A digital equity map, put together by a coalition of organizations including the New York State Education Department and the New York State Library, shows that approximately 15 percent of Hilltown households don’t have internet access, whether because they don’t have an internet subscription or because they don’t have internet-capable devices.

The Berne Town Board held a public hearing on a new animal-control law this week and received mostly minor suggestions for alteration from a public that seemed largely pleased with the proposed regulations. 

The New York Coalition for Open Government, a not-for-profit advocate for government transparency, says it filed two Freedom of Information Law requests with the Albany County Board of Elections for meeting minutes last summer, but the board never acknowledged either.

New York State has released its first annual greenhouse gas emissions report, and it paints a dire image. While emissions are down somewhat from 1990, the report shows the state has a long way to go to achieve the goals it laid out in its Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act by the self-set deadline of 2050.

At Knox’s inaugural 2022 meeting, more information came spontaneously to light about why the town fired three transfer station workers in 2019 — two of whom sued the town and later settled.

In an otherwise perfunctory meeting, the Berne Town Board made two key appointments on New Year’s Day: Albert Thiem to the town board, replacing former councilwoman Bonnie Conklin, who resigned; and former State Supreme Court Justice and convicted felon Thomas Spargo as chairman of the zoning board of appeals.

Sheep farmer Emily Vincent, who has previously been harassed by Berne’s code-enforcement officer and highway superintendent, has been ordered to replace a culvert near her property in spite of the fact that it runs underneath a town road.

Various charity organizations have given away thousands upon thousands of pounds of food to Hilltowners in need this year. 

Knox residents Mary Varbero and Frank Muia have succeeded in their quest to free their Berne-Altamont Road property from the restrictions dictated by a covenant that the previous property owner said she was forced to agree to by the town’s planning board in the early 1990s.

KNOX — The Knox Town Board has decided not to opt out of New York State’s marijuana law. That means pot shops and parlors can come to town.