The stances taken by local law enforcement toward Taser use place the Taser on the same level as pepper spray within the “use-of-force continuum.”

A petition has been started, on a closed Facebook page, to fire Albany County Sheriff’s Deputy Philip Milano.

A recent traffic stop gone awry, resulting in the driver being subdued with a Taser gun, led us to ask Melanie Trimble, director of the Capital Region Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union, about a motorist’s rights when stopped by police.

A Facebook video of a New Scotland traffic stop, shown by local television news shows and picked up by the liberal activist news service Alternet.org with the headline, “Cop can’t wait for his backup to arrive so he could needlessly tase a nonviolent man,” has raised questions about the danger of traffic stops for officers and about th

Police departments should reform their rules on Taser use so that a young man goading a cop at a traffic stop, as happened this month in New Scotland, isn't shot with a stun gun; the results can be deadly.

RAVENA — Robin L. Burkhardt taught emergency services providers throughout the Hilltowns and Greene County how to read EKGs to recognize heart attacks, and, as a brain tumor survivor, worked in the Capital Region to increase awareness of brain tumor symptoms. She died on Thursday, June 11, 2015, at the age of 54.

GALLUPVILLE — Richard E. Sellick was proud to be a registered vascular technologist and was a classic car fan. He died on Friday, June 26, 2015 at St. Peter’s Hospital surrounded by his family. He was 45.

Norma Jane Saddlemire loved farm life and caring for others. She cooked church suppers and sewed her own wedding gown as well as gowns for all of her daughters’ weddings.

She died on Thursday, July 9, 2015, after a brief stay at Capstone Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Amsterdam, New York. She was 84.

Lawrence I. Taber was a Korean War veteran who mastered many trades and who loved God and his family. He died unexpectedly on Tuesday, July 7, 2015, at St. Peter's Hospital in Albany. He was 82.