“A lot of these people have no family left — except for us,” says Jill Martin, speaking about homebound Hilltown patients. Martin is a nurse practitioner who hopes to open her own practice in the fall after her current employer, CapitalCare Family Practice Berne, shuts its doors at the end of this month.

Resolve that this is not the end of an era of excellent care in the Hilltowns. Berne must find an independent doctor who cares.

BERNE — The Albany County Department of Public Works announced on Friday evening that, effective immediately, cars and trucks with weights exceeding 10 tons are prohibited from traveling on County Route 6 (Ravine Road) over the White Birch Pond Outlet, which is 200 feet south of Partridge Run Road in the Town of Berne.

The number of employees allowed to work at a home business would increase in both Berne and Knox should proposed amendments pass.

Berne Highway Superintendent Randy Bashwinger said that he took on another job at the Albany County Board of Elections for the extra income. While he says he can carry out both jobs, Democratic town board members expressed concern that he would not be adequately supervising workers.

An overflow from a sewage pump in Berne last summer was a “saturation” of water used for cleaning, rather than a sewage spill, said the town’s supervisor, Sean Lyons. Last June, Lyons had commended the town board because it had not “escalated into an Enterprise event and TBM [town board meeting] disruption.”

The deadline for property-tax payments in Berne was extended to Feb. 21.