These local students have been named to the dean’s list or received a similar honor from their college or university for the spring 2014 semester:

— Carylann Geddes of Slingerlands, at Coker College in South Carolina;

St. John’s Lutheran Church at 140 Maple Ave. in Altamont will resume its fall schedule. Sunday worship will be at 8:30 and 11 a.m. Sunday school starts at 9:45 a.m.

The guest speaker is Deacon David Vail, his sermon theme is forgiveness, based on Matthew 18:21-35.

When you hear a reporter talking about Congress and immigration what comes to your mind? My first thought is the story I have told before about the family from Poland that St. Lucy’s Church sponsored to come to the United States.

To the Editor:

What's getting lost in all the conversations about Common Core, standardized testing, teacher evaluations, funding, and the power politics in the educational establishment is the real world in which the students will ultimately have to live.

To the Editor:

On Saturday, Sept. 13, the Guilderland Girls’ Varsity Volleyball team is hosting a tournament at Guilderland High School.  Proceeds from the tournament will be donated to the Rodino Family to assist them as they continue to deal with the effects of Huntington's Disease.

Nicholas Mesiti and Brett M. Hutton, of Guilderland, and David P. Miranda, of New Scotland — all of them partners at Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C., an intellectual property law firm with offices in Albany and Rochester, New York — have been named as “New York Super Lawyers” by the publishers of Thomson Reuters. 

GUILDERLAND — Curves of Altamont, at 2511 Western Ave., is hosting an open house the week of Sept. 15 to 20, and new members can receive 30 days free, in addition to a free workout. It is part of a national chain of fitness centers.

ALBANY — Brenda McClaine agreed to a plea deal Tuesday for one count of third-degree grand larceny, a felony, that will put her in jail for six months and on probation for five years. She is to be sentenced on Oct. 28.

Had McClaine gone to trial instead, she could have served a maximum of two-and-a-third to seven years.

ALTAMONT — John M. Farrand, a businessman, a family man, and a Vietnam War veteran, died on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014, at Albany Medical Center after a brief illness. He was 63.

He was born on Dec. 29, 1950 in Adams, New York, the son of the late Robert I. and Helen Francis Farrand.