Category: A Month in the Hills

  • Issue:

    Local cities left off list of early polling sites

    New York voters were able to cast ballots early for the first time this fall, but the list of early voting sites left out several of the region’s urban centers. In Rensselaer County, election officials set up two early voting sites, in the suburban towns of Brunswick and Schodack. But the Republican-controlled County Legislature refused read more

    Local cities left off list of early polling sites
  • Issue:

    Groups fight county’s bid to share data with ICE

    A coalition of civil rights and voter advocacy groups filed a federal lawsuit late last month in an effort to block Rensselaer County from sharing voter registration information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The four groups went to court after the county’s leading Republican officials announced they would ask ICE to review local voter read more

    Groups fight county’s bid to share data with ICE
  • Issue:

    Gun debate shapes Saratoga schools vote

    A school board election this month in Saratoga Springs is turning into a costly proxy battle in the national debate over gun violence and the Second Amendment. Seven candidates are competing for three seats on the city school board in the May 21 election, and much of the campaign so far has focused on the read more

    Gun debate shapes Saratoga schools vote
  • Issue:

    Activists push Hudson police on ICE arrests

    The city of Hudson, N.Y., is reviewing its policies for how city police interact with federal immigration agents after an early March incident in which local activists thwarted the arrest of two immigrants from Central America. The city has an active sanctuary movement, and the mayor and other elected officials adopted a policy in 2017 read more

    Activists push Hudson police on ICE arrests
  • Issue:

    College to shut down leaving a Vermont void

    Green Mountain College has announced plans to shut down at the end of the current academic year and surrender its 155-acre Poultney campus to creditors. The private liberal arts college, which specializes in environmental studies and in recent years won accolades for its campus sustainability projects, cited financial pressures resulting from shrinking enrollment as the read more

    College to shut down leaving a Vermont void
  • Issue:

    Advocates push for more trains from Saratoga

    Passenger-rail advocates and local officials have begun lobbying New York state to increase the number of daily Amtrak trains between Saratoga Springs and New York City. Proponents say more frequent service is the logical next step now that the state has completed long-awaited projects to add track capacity and upgrade stations along the route north read more

    Advocates push for more trains from Saratoga
  • Issue:

    Police chief admits he misled public about case

    Saratoga Springs is facing calls for better oversight of its police force after the city police chief admitted he misled the public about his department’s handling of a 2013 case that led to the death of a black man fleeing from officers. Police Chief Gregory Veitch told reporters at the time that city police were read more

    Police chief admits he misled public about case
  • Issue:

    Berkshire Museum plans more art sales as director leaves

    After the auction of more than a dozen works of art from its collection failed to raise as much cash as expected, the Berkshire Museum announced in late June that it plans to sell off nine more pieces in the coming months. Within days of that announcement, the museum also revealed that its executive director, read more

    Berkshire Museum plans more art sales as director leaves
  • Issue:

    Rutland college struggles as enrollment shrinks

    The College of St. Joseph is struggling to stay open in the face of financial problems and declining enrollment. The trustees of the 62-year-old Catholic liberal arts college in Rutland revealed in late April that they were considering closing the school, which had burned through about 90 percent of its $5 million endowment. After the read more

    Rutland college struggles as enrollment shrinks
  • Issue:

    Judge clears the way for museum to sell art

    The Berkshire Museum has cleared the last legal hurdle in its quest to sell off $55 million worth of artwork from its collection. A justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court signed off April 5 on a deal reached in February by the museum and the state attorney general’s office allowing the sales to proceed. read more

    Judge clears the way for museum to sell art