Category: A Month in the Hills

  • Issue:

    In race for open House seat it’s insider vs. outsider

    In race for open House seat, it’s insider vs. outsider The race for an open congressional seat in the Hudson Valley this fall will pit a Democratic outsider against a Republican insider. Democratic voters in the June 28 primary in New York’s 19th Congressional District backed Zephyr Teachout, a Fordham University law professor and anti-corruption read more

    In race for open House seat it’s insider vs. outsider
  • Issue:

    Developer shelves natural-gas pipeline plans

    The developer of a controversial natural-gas pipeline across Rensselaer and Berkshire counties has decided to drop the project after failing to sign up enough utility customers to tap into the new gas supply. The energy company Kinder Morgan Inc. announced April 20 that it had not received the customer commitments it needed to proceed with read more

    Developer shelves natural-gas pipeline plans
  • Issue:

    Developers change course, will save old school

    Responding to a public outcry, the developers who wanted to tear down a historic school building in Great Barrington, Mass., have agreed to save it. Vijay and Chrystal Mahida, who already own two motels in Great Barrington and several others around the Berkshires, now plan to renovate the former Searles Middle School as an 88-room read more

    Developers change course, will save old school
  • Issue:

    Ballston approves Wal-Mart proposal

    It took more than a decade, but Wal-Mart finally prevailed in its effort to win approval for a new store just outside the village of Ballston Spa. The Ballston town Planning Board voted unanimously Sept. 3 to approve a site plan for the new 137,000-square-foot store along Route 50 near the junction of Route 67, read more

    Ballston approves Wal-Mart proposal
  • Issue:

    Chain slashes staff at regional newspapers

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    The corporate parent of several daily newspapers in the region has axed at least 16 reporters, editors and other newsgathering employees in recent weeks as it seeks a buyer for the papers.Digital First Media, which is controlled by the New York City hedge fund Alden Capital Group, laid off 10 employees in late June at read more

    Chain slashes staff at regional newspapers
  • Issue:

    New Rutland shopping plaza isn’t sprawl, panel rules

    A new shopping plaza including a BJ’s Wholesale Club, to be built at the southern end of the Route 7 commercial strip in Rutland, does not run afoul of Vermont’s new anti-sprawl regulations, a state panel has concluded. The District 1 Environmental Commission ruled April 3 that the project, to be built on an undeveloped read more

    New Rutland shopping plaza isn’t sprawl, panel rules
  • Issue:

    Bennington says no to fluoridated water

    A proposal to add fluoride to Bennington’s drinking water has been dropped after the town’s voters rejected the idea by a lopsided margin. An advisory question on the March 3 town meeting ballot asked whether the town should fluoridate its water to help prevent tooth decay. A total of 1,539 voters, or about 58 percent, read more

    Bennington says no to fluoridated water
  • Issue:

    Vermont halts single-payer quest, citing cost

    The future of health care in Vermont has taken a sharp turn after Gov. Peter Shumlin abandoned a four-year effort that would have made the state the first to implement a single-payer system of insurance. Shumlin, a Democrat, had pushed since he was first elected in 2010 to create a Medicare-for-all type of insurance system read more

    Vermont halts single-payer quest, citing cost
  • Issue:

    Local video adds to debate over police tactics

    A Saratoga County sheriff’s sergeant resigned last month and was charged with official misconduct and harassment after a video that went viral on the Internet showed him berating and apparently slapping a young man who was refusing to allow his car to be searched. The video, which quickly became part of a growing national debate read more

    Local video adds to debate over police tactics
  • Issue:

    County seeks refund as land deal raises questions

    The chairman of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors is asking the local economic development corporation to pay back $114,000 in taxpayer funds that were used to buy land included in a deal that has become the focus of a series of conflict-of-interest allegations. Supervisor Patrick Grattan, R-Kinderhook, wrote to the Columbia Economic Development Corp. read more

    County seeks refund as land deal raises questions