At one point, as Soares railed against the reforms that allow defendants to see information on witnesses ahead of a trial and Kindlon responded by defending the practice, the moderator, Corey James of Spectrum News, asked the rumbling audience to “keep it down.” Ambrosio leaned back from the table, announcing the other two could fight it out.

On June 4, the NAACP held a candidates’ forum in a packed basement meeting room of Milne Hall on the downtown University at Albany campus.

Over the course of two hours, about 150 people listened to the six Democrats and one Republican respond to three scripted questions and four questions from the audience read by Zion DeCoteau from News 10 ABC and Fox 23.

“That was some civilized political discourse,” said DeCouteau at the close of the session.

As the last results were posted, the three winning school board candidates in a five-way race — top vote-getter Tara Molloy-Grocki, incumbent Blanca Gonzalez-Parker, and newcomer Nina Kaplan — hugged one another with smiles and some tears.

Berne-Knox-Westerlo’s proposed budget, with a 5.09 percent tax increase that required it to be passed with a 60-percent approval rate, failed to reach that threshold by a mere eight votes. The district will have to decide whether to have residents vote on a new budget in June, or move directly to a contingency budget. 

GUILDERLAND — The Guilderland Public Library was rocked by accusations of racism in February leveled by owners of its first-ever café, which abruptly closed.

With Patricia Putman not running for re-election, incumbent Timothy Kremer faces two challengers for his board seat. 

The five candidates are all supportive of the district’s efforts with diversity, equity, and inclusion. They each see merits in state initiatives such as for electric buses and universal pre-kindergarten. And, while several expressed animosity toward Crossgates Mall for pursuing massive tax refunds, none of the candidates thought school budgets should top the state-set levy limit. For voters choosing among the five candidates, the differences lie in the professional and life experiences each would bring to the board as well as in the specifics of how they would wrestle with these issues.

HILLTOWNS — Berne-Knox-Westerlo has not seen a contested school board election since 2019, and this year is no exception, with incumbent Lisa Joslin seeking another term after first joining the board in 2021.

These are among the eight designs for “I Voted” stickers that Albany County residents can vote on by Sept. 6. The winning design will be printed on stickers to be given to voters on Election Day.

The Berne-Knox-Westerlo board members have overseen a period of the district’s history that, between overfunding from the state and the COVID-19 pandemic and its fallout, has been as auspicious as it has been challenging.