have signed cards choosing the Civil Service Employees Association as their bargaining representative, according to the union. 

To help achieve Governor Kathy Hochul’s initiative to plant 25 million trees by 2033, up to 2,500 tree seedlings from the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Colonel William F. Fox Memorial Saratoga Tree Nursery will be made available to plant at I Love My Park Day this year.

“Let’s clarify what this is and what this isn’t," Chief Executive Officer Donald Csaposs said, opening a conversation on the topic during the IDA’s March meeting. “We’re not here to pass any policy revisions ... We’re here to have a very preliminary discussion of what workforce housing in Guilderland might look like as it relates to the provision of financial assistance by the IDA.”

Joe Giebelhaus, 55, was appointed to the Berne Town Board as its fourth member, and will run for the supervisor position in the fall. A recently-retired city of Albany official, he brings with him three decades of municipal experience. 

The Berne-Knox-Westerlo school district has invested heavily in the concept of social-emotional learning — in other words, attending to children's interpersonal needs in order to increase educational success — but as a parents’ recent complaints about bullying in the district reveal, addressing these needs can be a messy process. 

RENSSELAERVILLE — Seven students who conducted summer research projects at the Huyck Preserve — on earthworms, beavers, and ferns — presented their findings at the Northeast Natural History Conference on April 5 and 6 in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The spending plan comes right up against the state-set levy limit but does not pierce it. This means a simple majority vote can pass the budget. While spending is up 1.88 percent from last year, the tax levy is up 2.3 percent.

Jason Southwood of Albany is seeking permission to convert the former seasonally-operated Cone Zone at 2028 Western Ave. to a year-round retail cannabis dispensary. 

The three-member Berne Town Board unanimously appointed Joseph Giebelhaus, who is the Deputy Commissioner of General Services for the city of Albany, to one of its open seats. The board also scheduled a public hearing in May for a proposed 12-month moratorium on solar projects as the town processes two existing ones. 

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