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:

    Hives of controversy

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    As bees vanish, critics build a case against a class of pesticides By TRACY FRISCHContributing writer   Ross Conrad, a former president of the Vermont Beekeepers Association, works with his bees at Dancing Bee Gardens in the town of Cornwall. Conrad is among the beekeepers in the Northeast who’ve become convinced that honeybees are being read more

    Hives of controversy
  • Issue:

    Banding together for solar power

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    Program helps homes, farms with details of financing and installation By EVAN LAWRENCEContributing writer   Dozens of households in Rensselaer and Saratoga counties are going solar this summer with the help of a program that cuts costs and takes the guesswork out of installing a solar system.The Solarize program, developed by the U.S. Department of read more

    Banding together for solar power
  • Issue:

    State caps could stall solar power in Mass.

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    Environmentalists push to raise utility limits on net-metering program By DANA DRUGMANDThe Berkshire Edge PITTSFIELD, Mass. New solar energy projects have been stalled in parts of western Massachusetts since March because of state limits on the solar incentive program known as net metering. So in recent weeks environmental advocates and representatives of the state’s growing read more

    State caps could stall solar power in Mass.
  • Issue:

    Equal before the law?

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    New York counties face push to upgrade public-defender system By TRACY FRISCHContributing writer HUDSON FALLS, N.Y.   Michael Mercure took over as Washington County’s public defender about five years ago after two of his predecessors in the office were disbarred. Now he’s working with the state to carry out the terms of a settlement in read more

    Equal before the law?
  • Issue:

    In Rutland, solar power’s next step

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    High-tech storage battery set for debut this fall By EVAN LAWRENCEContributing writer RUTLAND, Vt.   Photovoltaic panels collect the sun’s energy at the Borkowski family’s home in Rutland, which Green Mountain Power has dubbed the “energy home of the future.” This fall, the utility will begin offering a new high-tech battery that will allow homeowners read more

    In Rutland, solar power’s next step
  • Issue:

    Developers push to change Saratoga’s outer greenbelt

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    In golf club’s plans, some see threat to Saratoga’s greenbelt By THOMAS DIMOPOULOSContributing writer SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.   The landscape around Exit 14 of the Northway, on the east side of Saratoga Springs, remains largely wooded as a result of open-space protections the city adopted more than 20 years ago. Critics fear that could change read more

    Developers push to change Saratoga’s outer greenbelt
  • Issue:

    In Bennington, a battle over fluoride

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    Doctors see public-health benefit, but opponents decry ‘mass medication’ By EVAN LAWRENCEContributing writer BENNINGTON, Vt.   Mary Lou Albert is one of the organizers of Bennington Citizens Against Fluoridated Water, a group opposing a March 3 advisory vote on whether to add fluoride to the town’s drinking water. The measure is supported a group of read more

    In Bennington, a battle over fluoride
  • Issue:

    Former hospital, future resort?

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    By EVAN LAWRENCEContributing writer CAMBRIDGE, N.Y.   A developer has proposed turning the former Mary McClellan Hospital complex in Cambridge, N.Y., into a world-class resort. The hospital, seen here in 2010, was once the largest employer in southern Washington County but has been vacant since 2003. Sean McEntee file photo When a developer came forward read more

    Former hospital, future resort?
  • Issue:

    Election 2014: The pendulum swings to red

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    Here are the detailed results of federal and state elections held Nov. 4 across the region. A guide to politcal party abbreviations is at right. Incumbents are marked with an asterisk (*). Winners are marked in bold. Figures for Massachusetts and Vermont are the final, certified results from the secretary of state’s office in each read more

    Election 2014: The pendulum swings to red
  • Issue:

    Flow of military gear to local police raises questions

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    By TRACY FRISCHContributing writer   QUEENSBURY, N.Y. The mine-resistant armored personnel carrier was built to help U.S. troops survive roadside bomb attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan, but its new home is among malls and outlet stores here in the foothills of the Adirondacks.Last fall, the Warren County Sheriff’s Office was among eight local police agencies read more

    Flow of military gear to local police raises questions