A nationwide cumulative student-loan debt $1.36 trillion and a burgeoning local “middle-skill” job market has some students, their families, and educators questioning if a four-year degree is still the ticket to a better life.

The state’s Department of Environmental Conservation is looking for people to raise pheasant chicks.

New York State Writers Institute Fellow James Lasdun will conduct a workshop in the spring of 2018 for writers interested in all aspects of fiction.

Lasdun has published two novels, four collections of short stories, and four books of poetry.

These members of the New York Army National Guard have recently retired:

— Colonel George McHugh from Delmar, assigned to the Joint Force Headquarters, retired after 31 years of military service; and

Unlike the police, a defense attorney isn’t necessarily so eager to have prompt translation to English. Delay may spare his clients from blurting out confessions before counsel arrives.

Most of the members of the Bethlehem Morning Voice Huddle are retired and new to activism.

ALBANY COUNTY — Frank Chrysler — a member of what the district attorney’s office termed “a hate-crime ring” — was sentenced on Friday to six to 12 years in state prison.

ALBANY COUNTY — The Albany County Sheriff’s Office will get $17,629 in federal funds for videotaping interrogations, the governor’s office announced on Wednesday.

A new state law will require police to record, on video, interrogations in serious felony cases,  including homicides and violent felony sex offenses.

With the holiday season over and winter promising to be around for a while, the Depot Lane Singers is offering interested singers the opportunity to escape cabin fever, practicing for spring concerts.

Heavy rain on April 1 has made farms in Albany, Montgomery, and Schoharie counties that suffered damage eligible for disaster emergency loan assistance from the Farm Service Agency.