Come Jan. 1, Joel Willsey will be the sole Democrat on the Berne Town Board, long a Democratic stronghold, as GOP-backed candidates again swept to victory.

Bonnie Donati, a Republican making her fourth run for town justice, was victorious. “I’ve had a judge’s robe in my basement for 22 years,” she told The Enterprise on Election Night. “I get to wear it now.”

In a settlement this month, Albany County and the city of New York agreed to pay four inmates close to $1million and also agreed to follow the Rules of the City of New York concerning punitive segregation although Chief Deputy William Rice, of the Albany County Sheriff’s Office, told The Enterprise in May, “We don’t have solitary confinement.”

“Most people think the Pine Bush is done … They think the rest is all developed, that it’s all been lost,” says Christopher Hawver, executive director of the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission. On the contrary, he said, There’s another 2,000 acres out there … We still have a lot of work to do.”

For the contested races at both the town and county levels, we are adding a new element. In addition to being able to read profiles of the candidates, you may also watch videos of them, answering the same series of issues-based questions.

KNOX — Elizabeth Walk is running unopposed for tax collector in Knox.
She has worked as the town’s assistant tax collector for the past three years.

Walk, 72, has lived in Knox since 1981. She has a degree in accounting from Albany Business College.

KNOX — Two candidates are vying for a judgeship in Knox as James Corigliano is not seeking a third term.

A retired Guilderland music teacher, Corigliano was appointed to fill a vacancy and then won the next election, in 2011. He was unopposed in 2015, running on the Democratic and Independence party lines.