Category: Health

We follow local stories of well-being in the Hill Country Observer, from physical and mental health to systems of healthcare and insurance and the challenges of medicine today.

  • Issue:

    Village in crisis over tainted water

    , , ,

    In Hoosick Falls, contamination finding prompts fear, anger By EVAN LAWRENCEContributing writer HOOSICK FALLS, N.Y. For more than a year, some local citizens had been warning about the presence of a toxic chemical they’d found in samples collected from the Hoosick Falls water system, but state and local officials insisted the water was safe. Then read more

    Village in crisis over tainted water
  • Issue:

    In Mass., a hot debate over saving bees

    , , , ,

    Farm lobby’s plan prompts pushback from beekeepers By TRACY FRISCHContributing writer   Beekeepers in Massachusetts have been organizing in recent months to challenge regulatory and legislative proposals they say would not do enough to protect bees from pesticides — and might actually put them in greater jeopardy. The changes are aimed at curbing recent mass read more

    In Mass., a hot debate over saving bees
  • Issue:

    Foam-free zone expands to Pittsfield

    , ,

    By EVAN LAWRENCEContributing writer PITTSFIELD, Mass.   Polystyrene foam cups like these will be prohibited in Pittsfield, Mass., beginning in July under a local law adopted in October. The city joins Great Barrington, Williamstown and six other Massachusetts towns in restricting the use of foam coffee cups and clamshell takeout containers. Susan Sabino photo There read more

    Foam-free zone expands to Pittsfield
  • Issue:

    Fracked gas for New England?

    , , ,

    In debate over new pipeline, clashing visions of region’s energy future By EVAN LAWRENCEContributing writer   Members of the group Stop NY Fracked Gas Pipeline protest outside a compressor station for a natural gas pipeline in Malden Bridge, N.Y. The same company that owns that pipeline is proposing another, larger one that would cross Rensselaer read more

    Fracked gas for New England?
  • Issue:

    Changing a college’s energy equation

    , , ,

    At Green Mountain, students pursue goal of ‘net-zero’ campus By EVAN LAWRENCEContributing writer POULTNEY, Vt.   Steven Letendre, a professor of business, economics and environmental studies at Green Mountain College, has been working with students on a project aimed at getting the campus to “net-zero” energy status, meaning its annual power production and consumption would read more

    Changing a college’s energy equation
  • Issue:

    Hives of controversy

    , , , ,

    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:

    Start of a transformation: Accepting all 300 pounds of me

    New Manchester library points a way forward for rural communities Stacey Morris   There I was, on line at Albany International Airport, waiting to board a plane for Nashville on my maiden voyage as a freelance travel writer. I’d recently departed the safety of a 9-to-5 job because I wanted more freedom. Now that I read more

    Start of a transformation: Accepting all 300 pounds of me
  • Issue:

    In Bennington, a battle over fluoride

    ,

    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:

    Local agriculture’s new frontier: medical pot?

    , ,

    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:

    Gas pipeline plan set to advance

    , ,

    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