“In a time when so much of our politics is bitterly divided, county leaders from both ends of the political spectrum advocated for this package because it will help them help their communities recover from this pandemic,” said Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro, a Republican, who is president of the New York State Association of Counties.

The Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy is looking to preserve approximately 280 acres of land in the town of New Scotland — 40 acres owned by the village of Voorheesville and about 240 acres of the Heldeberg Workshop.

Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy said that 20.5 percent of the county’s population has gotten at least a first shot of COVID-19 vaccine, the second highest rate in the Capital Region and one of the highest rates in the state.

New York State is setting up new sites solely to administer the recently-approved single-shot Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, which is just as effective in preventing hospitalization and death as the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, according to clinical trials, although not as effective in preventing mild cases of the virus.

Albany County’s executive, Daniel McCoy, said on Wednesday he had scored so many doses of COVID-19 vaccine from the state that he was sharing them with neighboring Rensselaer and Schenectady counties.

“Your process will not be successful if it simply restates the current functions, strategies and operations of the police department, without deep and probing consideration of the perspectives of those who seek reform,” says the state’s guidance. 

Nursing homes in the United States have seen the lowest number of new COVID-19 cases since the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services started tracking cases in May 2020, suggesting that the vaccines are working.

“A lot of folks that know me and the agency that I oversee, we’re very community oriented and I think our staff does a great job. Many things we’ve already banned way prior to the horrific incident that happened with George Floyd,” Sheriff Craig Apple told the legislative committee accepting his draft for reform.

At the same time more vaccine doses are being made available, more people are becoming eligible in New York State. Food-pantry workers have been added to the list of essential workers. 

“We went through a month of hell,” the county’s sheriff said.