The emergency was declared on March 7, 2020 to fight COVID-19 and had come under fire in recent months, particularly from Republicans, as an abuse of power by the governor. The announcement ended a week, statewide and in Albany County, in which infection rates and hospitalizations remained low and vaccination rates inched upward. The week before, Cuomo announced the statewide lifting of most COVID-19 restrictions.

“The nature of rare plants is that you almost never find them. To have discovered a state endangered species that hasn’t been seen in 100 years — it’s just amazing,” says Jesse Hoffman who discovered two Virginia marbleseed plants in the Albany Pine Bush Preserve.

Local sales tax collections, which had dipped precipitously a year ago as the result of restrictions to contain the pandemic, in May increased by 57.8 percent over last May, the highest one-month increase in recent history, the state’s comptroller announced.

While statewide, New York reached the 70-percent mark of adults with at least one dose of vaccine, lifting restrictions, vaccination rates vary across the state. On Friday, the state’s vaccine tracker started listing the rates according to ZIP code.

In Albany County, the lowest rate of residents who have received one dose is 1222 in Albany at 7.7 percent and the highest is 12007 in Alcove at 100 percent.

The Guilderland Planning Board recently heard Borrego Solar Systems propose a five-megawatt ground-mounted solar facility at 2825 Curry Road, a well-screened-from-the-road 48-acre parcel located in a largely commercial area. 

Albany County Health Commissioner Elizabeth Whalen warned, “I don’t think we’ve crossed the finish line yet …. I do not believe at this point herd immunity has been achieved and I think that this is something we can continue to work towards.”

SCHROON LAKE, N.Y. -— James “Jim” H. Butler, a bank auditor who helped write the breed standards for the Alaskan Klee Kai, died at Glens Falls Hospital on Saturday, June 12, 2021, due to pneumonia after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 82 years old.

ROOT, N.Y. —  Robert J. Crounse — a Vietnam veteran, a truck driver, and a father — died at his residence on Sunday, Jan. 17, 2021. He was 74.

He was born on March 13, 1947, in Schenectady to Chester Crounse and Thelma (née Constable) Crounse. A long-time Altamont resident, he graduated from Guilderland High School in 1965.

William and Elaine Zimmer, long-time residents of Rotterdam, celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on June 13. 

They were married in Jamestown, New York on June 13, 1951. Elaine Zimmer says, “Thirteen is my lucky number!”

These local students were named to the spring 2021 semester dean's list at University of Vermont comprised of students with a grade point average of 3.0 or higher;
 

— Ethan Brass of Delmar;

— Emma Connolly of Delmar;

— Jessica Lefton of Slingerlands;

— Sarah Lindberg of Altamont;