RENSSELAERVILLE —

Several small-game hunting seasons open Oct. 1. In addition, special youth-only hunting seasons for pheasants and waterfowl open prior to the start of the regular season.

GUILDERLAND — W. Brian Barr of Guilderland, a social worker, has spent a lifetime helping addicts and people with mental illness.

Albany County’s adopted-shared services plan includes eight proposals, ranging from shared health insurance to joint utility purchases.

Archaeologists interpret history not with proof but with a preponderance of evidence, says Michael Lucas, curator of historical archeology for the New York State Museum.

Are electric vehicles the future of driving? Or are they being propped up by the state, just another beneficiary of government largesse?

GUILDERLAND — Guilderland High School senior Michael Ardito is preparing to make his fourth and final annual swim across Boston Harbor this weekend, to raise money to find a cure for the rare disease that affects his younger sister, Kati.

Albany County deaths from heroin overdoses have doubled, according to Sheriff Craig Apple. “We’re more likely to maintain sobriety when we receive support from society,” the sheriff said at a Sept. 13 forum. “I was a lock-’em-up guy 10 years ago. We lost."

Albany County has set up a hotline for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program recipients to call for assistance from the county’s Regional Immigration Assistance Center.

ALBANY COUNTY — William J. Conboy II, the longtime Albany County attorney who died in January, will be honored in a ceremony Monday when the county legislature’s chambers are dedicated in his name.