Federal regulations generally prevent states and local governments from regulating airspace, as a newly proposed state law hopes to do by prohibiting drones from flying over schools. However, the Federal Aviation Administration makes some case-by-case exceptions for restrictions over sensitive areas, like parks and schools.

A foreclosed property on Knox Cave Road, which has a market value of $132,308 according to Knox’s 2023 tax roll, will likely be sold to a neighboring family for $5,000, pending legislature approval.

Albany County Legislator Chris Smith, a Conservative who represents Berne, Westerlo, Rensselaerville, and part of New Scotland in the 39th District, is defending his seat against Democrat Hébert Joseph, who’s running on the Working Families and Hilltowns First lines.

The Voorheesville Central School District held a budget forum last week where it invited discussion on a new volunteer first-responder property-tax exemption, and an expansion of both the senior citizen and veteran tax exemptions. The estimated cost of the board passing all three exemptions would be about $100 annually for the average taxpayer. 

After Rensselaerville’s Palmer House Café closed, despite an effort to save it, a local couple are hoping to bring back, in yet another form; the business that has been an anchor in the community for over a century.

Richard Straut, of the engineering firm Barton and Loguidice, explained to the Altamont Village Board at its Oct. 19 meeting that the chemical potassium ferrate would allow the village to remove manganese from village well-water more effectively than other options and is well-understood, but that a new formulation has yet to be approved for drinking-water treatment.

The village of Altamont adopted a long-awaited law this week that allows residents to keep chickens on their properties, under certain conditions. The board had attempted to adopt a similar law several years ago, but struggled to find momentum; that law became the foundation for the current law, which received strong support from the community.  

Expenses outpaced revenues in each of the four Hilltowns, resulting in proposed budgets that show modest tax increases. Knox, Westerlo, and Rensselaerville are each expected to stay below the 2-percent tax cap set by the state, while Berne, which had an anomalously low tax rate to begin with, is seeking to go beyond it. 

Supervisor Russ Pokorny, a Democrat, is facing a challenge from the Republican-backed Jamie Berenger. Meanwhile, Republican-backed board members June Springer and Dennis Cyr are uncontested in their runs for re-election. 

Incumbent Rensselaerville justice Gregory E. Bischoff, a Democrat backed by his own party, is defending his seat from Richard Tollner, who is endorsed by the Republican and Conservative parties.