Over a century ago, Frank Shulman developed a model for solar energy that has been expanded and approved; lawmakers have not kept up with scientists and inventors.

Solar panels proliferating locally reflect a larger effort to reduce their financial costs and government subsidies. Rural municipalities are surveying their options in earnest.

Republicans and Democrats in Berne have chosen their candidates for an election in November that will determine who will fill the last year of Bonnie Conklin's term, a councilwoman who resigned at the end of 2013.

After Birth is not a memoir, but the author's second novel got its impetus from her own experience as a new mother moving to a new town. It is set to be published in February.

BERNE — A woman was questioned by police as she mourned in a cemetery in the early morning hours of July 13. A breath sample at the police station, according to her arrest report, registered .01, well below the legal limit of .08 for driving. Meanwhile, her SUV had been towed from the cemetery and she had to pay $265 to get it back.

Councilmen Theodore Lounsbury and Alfred Field spoke about a slim likelihood of natural-gas drilling in town, the wearied process of evaluating the issue, and the state's long-awaited regulations.

KNOX — The questions were big — what are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to living in Knox? — but the crowd was not. In this rural town of 2,700, about 18 men and women sat in small groups to discuss issues that would shape how the Knox comprehensive plan would be modified.