Category: Government

The Hill Country Observer covers local leaders, elections and elected officials, town and city councils bodies including libraries, schools, planning and other town boards, and all kinds of conversations and decisions that matter to our communities.

  • Issue:

    Advocates push to curb use of herbicide

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    State, towns weigh new limits on glyphosate   Bruce Winn and Elia del Molino of the Berkshire Environmental Action Team stand amid a large patch of hardy kiwi at Burbank Park in Pittsfield. The group has organized a volunteer effort to control the invasive species without the use of herbicides like glyphosate. Hardy kiwi’s vines read more

    Advocates push to curb use of herbicide
  • Issue:

    Election 2019

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    Here are the results from major local races and ballot issues in the Nov. 5 general elecction in New York and Massachusetts. Winning candidates are in bold type. A brief summary follows the results for each county. The results shown for Rensselaer, Warren and Washington counties are final, official tallies certified by local election officials. read more

    Election 2019
  • Issue:

    Legal fight over an epidemic

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    Local governments push drug industry over costs of opioid crisis   Tom Haley, executive director of the Turning Point Recovery Center in Bennington, stands in the meeting room of the center, which helps people who are recovering from addiction. photo by Joan K. Lentini   EVAN LAWRENCEContributing writer BENNINGTON, Vt. As opioid addiction has devastated read more

    Legal fight over an epidemic
  • Issue:

    Worker rights arrive at the farm

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    Farmers, advocates weigh effects of New York’s new labor law   Roman Chaidez drives a tractor past the heifer facility he manages for Walker Farms LLC in Fort Ann, N.Y. Joan K. Lentini photo   By TRACY FRISCHContributing writer   A Guatemalan man who works at a dairy farm in southern Washington County describes himself read more

    Worker rights arrive at the farm
  • Issue:

    Small schools weigh interstate merger

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    Cross-border district would be first linking Vermont and Mass.   The local school in Stamford, Vt., housed in the same complex as the town office and library, has fewer than 100 students in pre-kindergarten through 8th grade. The Stamford school district is considering merging with a district across the state line in Clarksburg, Mass. Susan read more

    Small schools weigh interstate merger
  • Issue:

    Northern Berkshires’ blue-collar lament

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    Professor’s book tracks region’s labor history, industrial decline Maynard Seider, professor emeritus of sociology at the Massachusetts College of Liberals Arts, views the history of northern Berkshires through a labor lens in his new book, “The Gritty Berkshires.” Susan Sabino photo   By JOHN SEVENContributing writer NORTH ADAMS, Mass. When Maynard Seider arrived in the read more

    Northern Berkshires’ blue-collar lament
  • Issue:

    Vermont weighs rules for slate quarries

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    Industry warns of costs and job losses, but critics see need for oversight Tom Beebe hammers a large piece of slate so that it will be able to fit onto the processing belt at the Sheldon Slate Products facility in Poultney. Joan K. Lentini photo   By EVAN LAWRENCEContributing writer POULTNEY, Vt. A legislative battle read more

    Vermont weighs rules for slate quarries
  • Issue:

    Changing rules for immigrant driver’s licenses?

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    N.Y., Mass. debate changes to help immigrant workers Emerson Exante, a legal immigrant from Guatemala who works at a Washington County dairy farm, shows off his new New York driver’s license. But for the many undocumented workers at farms and elsewhere in the region, getting a license isn’t an option. Legislative proposals to change that read more

    Changing rules for immigrant driver’s licenses?
  • Issue:

    Cleaner than coal? — Cement plant’s plan raises concern

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    Cement company’s alternative-fuel plan raises questions about air emissions The sprawling Lehigh Cement Co. plant in Glens Falls is seeking approval from state regulators to supplement its normal fuel supply of coal and natural gas with raggertail, a mixture of plastic and paper left over the process of recycling paper and cardboard. Joan K. Lentini read more

    Cleaner than coal? — Cement plant’s plan raises concern
  • Issue:

    Recycling’s season of discontent

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    Haulers, local governments struggle as waste markets disappear A truck delivers a load of recyclables to TAM Recycling in Pownal. The pile in the foreground contains about 1.5 days worth of cardboard recyclables that have been delivered and are awaiting processing at the facility. Joan K. Lentini photo   By EVAN LAWRENCEContributing writer POWNAL, Vt. read more

    Recycling’s season of discontent