The Voorheesville Dionysians are producing a “Mary Poppins” musical that is, as director Robert Whiteman put it “entertaining on the surface” but rife with complex relationships to explore beneath.

Guard promotes

These local members of the New York Army National Guard have been promoted;
— Chanel Kung from Slingerlands, assigned to Division Signal Company, 42nd Infantry Division, received a promotion to the rank of specialist; and

This year, four of the 107 competitors at the Capital Region Spelling Bee at Proctor’s Theatre will be from Guilderland’s Farnsworth Middle School.

A nearly 20-year-old policy allows college students in New York State to purchase textbooks tax-free. There is little advertising of the policy, but government and business officials assert that it is well-known.

These local students were among more than 100 part-time students at the University at Albany to have a grade-point average of at least 3.5 in six graduation credits for the fall 2016 semester:

— Hannah Buckey of Altamont;

— Doug Clark of Schenectady;

— Ryan Frederick of Schenectady;

These local students have been named to the dean’s list or received a similar honor from their college or university for the fall 2016 semester:

— Mary Grace Barada of Delmar at Keene State College in New Hampshire;

— McKenzie Burns of Schenectady in the Class of 2020 at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania;

Three local students, as members of Oneonta’s Zeta Beta Tau fraternity chapter, helped organize the State University of New York College at Oneonta’s third annual Gift of Life Bone Marrow Donor Registration Drive in October:

— Colton Dlugolecki of Voorheesville;

— Zach Garcia of Delmar; and

Far fewer police were called to the scene one week ago when an email bomb threat came in to an administrator’s email from a student’s school account.