A series of free programs on brain health will be available to the public this month.

 ALBANY COUNTY — Ann Lee Pond in Colonie, and Thompson’s Lake in the Helderbergs are both popular for ice fishing and have public access to fishing. 

ALBANY COUNTY — Getting the COVID-19 vaccine into residents’ arms — as the county’s infection rate continues to top 10 percent and records for hospitalization were broken three times — was the focus of Albany County’s 43rd week of coping with the pandemic.

Ward Stone, Troy

ALBANY COUNTY — Local leaders — all of them Democrats — were quick to condemn the violent breach of the United States Capitol on Wednesday, which disrupted the Congressional count of electoral votes. 

Governor Andrew Cuomo said the highly transmissible strain from the United Kingdom, which was confirmed in a Saratoga County case on Monday, could be a “game changer” in the foot race to which he regularly alludes. The race pits vaccine implementation against the infection rate and hospital capacity.

“This U.K. strain changes the whole footrace because the U.K. strain, the rate of transmission goes way up, the rate of infection goes way up, and it’s no longer the race that we were running,” Cuomo said at Tuesday’s press conference. “Apparently, the U.K. strain can actually overtake the original COVID strain in a matter of weeks, that’s how quickly it can transmit.”

Governor Andrew Cuomo said hospitals could be fined up to $100,000 for not using their vaccine allocations. “Going forward, they have to use the allocation within seven days; otherwise they can be removed from future distribution,” he said.

Governor Andrew Cuomo said, noting it was an opinion, not a fact, “My position has always been, if the children are safer in the school than they are on the streets of the community, then children should be in school.”

The governor said it is possible that the increased infection rate in the Capital Region and elsewhere across the country could be due to the UK variant of COVID-19 since it is more transmissible, which could lead not just to more infections but to more hospitalizations.