Throughout the week, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy has not reported more than four new cases of COVID-19 in any single day. And on Tuesday, for the first time in 10 months, he reported zero new cases. On Wednesday, McCoy announced that the county had marked another milestone with 60 percent of its 307,117 residents fully vaccinated.

These local students were named to the president's list from Western New England University in Massachusetts for the spring 2021 semester with a grade point average of 3.80 or higher:

— Angelica L. Fischer of Delmar majoring in mechanical engineering;

These local students have been named to the University of New Hampshire Dean’s List for the spring 2021 semester academic year:

— Kaitlin Davitt of Delmar, for earning Highest Honors;

— Anna Ganley of Delmar, for earning High Honors;

— Ann-Marie Kolberg of Delmar, for earning Highest Honors;

These local students were named to the spring 2021 dean’s list at  SUNY New Paltz, with a grade-point average of 3.3 or higher:

— Colden Abbott of Delmar;

— Jana Bergere of Delmar;

— Shannon Blakeley of Altamont;

— Samantha Buczeksmith of Delmar;

— Michael Considine of Delmar;

These local students were named to the spring 2021 dean’s list at Ithaca College, with a grade-point average of 3.5 or higher:
 

— Kaitlyn Coffey of Delmar;

— Nathaniel Finke of Schenectady;

— Grace Keefe of Delmar;

— Allison Lasch of Delmar;

— Ryan Maercklein of Schenectady;

These local students were named to the dean’s list from their college or university for the spring 2021 semester:
 

— Abbie Donofrio of Schenectady, at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island with a grade point average of 3.4 or higher;

These local students were named to the spring 2021 dean’s list at Fairfield University with a grade-point average of 3.5 or higher:
 

— Amelia Kedik of Altamont;

— Julia Higgins of Delmar;

— Molly Lamendola of Delmar;

— Kiersten Murray of Delmar;

— Nina Panto of Delmar;

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.