In 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law a bill allowing local taxing jurisdictions to offer a property tax break to volunteer firefighters and volunteer ambulance workers.

Starting Jan. 1, rules went into effect that significantly expand New York state’s jurisdiction over freshwater wetlands with the aim of protecting a million additional acres of wetland habitats.

NEW SCOTLAND — The tributes came pouring in following the announcement: She was the best of us; she literally changed the world; she was compassionate and dignified, an amazing and unforgettable human being who left this world a better place. 

Of local note was McCoy’s announcement that Albany County was in “the final stages of acquiring Switzkill Farm in Berne .…”

The plan builds on New Scotland’s 2018 comprehensive plan and last year’s cataloging of natural resources to set “forth a framework of policies, programs, and recommendations that promote conservation, climate resiliency, responsible land use planning.”

“I’d like to tell the board that this has not been a very easy budget to develop,” Voorheesville’s interim business official, Lissa Jilek, told school board members this month. 

The Feb. 5 meeting had a packed agenda. 

With the stroke of a pen, McCoy became the latest in a line of public officials from across the country to acknowledge that, while biosolids have been used to fertilize farms for years, recent research has raised concerns about health and environmental issues

ALTAMONT — A social media spat has spilled over into the courtroom as Jackie Silvestri-Edwards, former owner of Farmhouse Tap + Tavern and founder of the locally-popular 518 Foodies site, is suing the owners of the Taste of Italy restaurant in Latham for defamation, disparagement, and assault. 

The project is located on 44 acres of land nestled between the homes of Crow Ridge Road to the east, National Grid’s right-of-way to the west, an expanse of green to the north, and New Scotland Road to the south.