Illustration by Forest Byrd 

You can make a difference.

We know during the holidays you’re busy, too busy, wrapping packages and baking cookies. Put down your scissors, put down your rolling pin.

By Jordan J. Michael

VOORHEESVILLE –– The Blackbird wrestling team is being led by new Head Coach Matt Robinson. He’s only a few years older than the athletes he coaches.

Nearly two years after a mentally retarded woman died following a car accident, the state’s oversight agency found “the circumstances of this death …did not suggest any deficiencies in the care provided.”

By Jordan J. Michael

ROTTERDAM –– The girls of Guilderland and Mohonasen played a sloppy game of basketball on Tuesday. The Lady Warriors eventually cleaned up.

Illustration by Forest Byrd

By Zach Simeone

HILLTOWNS — As the Berne-Knox-Westerlo school district considers selling its 60-year-old Westerlo School, future enrollment figures are being examined, and a possible decades-old agreement is being investigated.

Man extorted, raped escort

A man pretending to be a police investigator paid a female escort to have sex with him at a Guilderland hotel, then extorted thousands of dollars from her before he was caught, police said.

Local districts crunch and cope

This week, local school districts, like those across the state, are crunching numbers and hatching plans in response to the governor’s proposed cuts to school aid, announced on Tuesday.

By Jordan J. Michael

VOORHEESVILLE –– Coach Don Catellier didn’t know what to say about his Blackbird basketball team before it took the court against Cohoes on Friday night. He would have an answer after the game was over.

Illustration by Forest Byrd