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:

    Local agriculture’s new frontier: medical pot?

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    Washington County developer says he’ll seek state license By JOHN TOWNESContributing writer JACKSON, N.Y. The recent legalization of medical marijuana in New York is opening up a new market for entrepreneurs who would become the state’s first authorized growers and processors of cannabis. Among those who hope to join this nascent industry is Ted Berndt, read more

    Local agriculture’s new frontier: medical pot?
  • Issue:

    Election 2014 Preview: Who’s on your ballot

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    Here are the candidates and referendum questions on ballots for the Nov. 4 federal and state elections across the region. Because of space limitations, uncontested races are not included. A guide to political party abbreviations is at right. Incumbents are marked with an asterisk (*). Polls are open on Election Day from 7 a.m. to read more

    Election 2014 Preview: Who’s on your ballot
  • Issue:

    Gas pipeline plan set to advance

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    Company prepares for federal review of route through Berkshires By JOHN TOWNES Contributing writer   Protesters gathered in early July at Hilltop Orchard in Richmond, Mass., for the first in a series of demonstrations across the state against a proposed natural gas pipeline. The pipeline would enter the state at Richmond and run through Lenox read more

    Gas pipeline plan set to advance
  • Issue:

    Drugged by court order — Patients, advocates seek alternatives to forced psychiatric medication

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    Patients, advocates seek alternatives to forced psychiatric medication By TRACY FRISCHContributing writer   For Sarah Launderville, the idea of forced drugging brings back horrific memories. Launderville, the executive director of the Vermont Center for Independent Living, told a legislative panel earlier this year how she was subjected to years of sexual violence by her stepfather read more

    Drugged by court order — Patients, advocates seek alternatives to forced psychiatric medication
  • Issue:

    Long wait for PCB cleanup

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    EPA offers draft proposal for Housatonic, drawing new criticism By DAVID SCRIBNERContributing writer LENOX, Mass. Woods Pond in Lenox, Mass., is among the stretches of the Housatonic River most heavily contaminated with PCBs. Dredging to remove the pollution wouldn’t be completed until 2029 under a cleanup plan released last month by the U.S. Environmental Protection read more

    Long wait for PCB cleanup
  • Issue:

    Village governments face elimination in N.Y. push for consolidation

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    Village governments face elimination in N.Y. push for consolidation By THOMAS DIMOPOULOSContributing writer GREENWICH, N.Y. The two buildings sit about 20 yards apart across a parking lot: The red brick structure houses the municipal offices of the village of Greenwich, while the white-columned building next door is home to offices of the town of Greenwich.But read more

    Village governments face elimination in N.Y. push for consolidation
  • Issue:

    Industrial legacy adds to region’s clean-energy potential

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    Industrial legacy adds to region’s clean-energy potential By ALEX ELVINContributing writer A. Perry Heller photos   NORTH BENNINGTON, Vt. Bill Scully says he had an epiphany while driving home on Christmas Day in 2008, past the historic mills and dams of southern Vermont. “Why,” he recalls wondering, “when there is an energy crisis, am I read more

    Industrial legacy adds to region’s clean-energy potential
  • Issue:

    Study backs passenger rail for southwestern Vermont

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    By EVAN LAWRENCEContributing writer   Carrie Snyder photo   NORTH BENNINGTON, Vt.A study released earlier this year by the Vermont and New York transportation departments concludes that passenger train service should be restored to southwestern Vermont after an absence of more than 60 years. Consultant Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc., in a study paid for by read more

    Study backs passenger rail for southwestern Vermont
  • Issue:

    Taking a stand for unadulterated food

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    May 24 festival is local observance of global anti-GMO event By STACEY MORRISContributing writer   Joan K. Lentini photo   GLENS FALLS, N.Y. When Sue Duncan decided to spearhead this year’s March Against Monsanto in Glens Falls, she decided to fight the infamous corporate agribusiness giant not with a line of protesters, but with good read more

    Taking a stand for unadulterated food
  • Issue:

    Oil pipelines on wheels — Risks increase on region’s rail lines

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    Risks increase on region’s rail lines as traffic through Albany port grows By TRACY FRISCHContributing writer   While environmental groups have made opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline in the Midwest a cause célèbre over the past five years, rolling pipelines of oil have quietly been established in a lot of communities closer to home. read more

    Oil pipelines on wheels — Risks increase on region’s rail lines