The CDC study says this about the implications for public-health practice: “Additional implementation of effective mitigation activities at colleges and universities with in-person instruction could minimize on-campus COVID-19 transmission and reduce county-level incidence.” Those were the sort of strategies addressed by three higher-education leaders in Albany County.

“A rifle is more targeted than a shotgun, right?” said Governor Andrew Cuomo on the value of thorough testing for COVID-19. “Other states see the statewide number increase, and then they have to do statewide closings because they can’t target the clusters.”

While the Albany County executive says the Capital Region will be eligible to begin the first phase of reopening in a day or two, he and the county’s health commissioner stress that workplaces as well as residents must heed directives to prevent a resurgence of COVID-19.

BERNE — Institutions continued their ascent in this rural rectangle, putting a spotlight on its central orientation in the Hilltowns.

Now 20, VanAlstyne is facing a sentence of 18 years to life, scheduled to appear in court in January.

The all-Democrat board in Berne will remain so as two councilwomen — Karen Schimmer and Dawn Jordan — won with substantial margins running on Democratic and Independence Party lines.

BERNE — Berne residents are looking at issues up on one of their highest hills and down underground this election season as four candidates are vying for two seats on the town board.

ALBANY COUNTY — As a newcomer to politics and a native to the Hilltowns, Christopher Smith is proud of spending his life in the rural community of East Berne and Warners Lake.

At 34, he now has a family and three businesses, one of them the large restaurant Maple on the Lake.