Poverty rates in New York State have been higher than the national average since 2014. In 2021, the most recent year with available data, 13.9 percent of New Yorkers lived in poverty — 2.7 million people — compared to 12.8 percent nationwide. For 2020, Albany County had a poverty rate below both the state and national averages — at 11.3 percent.

A report released on Tuesday by AARP New York found that a lack of affordable and accessible housing in rural areas compounded with a lack of public transportation make it hard for old New Yorkers living in the country to age in place. The housing problem has been made dramatically worse by the pandemic, the study found.

Governor Kathy Hochul said she is keeping in place her Executive Order 4, declaring a statewide disaster emergency due to healthcare staffing shortages, to allow medical professionals from other states to work in New York, and to allow “more professionals to administer vaccinations and tests,” Hochul said.

The state’s workforce rebounded in the second half of the last decade before dropping significantly with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report released this week by the state’s comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli.

ALBANY COUNTY — Numbers for Albany County are headed in the right direction this week — with infection and hospitalizations rates going down and sales-tax revenues and jobs going up.

SUNY Polytechnic Institute was one of the first round of awardees of the $40 million New York State Biodefense Commercialization Fund. Researchers at SUNY Poly got a $500,000 grant to develop a more affordable and accurate 30-minute COVID-19 antibody test.

ALBANY COUNTY — After five weeks in a row of being labeled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with a high community level of COVID-19, Albany County this week was

One of the factors underlying the continued growth of sales-tax collections is high inflation, which increases the cost of purchases made and, therefore, the taxes collected on those purchases. However, the third quarter’s 8.3-percent inflation rate had a negative impact on local governments as well, reducing the amount that they can purchase with the same dollars.

ALBANY COUNTY — The symptoms are similar, but three different viruses — flu, COVID-19, and  respiratory syncytial virus — are circulating statewide.

A study published on Oct. 11 in Educational Researcher found pandemic aid to public schools wasn’t enough to make up for learning loss.