“The strategy is to get them off the street, provide a safe haven, and hopefully they’ll start to work with our staff on some counseling,” said Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple of the wing of jail that now houses a handful of homeless people. “The ultimate goal is to get them back employed. 

As domestic violence has increased with coronavirus restrictions, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Friday that the state will immediately modernize its hotline with a new text program and a confidential online service to help victims of abuse and provide potentially lifesaving ways to get help.

Every New Yorker is to receive a postage-paid application for an absentee ballot, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Friday. He had earlier issued an executive order allowing residents to vote by mail in the June 23 primary election.

The new mandate is to be carried out by the state’s board of elections.

“We’re still getting 20 to 30 positives a day,” said Albany County’s health commissioner, Elizabeth Whalen. “We’re still at that plateau level.”

On Friday, two dozen State Assembly members, led by Patricia Fahy, called on New York’s senators and congress members to create a modern-day, New Deal-style Works Progress Administration similar to the jobs program that was created by the federal government under President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression.

The American Red Cross of Eastern New York is asking for healthy volunteers.

“Comprehensive plans, which define a community’s vision and establish long-range goals and land-use strategies for achieving that vision, directly impact economic development.”

“We continue to see our numbers plateau,” said Albany County Health Commissioner Elizabeth Whalen, with 20 to 30 cases per day

The first results from the state’s antibody testing show that 13.9 percent of New Yorkers have COVID-19 antibodies, Governor Andrew Cuomo said at his press briefing on Thursday. The percentages were much higher downstate than upstate.

The county’s new five-volume strategic economic-development report is “designed to enhance quality of life and accelerate economic growth throughout Albany County.”