ALBANY COUNTY — Albany County is slated to get $1,255,608 — part of $45 million being distributed to 57 counties and New York City to improve emergency communications across the state.

Everyone with a cell phone thinks they are a photographer, says Rich Schreibstein. “A phone doesn’t make you a photographer anymore than it makes you an orator,” says Schreibstein. “What you are is a picture-taker.” Schreibstein, of Altamont, takes his photography seriously.

“The county is not in the business of finding children for families. Rather, it is finding families for children,” says foster mother Sharon Astyk. “That sounds like a small difference but it’s an important distinction. The county is child-centered. This is not about going and picking out a kid.”

More foster homes are needed in Albany County not just because the number of children in the system has increased but also because 2018 federal legislation, which prioritizes family-based foster care, will limit reimbursement for certain residential placements in New York in 2021.

ALBANY COUNTY — On Tuesday, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy signed two local laws to help with environmental efforts: one is for a five-cent fee on paper bags at retail stores and the other creates a loan program for sustainable energy projects.

A panel of experts gathered together last Friday to discuss the emergence of artificial intelligence and automation, and how we should react to it.

“I’ve always had a reverence for the old,” Timothy Rau said, likening his work to a “rebirth” for historic buildings — “putting it back the way it had been.”

As extreme-weather events increase in number and strength, some New Scotland National Grid customers are left asking: How will my power be protected?

Damion Coppedge is a poet, a chess teacher, a Buddhist. He honed these aspects of his life during the 22 years he spent in prison. He is now making his way in the world, living in a half-way house in the Bronx since his release on July 31.