Regional

After the New York State Coalition for Open Government issued a report decrying the current state of open government in New York, the office of the attorney general — whom the coalition views as essential to enforcing the state’s government transparency laws, which are commonly flouted — suggested that the state is already sufficiently equipped to handle these matters. 

Because of federal pandemic aid, each United States resident received on average $8,050 more in federal expenditures on their behalf than they paid in federal taxes,says a report released this week by the state comptroller. This contrasts with 2019 and prior years, when New York and a handful of other states had a negative balance of payments with the federal government. 

ALBANY COUNTY — A new state initiative will double the purchasing power for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients at farmers’ markets across New York.

ALBANY COUNTY — Albany County this week has a “high” fire danger rating from the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation.

The DEC issued a press release on Tuesday, reminding New Yorkers about the annual statewide ban prohibiting residential brush burning that lasts from  March 16 through May 14.

ALBANY COUNTY — People living in nearly 7,000 group homes across New York state were at risk during the pandemic, according to an audit of the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities released this week by the state’s comptroller, Thom

ALBANY COUNTY — The county legislature is considering a bill that would increase tax exemptions for elderly residents.

Since the state amended its Real Property Tax Law last year, the legislature can raise the income threshold for a senior exemption from $29,000 to $50,000.

A special enrollment period has been set up by Health and Human Services to help people who lose Medicaid between March 31, 2023 and July 31, 2024, move to the Obamacare marketplace: https://www.healthcare.gov/.

Pharmacist Zarina Jalal, who manages Lincoln Pharmacy in the city of Albany, has accused the Albany County Department of Mental Health of nepotism and unfairly redirecting patient prescriptions from independent pharmacies like hers to the Genoa Healthcare pharmacy that opened inside the department’s city headquarters in 2020. Department director Stephen Giordano denies all of the accusations. 

On the very last day of the dig, a thunderstorm was coming in from Lake Victoria in Kenya.

“My graduate student … was up on top of the hill with a laser transit, which is a big metal contraption used for surveying,” recalled Thomas W. Plummer, who was overseeing the archaeological excavation.

ALBANY COUNTY — Starting on Monday, March 27, New Scotland Road (Route 85) was closed to westbound traffic under the county’s rail-trail bridge, a former bridge for trains that is being rebuilt for pedestrians.

Traffic is being detoured over Cherry and Kenwood avenues, according to a Friday notice from Albany County.