These local students were named to the president's list from Western New England University in Massachusetts for the fall 2020 semester with a grade point average of 3.80 or higher:

— Andrew Masullo of Altamont, majoring in civil engineering;

— Kelsey McMillen of Voorheesville, majoring in general business;

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that 18 new cases of B.1.1.7 — the highly transmissible COVID-19 variant first identified in the United Kingdom — have been identified in New York State. This brings the state’s total of known B.1.1.7 cases to 154.

The state and federal governments together have opened mass vaccination sites for Black and brown communities, which have disproportionately been hurt by the pandemic. One of those sites is at the Washington Avenue Armory in Albany. Appointments begin on March 3 for residents of these ZIP codes: 12202, 12206, 12207, 12209, and 12210.

ALBANY COUNTY — The Albany County Soil and Water Conservation District invites all schools in the county to apply for funding for conservation projects or resource protection that engage students.

Funding is limited.

Public, private, and alternative schools are eligible to apply for mini-grants of $1,000 to $5,000.

Local municipalities and not-for-profit agencies were among 502 programs throughout New York State to receive a total of over $37.2 million in federal highway safety grants.

The projects awarded funding focused on three types of driver safety initiatives: highway safety, child passenger safety, and police traffic services.

Movie theaters in New York City will be brought in line with the rest of the state at 25-percent capacity, weddings and catered events can be held at 50-percent capacity, billiard halls — having won a lawsuit — can reopen statewide at 50-percent capacity, and nursing homes will be open to visitors.

“This variant was first identified in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa, in samples dating back to the beginning of October 2020,” reports the CDC, and also says, “Currently there is no evidence to suggest that this variant has any impact on disease severity.”

Starting on Wednesday, the state will ask local districts to report on how many teachers have been vaccinated and how many are teaching in-person classes.

Originally, scientists thought that the B.1.17 variant, while more transmissible, was not more severe. Recently, however, British scientists have reported “updated and additional analyses, which together strengthen the earlier finding of increased disease severity in people infected with VOC B.1.1.7 compared to other virus variants.”

“Tragically, and even worse,” said Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy, “life expectancy dropped by almost three years for African Americans and two years for Hispanics. This is exactly the reason why we need to continue to work towards getting the vaccine to our most vulnerable populations and minority communities.”