Asked how her department was able to get into homes and serve seniors during the pandemic while other counties did not, Commissioner for Aging Deb Riitano said, “Albany County adjusted its business model to help people in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic. We did not have any reduction in services or programs.”

We strongly urge support of the Good Food Purchasing Bill, which will lead to healthier eating, a better protected environment, a more diverse workforce, and more resilient local economies and food systems.

On Tuesday evening, a Lake Placid athlete, Maxwell Menkel, ran to the hardware store on the edge of Altamont carrying a torch.

On Friday, Hochul announced the mask-or-vax requirement, initially set to expire on Feb. 1, would be extended until Feb. 10 and then re-evaluated in two-week increments. An appeal, now in New York’s middle-level court, has yet to be decided. On Monday, the court granted the health department’s request for a stay, which means the mask mandate can remain in effect through March 2.

The mask-or-vax mandate for indoor venues is being extended to Feb. 10, Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Friday.

It was originally set to expire on Feb. 1, although Hochul has repeatedly said she may extend it, depending on coronavirus metrics.

Over the last two years, nursing homes in the county — which are required to inform the state, but not the county, of deaths — have not always informed the county’s health department in a timely manner.

New York State has requested an additional $1.6 billion from the United States Treasury Department to help tenants and landlords who have applied for Emergency Rental Assistance.

Terrice Bassler, a leadership coach, says that, when she is coaching someone, “I look for the red thread. I look for that thread that runs through somebody’s life story, even if it looks a little disconnected and wild.”

Bassler’s own red thread may be providing service to others.

Graphs on the county’s website show the surge this January, with the Omicron variant still making up 95 percent of the cases statewide, was about three times higher than the surge last January, but, at the same time, another graph shows hospitalizations with COVID-related cases were about three-quarters the number in January 2020. Hospitalization surges typically lag about a week behind infection surges so the county’s hospitalizations, while they may be leveling, have not yet plunged like the infection rate.

“It’s all about the semiconductors and we are in a war,” said Governor Kathy Hochul. “We are in a global war with other countries, China, Taiwan, Korea, and others who want to own the dominance of this industry. We’re not letting that happen.”